The record-union., 1896-04-28
DIFFICULTIES IN ROAD LEGIS-
LATION.

The Breeder and Sportsman" says:
The subject of "Good Roads in Cali
fornia' will be one Of the principal ones
brought up for legislative action this
winter in Sacramento. The bicycle men,
as well as horse owners and farmers,
are working harmoniously together to
have some good work accomplished.
The benefits derived from having
smooth, well-made and well-drained
highways are so apparent to all, that it
will not take much legislative persua-
sion to get every Senator and Assem-
blyman to vote in favor Of such a meas
ure.
But the Breeder and Sportsman is
mistaken. Indeed, it exposes its ignor-
ance of legislators and Legislatures
when 1t expresses the thought that not
much persuasion will be needed to put
through an ideal road law. On the con-
trary, there is no legislation so difficult
to secure. The friends and enthusiasts
of good roads have been at 1t many
years, and have not yet been able to
make any Legislature unit upon the
subject
There always has been enough oppo-
sition to defeat the necessary laws. And
1t may be well to state now, when can
dldates for legislative offices are pre-
senting themselves, just what the diff
Guilty is. It is not unwillingness on the
part Of Senators or Assemblymen. We
have never met or heard Of one Of these
who was not "a Good Roads man" If
their declarations are to be taken at
fifty per cent of their face they are all
enthusiasts for perfect highways. We
have never seen or heard Of one of these
gentlemen who could not at moment s
notice descant learnedly on the benefits
of good roads.
Why. then is 1t difficult to secure good
road laws? Because every legislator is
possessed with an idea and theory as
to what constitutes a good road, how
1t should be constructed, and what leg
!slation Is necessary to the desired end
Fifty per cent Of these ideas, or more,
are grossly erroneous, opposed to hu-
man experience and the latest discov-
cry. and to scientific knowledge Of the
subject. In the last Legislature we had,
for instance, these distinct classes of
good roads men holding to and against
these propositions:
In favor Of road overseers; In favor
Of Supervisors overseeing: In favor of
the old roadmaster system; in favor of
school districts being declared road dis
tricts; In favor of independent road dis
tricts: in favor OF working out road
taxes; opposed to the working out sys-
doned system OF high crowned roads;
opposed to stone roads: in favor of stone
roads; opposed to giving the people the
privilege OF bonding property for road
purposes; favoring bonding by districts
favortng bonding by townships: opposed
to road poll taxes; favoring road poll
taxes: opposed to State aid; favorfng
State aid; holding that he who knows
how to build road in the valley is in
competent to build one In the mount
aims: favoring trees on both sides of the
road way; favoring trees in the middle
of the roadway; favoring county trunk
lines at general cost; opposing such
lines: holding against permitting towns
and cities to contribute to road con-
struction, while equally as large num-
Der believe that towns and cities are
as much interested In good roads as are
rural sections; In favor of road engi-
neer overseership and opposed to road
engineers; in favor Of gravel roads as
opposed to macadam roads. and equally
as many opposed to graveled highways
So, too, they differ as to sprinkling
highways and the necessity for it; as to
establishing grades, as to tire widths
and on the questions of maintenance
of bridges, the letting of contracts fol
their erection, Of guttering, OF drain
age, OF tree-planting and maintenance
and so on through still longer chapter
In no Legislature yet have these con-
nicting opinions been reconciled, or any