St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-02-11
CONGRESSIONAL Am.


Another expression in favor Of hay-
ing congress take action on the subject
of road Improvement appears in the
(Mich.) Democrat, in an in
tcrview with DR.. A. w. Nichols. The
doctor speaks o. the necessity of hav-
ing better roads. and then continues:
II believe that this country will
never have good roads until the gov
eminent has adopted the policy of su-
peryision and construction of the same.
Most of the civilized governments OF
the old world have built their reads by
government appropriations.
Government appropriations Tor good
roads would not be felt, but would be a
benefit by way Of clearing farms OF
stone and giving employment to labor.
The Importance Of roads for
military purposes. leading into the in
terror territories ana 10 the frontier
was early appreciated. and som. inn
portant routes were opened by the gen
eral government: as the national road
from Baltimore through Wheeling and
Cincinnati to St. Louis. and that from
Bangor to lIoul;on, in Maine
1T has been cstimatcd that So, co.,
0c0 appropriated: by the government
among the several states in proportion
10 their agricultural population. and
that sub-divided and distributed among
the counties OF each state in proportion
to the agricultural population OF each
county. would give the average. ag-
ricultural coun les Of this state from
$4,000 to se5.ocO each, ard in II or Is
years time the counties would be pro-
sided with good macadamized roads.
provided stone were reasonably ucces-
sible. ] believe in liberal APP
preparations for all the departing nts Of
our government, butt cannot see why
the great agricultural interests should
he neglected. Ii our billior-Gollar con-
crosses would appropriate the small
amolnt of $aG.0c0.00O a year fo- good
roads. il could not. in my Judgment, be
better applied in developing our coan-
try and. at the same time, meet the
wants of our people. especially in tine
agricultural districts.
1.-The importance of good roads is be-
coming so well recognized that they are
{. probability Of The near future. and
their cause Should te championed in
congress as soon possible. Thus far.
of late years. all moneys used in the
construction of good roads have been
secured by direct tax upon the people
living along the lines of such roads. or
those living in 'Le counties or states
where such roads are located. and has
proven heavy burden upon these PEG
pie. The government can
conduct this matter much better than
states, and the revenue required to
meet the expenditure would be so small
that it would not be even felt by the
people. The Golfers of the
government are now being filed 10
overlooking under the present system
of revenue, and the war taxes could be
reduced many times and yet have snf-
ficient funds to meet this appropria
ton of S2O.OOO00O annually for good
roads, and. at the same time. leave all
other departments of the government
well provided for.
Il believe that IL n member of con-
gress would champion government sp-
preparations for good roads, that he
would find no difficulty in securing
petitions signed by large majority Of
the people. urging the enactment Of
such law. . . Let the people
wake up on the subject OF good roads
and national appropriations for the
same, for it will benefit the farmer more
than any other improvement that !.
know of. and give employment to labor
and would likewise prove advantage
Gus to all interests of the country eE-
pecially to interior cities and villages"