The Holly chieftain., 1899-01-27
CONGRESSIONAL AID.
wh- u. national Govern .est shouis
xak. !. Money INTEREST," 4 Road
Improvement

Another expression IN issor Of hay-
ing congress take action on the subject
of road improvement appean in the
Grcenville (Mich.) Democrai, in an in
teryiew 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
ernment has adopted the policy Of su-
pervision and construction cfthe same
Most of the civilized governments of
the old world have built theifroads by
government appropriation =. .
Government appropriations for good
roads would not be felt, but would be a
benefit by way of clearing farms of
stone and giving employmentto to labor.
The Importance Of roads for
military purposes, leading Into the in
,erior territories and to the frontier
was early appreciated, and some i'm
portant routes were opened bythe gen.
eral government: as the national road
from Baltimore through Wheeling and
Cincinnati to ST. Louis, and that from
Bangor to Houltcn, in Maine >
at has been estimated that $50 .Ooo..
oc0 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
10 the agricultural population of each
county, would give the average ag-
ricultural counties Of this state from
sl5,o00 to s25,o0o each, and In 12 or Is
years' time the counties would be pro-
vided with good macadamhsd roads.
provided stone were REASONABLY acces.
sible. j believe in LIBERAL ap.
propriations for all the departments of
our government, but cannot see why
the great agricultural interests should
be neglected. If our billioE-dollar con-
crosses would appropriate the small
amount of $2C,Ooo,O0o year for good
roads. II could not, in my Judgment, be
better applied in developing our coun-
try and, at the same time, meet the
wants of our people, especially in the
agricultural districts.
1.-THE Importance of good roads is be-
coming SO well recognized thatthey are
d probability of The near future, and
their cause should be championed in
congress as soon as possible. Thus far.
OF late yearr, 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 the counties or states
where such roads are located. and has
proven heavy burden upon those peo.
pie. The government can
conduct this matter much better than
states, and the revenue required tc
meet the expenditure would beso small
that 1t would not be even felt by the
people. The coffer of the
government are now being filed 10
overfiowing under the present systeu'
Of revenue, and the war taxes could be
reduced many times and yet have suf-
ficient funds to meet this appropria
tion of $20,O0O.000 annually for good
roads, and, at the same time, leave all
other departments of tn. government
well provided for. 80
II believe that II a member Of con
gress would champion government ap
propriations for good roads, that he
would find no difficulty in securing
petitions signed by large majority ot
the people, urging the enactment ci
such a law. Let the people
wake up on the subject Of good road.
and national appropriations for the
same, for 1t will benefit the farmer more
than any other Improvement that
know Of, and give employmenttola labor
and would likewise prove advantage
Gus to all interests of the country es
pecially to interior cities and villages.