Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-04-26

where land is occupied by suburban residents
and is worth $1,000 per acre, as is the case
in some of the counties in many of our
states Immediately adjoining the larger cities.
The people in these sections really desire
good roads \ fair tax upon the value of
their property will secure them They are
ready not only to pay such a tax willingly
but are quite willing to contribute volun
tarily toward the road fund, when practical
results are apparent.
The conditions are entirely different when
you come to a farming community where
land is worth $50 an acre and where the
burden Of taxation for county, poor and
school purposes is as large as the ordinary
farmer can bear; but even i'll such com
munity the conditions are more favorable
than when you go into an undeveloped re-
gion whore population is sparse, where the
country is mountaipous, where the grades
are steep and taxable property reaches the
minimum.
How will you make general law to
reach three communities whose interests
are so diverse and apparently so irrecon-
clable2 1t is very plain that town or coun-
ty control cannot apply with equal force
and effect to three such localities where the
value of taxable property and the physical
face another difficulty. How will you pro-
vide by State legislation for uniform sys-
TEN of roads where in most sections of the
State good road material is abundant, and
in some counties of it scarcely a stone can
be found?
The first step in securing better results is
taken when we clearly apprehend the diff
cuties which confront us Tho object of
this article Is, therefore, to bring clearly to
the minds of the friends of road reform the
difficulties which confront them in reaching
a practical solution of the problem When
these are fully and clearly apprehended,
great step has becn gained and the attention
of all who are interested in the subject will
be turned toward the common standpoint
which can be occupied by all friends of the
movement and from which the difficulties
which confront them can be met and mas
tered
A COMMON GROUND OF ACTION.
What is this common ground How
shall we meet the difficulties which have
been herein suggested 1t would seem,
with the short experience of the State of
New Jersey under her wellconsidered act of
the 14th of April, 1891, as amended on the
goth of March 1892, that county control
supplemented 10y 0luue alu VIII meet tne I'LL
ficulties which exist in most of our older
States, at least such as have been enumer-
ated herein. County control in the laying
out of the roads seems to be essential to any
well considered system of highways com
municatng with the principal cities, towns
and villages therein and State aid would
enable the weather. communities to come to
the help of those less able to bear the bur
dens of well constructed and well main
| tanned roads.
The visit Of the secretary of agriculture
and the governors of neighboring States
alluded to in the beginning of this article
was made for the purpose of seeing the
practical result of New jerseys legislation.
If the impressions gained by this visit could
reach the public III form easily accessible
to all our people, much would be gained in
the direction of imparting information i'll
a form which would be more attractive and
at the same time more practical than the
publication of the laws under which the
work inspected was undertaken and carried
forward. 1t is hoped that such information
will reach the public at an early day in such
form as to carry with it the impression
which ought to be made thereby.
JAMES A. BEAVER.
Bellefonte, Pa, March 81, 1894.