The record-union., 1897-05-16
THE CLARKE ROAD LAW ABB
SURDlIY.

The Attorney General thinks that the
Clarke road law may be put into oper-
alton by the Supervisors of the counties,
treating the failure of the law to pro-
vide for the first selection of Road
Trustees as creating a vacancy in Of
flee which the Boards of Supervisors
may fill. Still the AttOrney-General
holds that it would be wise to have the
matter tested in the courts, and il
should be- That is as much as to say
that the States chief law officer still
has doubts upon the question involved.
But assuming that the Supervisors
may appoint, and we believe that the
Attorney Generals views in that re-
spect are correct, what then? Should
the Supervisors act unless compelled
to do so by court decree? Is it desir-
able to return to system abandoned
wherever enlightenment has seized
hold upon intelligence?
The Clarke law is distinctly retro
gressive. 1t does not follow that be-
cause a thing is old-fashioned, it is
therefore valueless. But where an old
thing or system has been found faulty
and ineffective it is the hight of folly
to turn from better methods to the old.
1t is silly to say that the selection of
Road District Trustees will guarantee
us any better results in road construc-
ton than We have mad in the past or
have now. 1t is little less than idiotic
to attempt to set up the workout
your-tax" system again, a scheme that
has been a fraud and a cheat wherever
tried in California
The Clarke monstrosity breaks down
q present visible and responsible au
thority that the people can hold ac-
countable and gives us instead a host
of independent, small and widely sep
arated boards, each operating ire
spective of the other and regardless of
uniformity and harmony of system. 1t
IS selfshness and narrowness incar-
nate 1t is on line with the exploded
idea that each school district should
manage and maintain its own schools
Independent of county or State super
vision or assistance.
It proposes to put local interests into
groups that are likely to become an
tagonistic. at least will be unsympa-
thetic. It assumes that because a man
may secure a certain number Of votes
in a district therefore he is a qualified
road builder 1t proceeds upon the
doctrine that the people of many small
districts are better able to conceive. lay
out, construct and maintain a road sys-
tenn best adapted TO the needs of the
whole county than can road engineers
and those who make the basic study of
typographical features, geological con-
ditions. watershed, materials and their
deposits and accessibility, the economy
of grades and right establishment of
the same, and so on, the labor of their
lives. and who avail of all human ex-
perience in doing so.
It would be precisely as sensible to
attempt to construct a railway system
economically and we'll upon such a
a large area and affecting general wa
ter sources. but controlled. managed
and used By a score of small indie
pendent and unrelated and politically
supreme groups.
1t is urged for the Clarke law that il
gives the prevailing opinions and judg-
ments of the people in small districts
dominance in road matters. That Is
precisely the trouble Such independ-
ence means, as a rule, unsystematic
methods plans and execution. II
means stubborn and often stupid an
tagonism to the results Of science, and
the defiance of human experience 1t
is well Illustrated in this county, where
certain citizens on the line of the pro-
posed Folsom model road have said
that if that road is built they will con-
tribute toward the necessary fund. pro-
vided. and only upon the condition,
that mo high-fangled and new idea,