Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-07-15
Dairymen Want Better Roads.

l.
Statef are wideawake and progressive,
especially where their interests are
concerned. Recently they have been
catching the enthusiasm Of the good
roads movement. The National Dairy
Union is one Of the greatest farmers
organizations in the country. It's
power was shown last year when it Sc
cured the passage through Congress
Of the oIeOmargarine bill. 1t looks now
as if the Union will take up the fight
for national aid in road Improvement.
Secretary Charles Y. Knight recently
expressed himself as follows concern
ing the Brownlow bill:
in company with hundreds of thou
sands of other people throughout the
United States, am very much inter-
ested in this bill. l have just returned
from tour of Italy, France and Eng
land, where | had an opportunity to
observe the character of the roads in
those countries. Coming home and
looking over our miserable facilities
for getting around in the rural dis
tricts, / made up my mind that it will
be necessary for this country to do as
European countries have done in order
to get good roads, i. e., have Govern
ment aid.
1.-The National Dairy Union is organ
lied throughout the North in every
Congressional district which has any
amount of agricultural constituency
and l am firmly Of the opinion that
the progressive farmers who are dairy
men will be in favor of the bill for ma
tional aid I am so much interested in
it's success that am willing to use
my influence to have our dairy farmers
petition for the passage of this bill. |
would be willing to give several hun
dred dollars out Of my own pocket to
see the roads of this country improved
like those of France"
To many it will doubtless be news
to learn that something very similar
to the proposed cooperation Of State
and nation has been going Oh for many
years in the building of Mississippi
levees. In recent report on this sub
ject Col. Amos Stickney, President of
the Mississippi River Commission,
said:
1.-THE allotment for leyees for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, was
$1,000,0O0, and the expenditure of Il
like amount, under contract, is author
fznI fO,. tho o11c,1iuO
1.-THE total amount expended by the
United States upon levees from the be-
ginning of that class of work in 1882
to June 80, 1902, is $16,5S0,61417. The
total contents Of levees long the Mis-
sissippi River is now about 100000
cubic yards, about one-half of which
has been placed by the United States,
the other half being the work of State
and local boards. The amount of mon
ey expended by these organizations is
not known.
There are ordinarily no restrictions
placed upon the expenditure of allot-
ments, but all allotments are some
times determined by the amount of
work that local authorities can do in
connection with or supplementing gov
eminent work to make it more effec-
tive.
''The funds applied by the State and
by local boards are understood to be
derived from special taxes authorized
by the respective Legislatures.
Here we have just such a co-opera-
ton between the Federal Government
on the one hand, the States and local
committees on the other, as is proposed
in the Brownlow bill, although not car
ried out under specific act of Congress.