Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-21
kENTUCKY'S TOLL-GATE WAR.
The Causes of the General Uprising
Against the Pike ComDaniea


Mrs. Ora I.anghorn In Springfield Republican
The shocking state of things disgrac;ng
Kentucky in the eyes of the world today is
the fault Of few rapacious corporations
and a few corrupt politicians working in
their interest. The toll-gate system has
become extremely burdensome and unpop-
ular in the rural districts, and persistent
efforts have been made to do away with
It, The plan OF paying tolls every five
miles, % cents for a wheeled vehicle with
one horse and 80 cents for two horses,
works unequally in these times Possibly
it may have been the only method that
could have been adopted at an earlier pc
riod, when the admirable roads which
make driving delight in the blue grass
region were built A few illustrations will
changed conditions of today. This beauti-
full and fertile country, little more than a
century ago, had only bride paths or buff
falo trails through the Wilderness. with the
scattered settlements of the pioneers 1t
is now a network of towns and villages
famous for it's fine horses and fine roads,
with the intervening country developing
many branches Of agriculture The pros
porous people in a city like Lexingt on.
which has long BEEN the center of the
horse raising and horse racing region, can
drive to their hearts content without pay
ing penny for toll. There are toll gates
on every road leading out Of the city. say,
one. two. three and four miles from the
corporate limits. These city folks will
drive two miles on one road, until they
come in sight of, toll gaze, when they
promptly turn and drivey say, four miles
in the opposite direction. turning as before
when the toll-gate looms in sight. Hav-
ing followed out this scheme until they
are satisfied. doubtless all the time con-
graduating themselves on the excellent
public roads contiguous to the city. they
return TO their homes with the comfortable
feeling of him who realizes that he has
gotten something for nothing
The toil-worn farmer, who lives, per-
chance, just beyond the toll-gate, has no
such privilege in his use of the highway.
He Is compelled to go to the nearest town
for his mail, to dispose of his produce, to
fetch a doctor, and for the many purposes
which daily brings country folks to town.
Another aspect of the case is that of the
small farmer or market gardener who
rents the land he tllls, and Is constantly
paying heavy tolls on roads which make
the landlords property more valuable,
while he cannot see where his profit comes
in. Any stockholder in the turnpike COM
panies can ride on a pass. while his poorer
neighbor. not having the benefit of the cor
poration, must pay what seems to him ex-
orbitant rates for every hoof and wheel.
Persistent efforts to have the system of
road taxation changed had at length in
duced the legislature, in spite of the OPP
posing corporations, to provide for new
plan. This was to leave 1t to each county
to decide the question of aboliShing toll
gates by the qualified voters. This was al
together satisfactory to the rural public
and also to many disinterested and intelli-
gent citizens of the towns. 1t was at this
point that the stockholders of the turn
pixies, by contemplate bubble, got in
their work. Several of the county judges,
influenced by the corporations, after the
question had been submitted to the people,
and the majority had spoken for free turn
pixies decided that there must be a count
of the full voting population of each
county. When tried by this test the de-
cision was found to be in favor of the
stockholders The corporations were much
pleased and the public much disguised at
this result.
Were the spirit of justice consulted, the
men who persist in maintaining an obnox-
ious system after the voice of the people
mas condemned 1T, are the real law
breakers, and not the men who use
violence when they believe all lawful
methods have failed. The spirit which in
sPired citizens of Boston to throw a cargo
OF tea into the harbor animates Kentuck-
1ans tooay IN making raids on toll-gates
fatr1cK Henry's words of warning are as
applicable to oppreSsors in the blue grass
t''u1n at the end of the nineteenth CEN
Jury as uney were to the tyrants who had
reused Virginia to fight for 'liberty or
oeath IN l!76 Let us hope that ali the
cIIzens OF the great commonwealth which
10 vlrsinias daughter will soon come to a
peCtef mind. The cause of Irritation once
removed, as 1t must evidently sooner or
,ater pc done. the spirit of lawlessness will
t ~ aayeo ana peace will soon prevail
Throughout TINS beauteQus land.