Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-10-29
..Ws want Good Roads. y
TO the Citizens OF Maine In General. al
the Mheelinen In Particllar.

Iuiiy, tuti1t anu push nave been IN tHt
business Of road building (?) and the old
est inhabitant Is bound to confess that L
the best of his recollections the roads ar,
now. no better than they were when Co
We boast of our progressive shirt !,
and point with pride TO the te,erranl
which spans the continent with its mes.
sage minute: to the Atlantic cable
which tells of events which have taker
place even later IN the day than the lime
when we are reading about them. n ths
telephone which allows us with safety t,
when he fails 70 vote for a highway com.
mission as ne promised to do; TO the
steamboat. which in the past twenty
the cost of bringing wheat from Cbscamr
to New York; to the railroad which ne, q
der the most favorable circumstancas
pays dividend ms on i, : rate Of q cent ton
strides and well we may. No Other ' n -
tion has ever made such wonderful ncna
gress in wealth and general prosperify
and our smile is complacent. But whe,s
we compare our roads-with apologies r.
MacAdam-with those of E.npland
France or Switzerland. our compiacen,
smile fades and We are Inundated te
discover that in the very ways which l;t.
orally lie beneath our feet. we are as
backward as We have been forward II
other ways, worse in fact. for they hay,
in a measure. appropriated our steam.
boats. our telegraph and our telephone
while we have failed TO appreciate IN.
value of good roads
We are too busy, let us in all Chart,
say. to grasp the fact that the reasoi
why these great enterprises are great
lies in the fact that they allow us TO d,
more business in year than our ances.
tors could do in a life time We are toe
busy doing this great work to grasp tn,
fact that while millions of dollars worn
of business are transacted without a tel,
ephone. millions without a telegraph mil
lions without a railroad and million,
without Il steamer yet there is not one
cents worth that does not depend upor
somebody or something going over /;
highway. Did you ever think why 1t Is
a ton a mile and pay dividends? The
answer is simply that by expanding thou
sands of dollars mile in building gooe
road beds they are able to move freigh
over them with such a small expendi
ture of power that a cent ton milt
pays for the power, pays for the veal
and tear of the track and train. pays for
salaries to the brainy men who, direc
the running of these great iron highways
and then above all. they pay dividend
TO stockholders.
Do you realize that every ounce of thes,
| tons of freight which goes over rail
| road. also goes over the highways? :
cent a ton a mile pays a dividend on rail
roads. What does it cost a ton to NOV,
a dividend there? You know that the
dividends saved to the railroads by goot
roads have been lost a dozen times over
to our farmers by, the apologies which We
call roads 'Tis the difference between
profit and loss. and our farmers have lost
dividends which would make them hap
pier and a Weather class.
For over fifteen years the League OF
American Wheelrnen has been fighting
and during the last eight years IL has
spent over
si20.0o0.00
ard distributed over 10000 pamphlets
and magazines in its campaign of educa-
ton for good roads. In spots there ha
followed wonderful progress most not
ably in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
In our last Legislature, a bin modelled
on the Massachusetts one which created
the highway commission that has done
such magnificent work in the reformation
OF road building there. was presented
Drawn by the Hon. Josiah II. Drummond
it was championed before the judiciary
committee by the Hon. Henry Lord OF
Bangor. president OF the Maine State
board OF trade. Amended by the judi
ciary. and passed unanimously it went
10 the House where 1t was lost A change
Of eighteen votes. however would have
carried it.
The following reasons were given foI
killing the billiard they were the only
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. that something
ought TO be done, ana there was no denial
CT the fact that good roads have always
paid wherever tried.
You bieyclers are good fellows, but yor
don't pay taxes.
Commissioners are a fraud. There
isn't one that amounts to shucks in the
state.
And lastly and the only one that is en-
titled to a grain of consideration
We are opposed to the creation Of new
Offices"
The first objection was answered by 9
request for the insertion of clause il,
the bill calling for the taxation of wheel.
Il sirNe ~ of=..1 r.
the support of the commission. This wa
refused. as the members of the judiciary
committee did not care 10 make a class
tax.
with that of the New York merchan
prince who. after having had several
daughters married to the imported Euro
pean nobility, prayed daily that the re
mander of his daugnters might die ole
maids as he had enough no accoun
counts on his hands already. There are
read reformers have yet to fail to prove
themselves worthy of their hire.
The last objection is the only one which
we have got to overcome with the ma
jority of the Legislators, for there arr
but a few who pretend to believe tina
the roads are good enough. The majority
agree that we are not getting ''53 cents
on a dollar of the road money expended
the remaining IL per cent is worse thar
wasted. Is it asking too much to ask that
less tnan per cent OF tndt Al per cent Dt
used in paying for a highway commission
that shall endeavor to teach us how tc
save the remaining 46lb per cent which i.
wasted? They agree that something
must be done. but-"They are opposed tc
the creation of new Offices. Was there
ever progress made without the creation
of new offices? Why. we should be pay
ing taxes to England today on tea II
there had not been a few new Offices ere
ated. And that brings us to the point OF
it all.
The State of Maine assessors have
deemed it proper to tax wheels. We greet
the tax cheerfully. and agree that II
should be levied. but-this nation owes
it's birth to the principle consecrated in
blood from Bunker Hill to Yorktown
mo Taxation without Representation. y
and we now in behalf of the 500 wheel
men of Maine. ask as a simple act of jus
tice that $4,000 of the taxes levied on BIZ
cycles be applied to the support of high
way commission.
The Revised Statutes of the State of
Maine Title III. Section 81. reads:
Highways. town ways and streets. le-