The suburban citizen., 1901-08-17
seIEImposed Taxes.


are some that are unavoidable, and
these It Is useless to talk about. There
are others which farmers impose upon
themselves, which they hesitate to
share with others, which they submit
to without a protest, and even cling
to when they are being removed
These taxes we cannot talk about too
much. These are taxes, too which
bring no useful revenue, nor even sup
port tax gatherer; they are burdens
as needless as the traditional stone
which balanced the grlst on the way
to mill.
Through the failure of the Govern
ment in the original surveys of the
public lands to lay out a scientific sys-
tenn Of roads, and divide the lands ac-
cordingly, farmers have been left to
lay out the roads for themselves, and
generally they have put them on farm
lines, going over all the hills that come
in their way. The result of this is
the hill tax in hilly regions and what
may be called the square corner tax
on the pralrles.
"The amount of hill tax I have esti-
mated in one county in New Jersey,
and found that needless hills double
all the cost of hauling in the county
making practically a money tax Of
$4,000 annually to the township. The
people have paid this tax for 100
years, and yet they wonder why they
are poor In the prairie regions, for
want of the diagonal roads which the
Government should have laid out, the
farmer, to reach a point ten miles to
the northwest, for instance, travels
seven miles north and seven miles
west, adding forty per cent. to his dis.
tance, or for the average of all travel,
twenty per cent This is the square
corner tax.
"The mud tax is probably about
equal in total to the hill tax, and this,
again, doubles the cost of all wagon
transportation; yet many farmers are
opposed to stone roads.
I; However, the farmers themselves
are doing away in many places with
the enormous burden of the fence tax,
and with it will go the snowdrlft tax
and the waste land on the roadside
They are slowly abandoning narrow
tires and tracking wheels. Moreover,
many Of them begin to realize the
enormity and absurdlty of the hill,
mud and square corner taxes, and we
may hope in time to see in this coun-
try, as we do in France, beautiful
hard roads everywhere, winding
through farms, with crops growing
close to the wagon tracks and the
roads serving perfectly every purpose
of public use and private convenience.
"You ask how all this can be accom-
'plished without a burden of taxation
which will neutralze its benefits. 1
answer that it is all being done to-day
f. a hundred places in the United
States, and there are farmers who ac-
knowledge that they are getting rich
in these hard times solely by reason
of the improved roads which have been
forced upon them, and are raging
with perfect ease any additional tax
they impose. These improved roads
are being built in many ways and in
various forms of construction, and
every years experience reduces the
cost and brings about an easier pro-
viding of the necessary means.
ut would be a very long story to go
into the details in this direction, and l
would not be prepared to say which is
the best Of the many methods of con-
struction and of payment Both need
to be greatly varied to meet the con-
ditions in the various States, and
careful study of local legislation Is
necessary; but the vital question is for
the farmers themselves to settle gem
orally whether they want good roads,
and whether they will accept the help
of those who are willing and anxious
to join in paying the cost of road i'm.
provement If they will take up the
subject in all their organizations and
appoint active working committee to
visit the nearest accessible localities
where good roads prevail, and to urge
such legislation as will make them at
tainable everywhere, the work will
soon reach a point where its own mo-
nentum will carry it forward.
"The estimate Of your able secre-
tary that S6O0,OO0,0O0 is wasted annu-
ally in this country through bad roads
is supported by that of other statisti-
clans, and from this it appears that
the tax they impose takes one-quarter
of the whole value of all farm pro-
ducts in the United States. To abol-
ish this tax is a reform great enough
to engage the best attention of this
Congress. 1t is a practical and practi-
cable field for its energies. What the
Congress says on this subject will be
listened to everywhere, while what it
says on other subjects may fall on
deaf ears"