The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-02-07

r but the game was defeated, ana tne cana
Il was built by private company, and tn
y people now thank those who we're instru
Q mental in keeping the state from gettini
" into the affair. and history would repea
r itself in this instance.
Jacob c. Hendrickson, of Pemberton
Z said he hoped to speak to the resolution
i which is that the law be repealed, no
It whether the improvements are useful Of
! ornamental, but who shall pay for them
q The law now on the book was sprung
upon this county before its nature was
a known. The people had to depend upon
7 the Board of Freeholders to protect them
: from bills. The discussion to-day is gen.
' Grated from the action of the Freeholders
: who hesitated before plunging the county
into debt, so the latter laid the matter on
: the table until the law should be made
compulsory. Why was there not pro-
/, vision in the law giving Freeholders some
control? 1t is now local question 'if we
can't have our roads, you can't" seems to
. be the spirit that actuates many of those
who are advocating the measure. Selfish.
ness is shown by the fact that there are
t many building lots along the line of roads
to be improved that do not appear on the
T maps.
Clayton Conrow had hoped that this
question would be met in manly spirit
Is Burlington county to take back seat
in the matter of public improvements
( Good roads are necessary for the welfare
and successful conduct of business. Can
we, with our bad roads, compete with
those who have good roads? These are
state roads, and not county roads, as
some would have us believe. Every fair
minded man will admit that our roads
are not as good as they were 80 years ago.
Is not this the cause of depreciation OF
lands Good roads are becoming univer-
sally needed. The Governors Of "a states
referred to the subject in their annual
messages. He did not advocate this
measure through selfshness, but he be-
lieved that the improvement of roads
would be beneficial to the entire commun-
ity. He did not believe there
would be any increase Of taxation, as the
roads could be built for less than $4, 900 q
mile. A few days since he sold farm on
the line of one of these stone roads for
$lO2 per acre. A few years ago it sold for
500. Good roads were certainly factor
here.
Heulings Lippincott, of Cinnaminson,
was the next speaker. He said our faith
ers. IS years ago, conceived the idea of
improved roads, but they were COM
PEELED to fight every inch of their way
before they built the West6eld turnpike.
When it was completed the value of
every acre of land in Its neighborhood
was enhanced. Railroad development
killed turnpikes outside of certain
radius. Within that radius the turnpikes
were strained beyond their capacity, 30
stone roads were built, and the result was
all that could be asked. Travel was double
what it had been. Chester pays one
tenth of all the county's tax, and has for
years. She has bonded herself to pay for
good roads, and tells the rest of the county
she is willing to help them. Stone roads
are coming as sure as fate, and we may as
we'll get in and receive the benefits. He
thought the roads should be a state and
county affair; townships should not be
asked to pay any of the expense. He
proposed that the State put its prisoners
at work in the stone quarries and give the
con mites the henefit of IT,
Mark R. Sooy, of Mount Holly, had lis
tened with interest, without intending to
speak, but he thought there some points
which had been entirely overlooked. All
agreed that the roads were not what they
should be, and that they could be and
should be improved. Should these i'm
provements be made under the present
law He answered the question himself
by decided negative. This law does not
provide for material other than stone. and
it does not properly and justly distribute
the burden of cost and maintenance
Under its provisions the whole county
must be burdened to pay for local roads
The machinery provided for the con-
struction of roads is unnecessary and lack
| ing those elements which tend to cor
ruption. The law does not provide for
intelligent surveys, does not designate
any special sections to be surveyed or To-
Gated, does not select main arteries and
roads that will benefit the general public,
but permits any section to come in, hap
hazard, and ask that it may be benefited.
| He was opposed to the idea of employing
convict labor as suggested by Mr.. Lippin-
colt and recalled the riots in Tennessee,
which were the result of bringing in con-
vict labor against the labor of honest men.
The repeal of the existing law would not
kill the improvement of roads. but would
give chance for new law to be framed,
after careful and intelligent study of the
entire subject.
4 Then Judge Forsyth SHE'D his castor
into the ring and told how he paid his
proportion of the taxes, and how he fav-
ored everything that would aid agricul-
ture The gist of his remarks was that if
the lower part of the county insisted on
stone roads, the pine region" would adj
vocate bill that would compel the build
ing of electric railroads, land them" said
the Judge, well show our friends near
Camden that we of the pine district can
ship more produce to the New York and
} Philadelphia markets than they can get
rid Off
DIR. Janney interrupted the speaker and
asked if he was opposed to stone roads.
NO" said Judge Forsyth, II am in
favor of improvement in anything, even
medicine and doctors"
} Alexander G. Wood, of Cinnaminson,
said he had heard considerable about the
number of miles of roads in this county,
and would state that there are about /, 800
miles-certainly not over 1900. He
thought the desired end could be reached
/ by amending the present law. Mr.. Wood
said his statement of the number of miles
in the county was the result of measure
, ments from the maps.
, Frank A. Foy. of Mount Holly, favored
: amending the law.
/ DIR. William G. Parry. of Lumberton,
thought the meeting was not going to end
satisfactorily. Roads must have care, and
even If stone roads were laid. townships
, could not abolish the appropriations fol
. repairs. On the point of depreciation in
farm values, which had been dwelt on SC
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