The Washington times., 1903-04-01
5IONhAL AID URGED
TO BUILD GOOD ROADS
Eat Convention VIII AS
senbIe at St. Louis.
ID ARGUMENT ADVANCED
eminent Helped Construction Of
always Which Are Only Private
Property Free Delivery.

veral weeks ago arrangements were
)Ieted for assembling IN St Louis
april y The greatest good roads
ertion ever held. It is proposed to
il not only national. bur interua-
II IN character. Judging from the
tion of delegates already made n
States. II looks as if the conven-
viii be made up Of representative
from all parts of the country.
doubtedly the principal subject for
lssion Will be that of national aid
ltiined in the bill introduced in the
Congress by Representative Brown
The friends of that measure Will
the convention loaded TO the
lie" with arguments in its defense
ng The arguments which they offer
the greatest confidence, the fol-
1g may be noted:
-st-The Government aided in the
ling Of many Of the great railroads,
ciauy IN the West. by grants Of
- nous areas of land, and otherwise
these roads are. without exception,
- ID by private individuals and cor
- tions. and operated solely for pri-
gain. How much more necessary
proper, then. for the Government TO
and encourage the building of high
which are public property for the
and benefit Of the peopIe2
cond-The Government annually
opriates many millions Of dollars
he Improvement of rivers and haT-
10 facilitate commerce. But these
opriations are of necessity very IN
Ily distributed, few States receiv-
the greater part. and many others
living none whatever But the i'm
ement Of the public highways is just
Important TO commerce. and q na-
tionaI appropriation for that purpose
ould be SO distributed as to give each
tate is proper share
Third Money appropriated by Con-
sress for other purposes only accom-
pIishes results commensurate with the
amount spent; but money appropriated
TO aid and encourage road Improvement
Teuld accomplish vastly more, because
States and counties could only secure
the benefit Of this aid by contributing
proportional sums 4 national appro-
pTiation for this purpose would serve as
a universal stimulus to road improve
ment
Fourth-The free delivery of mail IN
the rural districts must always remain
limited 10 those communities which. by
reason OF their wealth OF favorable
natural conditions. are able to have good
roads Other communities whose peo-
pie are equally deserving, and whose
contributions help TO maintain the whole
postal system, are deprived OF the bless
ings OF free delivery because of their
poverty or because natural conditions
make road Improvement difficult and
expensive.
Here is a grave injustice which can be
Femedied in one Of two ways-either the
whole scheme Of rural free delivery
must be abandoned because It cannot
be carried out with equal justice to all
the people, or the National Government
must lend a hand 10 help the less ia
vored communities improve their roads
thus making universal rural free de-
livery possible. The fathers of the Re
public provided for Just such a contin-
gency as this when they empowered
Congress to establish postofhces and
postroads.
These and similar arguments will be
put forward with a great deal of zeal
and enthusiasm by The advocates of ma
tfonaI aid. As several State conventions
have already indorsed this scheme, It
viii not be surprising if the St Louis
convention also approves il.