The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1898-03-18
State Aid in Building Roads.

State Aid in Building Roads.
Though building roads may not be
practical farming" the building of
roads is practical question with farm
ers, and the question of State aid in
their construction is one now being adj
vocated by many who are agitating the
question of good roads.
At a Farmers Congress held in st.
Paul, Mimi, Otto Dorner, chairman of
the National Committee for Highway
Improvement League of American
Wheelmen, read valuable paper on
the subject. From 1t we make the fol-
lowing extracts: State aid to wagon
roads Is an important element in the
crusade for better highways, because
it meets the objection generally made
by farmers that we cannot have mac
adam reads throughout the country un-
less we saddle the farming population
with enormous burdens of taxes. The
farmer Is not to be blamed for having
assumed such an attitude. From the
days of the pioneers it has been left to
him to see to the building of wagon
roads and their maintenance, and 1t has
likewise been left to him alone to pay
for their construction and improve
ment. The average farmer, therefore,
when we speak of improving the roads
in his vicinity, concludes, and very
properly, too, that this improvement is
to be made at his expense. He has
never known road taxes to be paid by
others than himself and his fellow
farmers.
The department Of agriculture tells
us that every farmer in the State of
New York must bear the expense Of
road building for eight persons out Of
the State population. While the pro-
portion of farmers elsewhere may not
be as small as in New York, this illus
tration must convince US that the
farming population, which until now
has borne almost the entire expense of
road building, is but fraction of our
population. Therefore, we maintain
that reasonable share of the cost Of
road building should be paid out of a
State tax, to be levied alike upon city
and country population, every taxpayer
contributing, upon an equitable basis,
according to the amount of his property
considerable revenue in the cities, as
the levy might be made to in
clude capitalists, merchants and manu-
facturers, the wealthy corporations,
railroad, insurance and telephone COM
panies; in fact, every class of taxpayers
throughout the State.
| State aid to wagon roads has been
in vogue for several years in some Of
the Eastern States. New Jersey seems
to have been the pioneer in this de-
parture from old road-building meth
DDS. New Jerseys system Of road
! building divides the expense between
the abutting property owner, whose
land rises In value as the result Of i'm
proving the road, the county and the
State. The property owner pays 10
per cent. of the cost, the State pays one
third and the county pays the remain
der. The improvement is made upon
the petition of the property owners,
plans are made, by a county engineer
and submitted to the State highway
commissioner for approval; the county
makes the contracts and the State ap-
points a supervising engineer. Upon
completion of the improvement a war
rant is drawn upon the State treasury
for one-third of the cost and the ad-
joining property owner Is assessed by
the county for his portion of the ex-
pense State aid has also been intro
duced in Rhode Island and Connect
cut, and Massachusetts and the State
of Washington are both building some
of their roads at the entire expense Of
the State. These State aid roads are,
| as rule, macadam roads, and have
met with general approval, especially
on the part of farmers, who find them
selves able to haul Iour tons of produce
with two-horse team, where formerly
their load did not exceed a ton and a
half, or even a single ton. The road
| commissioner of New Jersey says that
most of his time is spent listening to
! the pleadings of farmers that their
roads shall first be given the benefit
| of State aid. General approval of the
State aid system, on the part of the
agricultural classes, indicates Its un-
| doubted growing popularity, and it is
safe to say that when the great neces-
sary reform in road building in the
United States is brought about, it will
be accomplished through the medium
Of State aid.