Amador ledger., 1903-11-13
sLANDERING ONES HOME.

Jackson has the very unenviable
reputation of having the dir1iest,
slopiest streets of any town in the
county; as well as some of the most
penurious citizens on earth. Dis
patch.
The people of Jackson must GER
tainly feel honored to have such a
libelous screed sent forth by one
who is supposed to take a pride in
setting forth the good qualities of
the town in which he has cast his lot,
and upon whose citizens he is mainly
dependent for livelihood. The
business of local paper is to place
the home town in as favorable a
light before the world as possible;
to speak of the good qualities of its
citizens, and throw the mantle of
silence upon their failings. If the
above statement were true, it is
grossly out of place, and, insulting
No good purpose can be served by
its publication, and for that reason,
if for no other, it should have been
left unsaid. That Jackson has some
il-kept streets, cannot be denied,
but to mention this as a reflection
upon the residents of the town, is a
base SANDER. 1t can be said of
Jackson-what can be said of no
other town in the county-that her
citizens contribute two thirds of the
revenue of all the road money ex-
pended in this township, and get
practically nothing in return. If
our streets are not what they ought
to be, upon whose shoulders does
the blame rest. Certainly not upon
the property-holders and residents
generally. They are contributing
and have been for many years-an
average of 80 cents on every 500
worth of property they hold for the
improvement of the public roads.
Few communities in the state are
taxed to such an extent for road
work. If the, vast sums collected
for this purpose year after year, 90
for work done outside the town
limits, are the taxpayers to be held
responsible for this one-sided and
unjust apportionment. The Ledger
has for years been pointing out the
injustice of spending nearly the sum
total of the road fund upon the out
side thoroughfares, and leaving the
town streets to go to ruin; nay fur
ther, to allow them to be ruined, by
a system of permitting every citizen
to do a little patchwork of road max
ing to suit himself. It has been this
go-as-You- please business that has,
more than anything else, contributed
to the poor condition of Jackson's
streets. And if we mistake not, the
Dispatch has defended this very
system which brought about this re-
suit We presume, the lines above
quoted are to be interpreted as an
implication that the property
holders, in addition to paying their
quota of the road fund, ought also
to dig down into their pockets and
provide special fund for fixing the
town streets besides. If this is the
position of the Dispatch man, we
beg most emphatically to protest
1t is not the business of the town
people to do anything of the kind.
The streets of Jackson are a county
charge, as much so as the lone road.
No private individual should be al
lowed to monkey with the street in
front of his premises. No man
should be permitted to spend money
on the road according to his own
notion. 1t is nine to one shot that
by so doing he will injure rather
than improve the road.
Il 1HOSO 1uulflQudtS VINO do all
they possibly can to advertise Jack
son as non-progressive, not up-to-
date town, would each ask himself the
question, ''What have l done to i'm
prove the town; where are the mon
uments of enterprise that have con-
tributed in the direction of improve
ment, it would certainly be more in
keeping with the fitness of things. It
is well known that those who do all
the work with the jawbone, have
done literally nothing with anything
else. Their liberality and pride in
town affairs are all exhausted with
hot air. Like the sign posts we see
at crossroads, they point out the
way to others, but decline to walk
therein themselves. OF course the
citizens who have helped to make
Jackson what it is today, by the in
vestment of their means here, feel
sufficiently honored in having these
blind guide posts in their midst.
They realize that if those who have