The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-02-13

towns and counties liable To damages
at impossible mud-hoes and prevent
ed that rapid settlement which was
SO desirable An illustration Of what
might have happened on a large scale
was given h Jefferson county, Wiscon-
sin. when Wisconsin was a territory in
1916 A wholesale peddler, with a
valuable load Of goods, was mired in
a swamp and suffered a loss which
he finally offered to settle for 5000
This was refused and a resort had to
the courts, and the case was settled
about tweny years after in the United
States supreme court and settled ac.
cosdng to the town laws of some
eastern state which were legally APP
plcable to Wisconsin, while it was a
territory and by this time the dam.
age and costs had run up to about
$1,000, which was paid by the then
innocent township by an issue Of town
ship long time bonds,
Our early laws made it easy to
construct bridges by procuring bridge
timber from government land and also
by condemnation at a nominal figure
when the land happened to belong to
/ nonresident spectators or others.
4 II a traveller broke his harness, lost
his wagon or anything else in mud,
hole, it was his bad luck. If he com
/ planned that the eastern township
laws iii such cases made and provided
/ would have fully remunerated him for
ais loss, his only consolation was to
De told that he was not living in an
eastern state. Our road laws today
very properly allow the sufferer no
damages in similar cases, or from
broken bridges, Some OF our most
/ fortunate towns. where road materials
/ are handy, are constructing such good
roads and bridges that they may all be
ready for laws as rigid as those Of
/ New England and New York. or as
stringent as those We have ourselves
provided for the government Of cities
md villages where sufferers from
/ broken sidewalks or impossible roads
have ample means of redress, but for
the general run of our prairie town
ships we still need the happy-g3-
lucky imprcyid9nt road and bridge
laws which are still in force.
| But loose as we ccaaiGer our LAYS.
there Is more in them than is general
/ " bciieyei as for in. tanoe, the les
which provides that highway commits
'inocr8 may levy tax of forty cont
y the one hsndred dollars Or a5t
,elt5 il certain cases, for roads and
ridges, and 10 frequently hsppons
hat commissioners in ar6ar ID lscs
'rTn tla ta&og Of tGd c>na6tDnts
! 3yy d n,ach ligater tax iea2 tho iaR
allows. This happened c1cc j Sacl. y
county Gnd was followed IN q suit
o compel the commissioners to MAKE
certain read improvements fcr winch
hey had 20 money TAeir O. enc
;as their Hgh. and yory cc3nynic.
tax lavy, but tho iudg showed than
hat as they admitted they know SHAT
The taxes levied would and could not
make the movements desired, they
lad neglected their duty and wer2
iahlc TO fine Of fifty dollars cNeA
/ Ild tho case been carried to Ike 8,
2remo court and this decision sus
aiued, we would have been seeing ID.
maximum road and bridge tax as
'esscd in nearly every township in the
tate, instead of the very light tax
/ levios very often assessed. and per
! laps not one highway commissioner
hundred is aware of the real
meaning of this feature of the road
md bridge law, which is, that in case
'oads and bridges need it, The com
missioners must levy the maximum al
lowed by law, and in case more money
Is needed, the tax payers have the
option through other features of the
same law to raise as much higher
axes, within certain limits. as they
choose, or at their option. to supple
nent the levy by an issue of town
ship bonds
Before 1913. at which time a new
| State Constitution was adopted all Of
he counties Of the state were under
boards of county commissioners or
county judges. Township organizn-
ion came in after the adoption of
his constitution and very soon there
lfter nearly every county in Northern
illinois where New Englanders and
New Workers. were in the majority.
passed under the township organiza-
lion system by voting in the manner
prescribed by law and the change
has progressed till now there are but
nineteen (19) counties under the coun-
| y commissioner system. The road
md bridge laws we're Immediately
| modified so as to fit tho new town.