The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1904-04-22
NATIONAL AID PLAN.
Federal Government quite ~ Deeply
Interested In Good ROHds as in
Rivers and Harbors.

The bill for national aid TO road i'm
ployement which Mir. Brownlow, Of
4 eunessee. proposes TO reintrOduce in
.asiess this winter promises to be a
.. ...4r measure. So far IL has met with
l., uule opposition. In fact the ad-
,..als of the measure are anxious 10
..Naop some active opposition, as this
$3.50. Aeip them to get the subject before
,., ..lople and give them an opportunity
10 SNOW the strength of their case.
one of the strongest arguments il
favor of the measure IL that based on
lhe river and harbor appropriations
Legislation Of this kind rests on a half
century of precedents, and no one seri-
ously thinks of obJecting to it. The
only questions seriously discussed when
river and harbor bill comes up in con-
gress are the amount to be voted and
tor what particular works Of improve
ment the money shall be spent The
general policy is thoroughly estab-
lished. Congress has voted for improve
nents of this kind during the past 80
years more than Si00.00O,000, and now
an annual appropriation of S2O,OOO,OOO
would be looked upon as quite conserva-
tive.
The advocates Of national aid to road
improvement claim that much more can
be said in favor of their scheme than in
favor Of river and harbor legislation and
much less against it. Both come under
the general class of internal improve
ments' about which there was SO much
heated discussion in the early days Of
The republic. The general arguments in
favor of river and harbor appropriations
may be summed up as follows: %
They promote the general welfare; (2)
The Improvements entail an expense
too heavy TO be borne by the people
/ IF the localities most directly interest
I'd and, hence, would never be made II
the government refused TO foot the bills.
The same arguments apply with equal
,orce TO the Improvement Of the public
/ highways. Certainly no kind of internal
Improvement would do more to promote
the prosperity and the moral and intel
lectual improvement of the masses. It
/ Is also equally certain that this great
work Of internal improvement will re-
main undone, to a great extent, if the
whole burden of the expense is left to
be carried by the people Of rural neigh
borhoods. A century Of experience in
most Of the older states ought to be
enough to demonstrate this. In fact no
general progress toward good roads is
being made except in few states which
have adopted the state aid plan.
The policy Of voting federal aid to
road improvement has three great ad-
yantages over that Of voting funds for
river and harbor Improvements as fol-
lows:
First-While the money voted for the
latter purpose is collected from the
whole people by taxation. it is neces-
sarily expended in limited localities, the
Inhabitants Of which receive the greater
part Of the benefits. In fact. a great
majority Of the people Of the United
| States receive no direct, and but little
indirect, benefit from these improve
ments. On the other hand, federal ap-
propriation for road improvement
would be available for use in any sec
ton. Every state and almost every
county and township could share in the
direct benefits. while large indirect ben
efts would come to the people Of all
cities and towns.
Second-The benefits flowing from an
appropriation for river and harbor i'm
provement are strictly limited to the
lamOunt Of money voted, as no help is
lrequired from the local communities.
But the plan embodied in the Brownlow
bill merely contemplates that the gov
ernment shall help the people who are
willing to help themselves. No COM
munity could enjoy the government aid
until It had voted to raise large share
OF the expense by local taxation. Thus
a federal appropriation for this purpose
would produce benefits far beyond the
limits of the amount voted.
Third-One bad feature Of the river
and harbor legislation is the "log-roll-
ing" INDUCED in by legislators who are
anxious to secure funds for improve
ments in their districts or states. This
often injuriously affects legislation OF
all kinds. for many members subordi-
nate everything else to this. National
aid to road improvement as now advo-
Gated would be wholly free from this
bad feature, for the funds would bt
equitably distributed according to gen.
eral plan.
When the question has been fully pre-
sented and discussed in congress It is
difficult TO see how any member car
, logically vote for a river and harbor bill
and refuse to support an appropriation
to aid in improving the highways Of The