The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-23
Increasing Business With the
Globe Increases Business
for Business Men.
SUNDAY, AUGUST %, 1908.
GIVE THE COUNTY GOOD ROADS.

In one respect the people of Ramsey
county, and of st. Paul which const1-
tutes so large a part Of it, are like
the philosopher who, while gazing in
tently at the stars, tumbled into an
unnoticed pit at his feet. While they
are bestowing large attention and
worthY. effort upon immediate and Wis
ible factors of prosperity and growth,
they are shamefully neglecting the
very first resource and need of any
urban community. They would deem
themselves on the way to ruin if
there were any material decrease in
the number or decline in the service of
the railway lines that connect them
with the world at large. They are sin
gularly Indifferent to the condition of
those lesser highways that bind them
to the district for which they are the.
only center and whose trade is all
their own if they choose to, take it.
s We believe that this omission is the
result of thoughtlessness rather than
of Indifference or intentional neglect.
For, in the case that has recently
arisen, where the Mendoza road was
ordered closed to travel because of the
dangerous condition of a bridge. pub4
lie opinion made itself felt so quickly
and so strongly that the assembly at
once took action. But over the coun-
ty roads the city council has no juris-
diction; and the condition of these
roads is something deplorable. This is
of immense injury and of first rate
Importance. And it is subject to
speedy and complete remedy if the
people shall insist upon it.
We publish in our news columns
this morning careful and minute de-
scription of the various highways be-
tween the city of st. Paul and the
outlying districts. This is the result
of a personal investigation by a rep
resentative of The Clio b e. who dur
ing the week Travelled over and ex-
amined them. 1t discloses a lament
able condition. 1t shows that a city
which is about to celebrate the semi
centennial of it's existence has been
unable in fifty years, to put and keep
in decent repair the roads that must
bring to it so great and valuable a
gift of business; that it suffers that
business to decline and to be diverted
TO ~ S,,4e,
or its carelessness.
The difference between these thor
oughfares that stretch from the set
tied portion of the citys territory to
all points of the compass is simply
one of varying degrees of badness.
Some are more execrable than others:
some have more stretches of passable
ground than others: but the best of
them could not by any courtesy be
called good roads, or offer comforta-
BILE and easy transit at all seasons of
the year; while the worst of them are
available only in the season when Won
can drive anywhere else without being
overturned or mired. 1t is a condition
that st. Paul must not permit to con-
tinue
This default, be it observed, is not
the result of niggardliness; it is not
because there are not funds sufficient
for the work; it is not because the
people are not being taxed to have it
done We quote from our local review,
OF the situation one paragraph that
ought to startle every citizen and tax
payer:
For the construction and mainte-
nance of these roads in the last six
years total tax of $165,o0o has been
levied and $4,000 collected and ex-
pended. At cost of $1,000 per mile
this sum would have constructed sew
enteen and onehalf mileseof macad-
amized permanent road. The county