The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-09-16
DIVIDING THE BURDEN.
Well-Known Wheelman Gives His
Opinion as to Who Should Pay
for Good Roads.


few good roads in the United States
is that we have left it to the farmers
alone to build them. This Is wrong.
1t is absolutely impossible for the farm
ers alone to provide a system of good
roads. The cost is altogether too great,
and unless substantial help is furnished
them, upon some reasonable basis,
progress in road building will continue
to be slow and unsatisfactory" says
Otto Dorner, chairman of the J.. A.
w. highway improvement committee.
"The help which the farmers require
in building roads should come from
the cities. The cities are the great
centers Of wealth; they are the great
markets in which business is done
the great distributing points for man.
ufactures and for agricultural prod"
ucts. Agricultural America has built
them up and maintains them. The
union between the cities and farming
districts is close, upon hundred diff
ferent channels of trade. Each de-
ponds upon the other. What is more
proper, therefore, than that the city
should unite with the country in con-
structing and maintaining suitable and
efficient means of communication and
transportation?
'There need be no doubt that the
taxpayers of most American cities are
willing and ready to contribute to the
cost of building country roads. Their
necessity is as thoroughly realized in
the cities as it is by the farmers who
become stalled on muddy road with
a load of grain hauled half way to mar
ket. City people know the country bet
ter than they have ever known it be-
fore, and their business relations with
country people are growing more and
more intimate. They are quick to see
the convenience and saving which
would result from the construction Of
good roads, and know that they them
selves would be, in large measure, the
gamers.
But how can a tax be levied upon
city property for expenditure in coun-
try districts for road building pur-
poses? A city tax is out of the ques-
ton, as much as it would be to levy
town tax upon farm property for
building sewers in a distant city. True,
q county tax might be levied, large
share of which would be paid by the
cities situated in the county, and which
might be used for the building Of roads
in any locality within the county. But
this is not sufficient, especially in the
case of large cities like Chicago, New
York, Cincinnati, st. Louis, Minneap-
oils and Baltimore. Their interests ex-
tend far beyond the counties in which
they are situated; indeed, the cities
themselves constitute the greater part,
or nearly all, of the taxpaying property
included in these counties. They may
properly contribute to the cost of build
ing roads in all the territory from
which they draw their trade. !
THE best method yet devised for
levying taxes upon city property for
the purpose of building country roads
is by the medium of a state tax. This
is levied upon city and country prop
erty alike, upon all classes of people,
SO that every locality, every taxpayer,
contributes proportionately, according
to the amount of property owned, the
wealthy property-owners contributing
the largest amounts.
Massachusetts, New Jersey. New
York and Connecticut are probably the
states which have made the greatest
progress in country road building.
They have all levied state highway
taxes, and have built roads by sys-
tenn of state aid. While the rate of tax
alton has been low, the amount col
lected has been considerable. In New
York $4,000 were collected by state
tax of one and one-tenth cents upon
every thousand dollars assessed valua-
ton, and four-ffths of the whols
amount was collected in the cities,
where most of the property in the state
Is situated.
"The state aid system does not in
terfere in any way with present meth.
DDS of road building, but simply pro-
vides means by which an enterpris-
ing country community, desiring to
possess first-class highways, may OBJ
tain financial assistance for the pur-
pose from the cities. The state does
not pay for building such roads, but
simply contributes to their expense,
just as 1t contributes to the. cost Of
maintaining public schools, which are
conducted by the local school officials,
but which, to receive such state assist.
ance, must be up to certain stand.