The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1905-01-05

EIi Ia uINl about the making of the
nMl lM roads we are just obliged
Gl-@ to use, from January to
December in every year of our mortal
lives, and yet multitudes have spent
all their days in driving and trudging
over bad roads; because there has been
no concerted effort made to make an
advance in this needful business which
would perfect a rod or two each year
of the turnpike so that it would stay
in good order for a dozen or twenty
years without repairs.
Millions upon millions have been APP
propriated for rivers and harbors, yet
the every day road, the road that nine
ty-hundredths of the population are
obliged to use, if they go anywhere,
has never had q dollar from the Fed
eral Government or q fraction of help
from the National Treasury. Money is
voted for all sorts of things regardless
of the taxpayers necessities, right at
their own doorsteps.
AS Senator Latimer remarked: lone
hundred and sixty millions areas Of
land were given to the Pacific rail-
1OdOS " AClp lAOSC OOAOCu 81 Au1SdlCo.
to build up a paying investment for
themselves, while the most important
and most needed public Improvement,
namely, country roads, have had no
help at all.
He said also: "More than a third
Of the seventy odd millions of our pop
ulation live away from the cities and
&oxxync'p - in foot country nnnTliQ
They live on an average of from n to
twenty-five miles from the nearest
town or city. Upon this class depends
in large measure the bodily comfort of
the whole country, and the wealth of
the country is drawn primarily from
their labor.
cit is a s~elf-evident proposition that
the advancement of our agricultural
classes should be the prime concern
of every statesman and patriotic citi-
zen. The necessity of their education
in mind and in improved methods and
mean of production and of their con-
tentment in their a%vocations cannot be
overlooked. " = > But a more seri-
GUS tendency is the inclination of the
farm people to go to the cities. If we
would do away with this evil, some
means must be devised to make farm
life attractive and pleasant, and to give
TO that class of our people some of the
benefits and advantages enjoyed by
the other classes. The Government
must stimulate and aid the people in
this work.
"The burden of building and main
tanning these roads should be distribut-
ed equally among all the people. The
State must either levy a tax to do this
work, or the Federal Government
should do it."
Senator Latimer's proposition is to
collect half from the State and half
from the general Government, and do
the work we'll from the beginning to
the end.
Here is one of the Senator's plain
illustrations:
stake, for instance, the farmer who
owns 100 acres of land valued at $50
per acre, who has farm animals, farm
implements and other property which
will amount to $4,000. Levy a five mill
tax on his property, which will amount
to $50. 1 hold that under the provis-
ions of this bill there are three ways
in which he would make 100 per cent.
and pay his taxes. This farmer would
haul at least fifty tons these roads
in Il year, eight miles being the aver
age haul, and twenty-five cents per ton
per mile, and under the present state
Of the roads making 500 in expense.
"By reducing the cost of transporta-
ton one-half by reason of improved
roads, he could move the fifty tons for
$50. He could pay his $50 tax and
save $50"
Another reason given by the Senator
was the uses made by the Government
Of these roads in mail distribution. The
people are nov made to pay for their
mail privileges and also provide the
roads over which the mails travel.
But the main point in the argument
is the existence of a tremendous sur
plus in the Treasury, which is now
loaned out to national banks without
interest. He denounced this method
Of assisting one class to the injury of
the taxpayers as unjustifable, and in
sists that this money should be used
to benefit the people who need these
good roads, and who have contributed
so largely to the revenues of the ma
ton, and who get no return or benefit
from this accumulated surplus. He es-
timated the surplus at $3.50, 900, 900,
and SIS, 100000 has been loaned
to national banks without interest,
while the country roads must be built
and maintained by the labor of the
people who live in the vicinity, and
even their mail privileges must be paid
for, while their taxation continues to
be heavy.
Experience in Massachusetts.