The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1903-02-14
MAcApAM ROADS.

4hC pcopiO VI AdAdfOOOS SOuub1
must face the problem Of macadam
roads and solve it. 1t is not worth
while to cherish the illlsory nope Of
state or national aid. 1t is pos
sible to do this work gradually
by local taxation. 1t is also pos
sible to do it by the less approved
method Of private franchise. A tax
on this township equal TO that which
is paid to sustain the public schools
would in six years macadamize to the
township line every main travelled
road leading out of Lexington. Such
a tax would build five and one-third
miles per year at the Jackson county
contract price. If the county court
would nnounce that it would build
that road first the patrons of which
would raise the largest cash bonus or
give bond to do the largest amount Of
rock hauling, the rapidity of rock
road building would be greatly in
creased.
The suggested rate Of taxation is
only to reduce the proposition to
figures. The school tax rate is greater
than the people ought to pay for
roads, although the road tax would
be Temporary while the school tax
will be forever with US, Moreover,
when the macadam roads are once
built they win SO increase property
values that the present tax rate would
then yield as large a revenue as the
special rate to build them.
If the roads were built by a town
ship tax, the city Of Lexington would
pay half the tax, and very properly;
the city Of Lexington would derive
half of the benefit. 1t would increase
the trade and increase the property
values of the city, To say that this
cannot be done is absurd and can be
shown to be so by well known facts.
The people Of Lexington once raised
by private subscription to be paid al
one time $3.50, 900 for a railroad
bridge That sum would m~acadamizt
fifty miles of our township roads.
While they would not affect freight
rates, rock roads to our township line
would bring very much more trade
now lost to Lexington than a river
bridge.
Moreover the township need no
pay so much as 5000 per mile. Tn,
township might raise a road fund b,
taxation and offer, say, So, 900 per mill
for any mile of rock road continuou
from the city limits. That commu
mites and patrons Of the yariou
roads would vie with each other il
raising the additional sum per mile t
secure the township appropriation
proven by the experience of som
counties in every StatS which ha
rock roads.
The value Of macadam roads is nc
fully appreciated by those who hav
never experienced the benefit Of then
They are a centralizing influence
villages disapp ,ar from the map whe
the rock road comes. Hence railroad
favor them. They make towns fewt
and larger. Railroads also favor the
because they relieve congestion, di
tributing throughout the year graf
and other freight deliveries. This
profitable to the farmer in more wa,
than one. He can hold what he b
to sell for the higher winter pric
He can haul larger loads and NAL
better time. He can do his haulir
when the weather is too bad to
anything else. Rock roads impro
the social character Of the countr
facilitate the distribution Of d
mails, improve country school a
tendance, make possible the conso
dation Of country schools and t
establishment Of country high schoo
They increase the value and desil
bleness Of distant and otherwi
inaccessible lands, improve the attr;
lions Of country life, make it east
70 Keep the boys on the farm, a
mitigate the terrors Of winter a
sickness. They are as great civilizI
as the public school, as great til
savers as the hay rake, as grt
beautiders as the spring time.
1t is nonsense to lie down and
it can't be done. To macadam
every Important road in the couI
would cost less than the drouth
1901, aud the drouth OF 1901 sent
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