The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-06-15

Sk..fs. HE farmer viii ask, How
much would the tax be on
"a ~ 8 my farm to have good
IL 4 x roadsy This is a vital
WOW question. and it goes to the
heart Of the whole matter. As the an
swer 10 the question depends on the
size Of the farm, its value. the assessed
value Of the township, and the county.
and its location, no answer can be
given that win ht every case, The
following example. which is based on
conditions that represent the average
situation in Illinois. as stated, will fur
nish an approximate answer: Let us
assume that John Jones owns a quar-
Ter section in a township in Central IL
linois. where the county is made up Of
sixteen townships. The records OF the
State Board of Equalization show that
$500 is an average assessed valua-
tiOn OF such a farm. The assessed
valuation Of a farming township is
$4,000 or over. but we take $500. 600
as the basis. Then the assessed valu-
alton Of the county would be S4,80O. 900.
and under a State and county aid road
law (which seems to be most equita-
blel, the cost Of hard roads is divided
in three parts. charging same to State,
county and township.
The States portion Of the cost would
be paid in cash from the one mill tax
levy. The county and township paid
by issuing bonds. payable in twenty
annual instalments. with three and q
half or four per cent. interest.
To meet these bonds with the inter-
est the county and township must
raise. upon an average, $1,000 q year
for twenty years.
The township tax must be spread
over 100000 valuation, which win
make the rate four mills. The county
tax must be spread over S4,S0O,OOO
valuation. which makes the county tax
one fourth of a mill. So upon the
farm in question the annual tax bill
will be:
State tax, one mill. ll...........S1.S so
County tax, one-quarter mill. As
Township tax, four mills. ....... T.2O
ADtNi. -. ss.ss ssJ.-t0
The above is based upon only one OF
the sixteen townships in the county
building hard roads: for every other
township where 100000 is expended
for hard roads the county tax will be
increased one-quarter of a mill, equal
to forty-fve cents a quarter sectiOn.
which would have to be added to the
above. If every township in the coun-
fy should undertake at once the build
ing of a similar system of hard roads,
the county tax on the farm would be
four mills, 1r S7.2O, which. with 1920
township and $3.50 for State tax,
would bring the total up to s1620.
Suppose the farm in question IS
question is planted in corn and yields
an average of forty bushels to the
acre, the tax then will represent one
fourth of cent bushel on the crop.
shows, and | believe every
one will admit, that wideawake farm
er, having at all seasons of the year
good, hard roads, can. by watching the
market and selling his corn under the
most favorable conditions, get at least
one cent, and often five cents bushel |
more than he can under present condi- |
tions. With hard roads he can take |
advantage of the market; with mud |
roads the markets often take advan- |
tage of him. And if our friend on the
farm viii sit down, take his pencil and
figure out the saving he can make by
hauling twice the load in half the time
BY reason of the hard roads. and the
saving of wear and tear upon his
-eams, he will see that, in fact, no mat
-er how he figures. he can save the
,ost of hard roads many times ove1
very year.
The building Of hard roads on the
main thoroughfares will reduce the
present road and bridge tax at least
,re-half; so the cost of hard roads is
20 evenly distributed that it does not
become burden.
Usually fifteen, or. Mt most, eighteen.
niles will cover the main roads in any
owDship; these can be macadamized
r gravelled, making permanent hard
Dad. at cost not exceeding $4,000 in
ny part of the State, and usually for
$1,000. In localities having material
lose at hand the expense can be cut
0 $4,000 or $4,000 With modern
oad machinery the remaining dirt
Dads can be graded, crowned and
rained, greatly improving the same.
nd the whole cost VIII not increase
be present road tax over ten cents an
Gre year. The whole question IS:
re hard roads and good roads worth
10 yes' for quarter section?
Generally the cheapest and most ac-
essible material should be used. In
bout half Of the State gravel can be
ad: in the southern part of the State
very good material, known as Nova
lite. is found; in the vicinity of Joliet
I'd Chicago there & an abundance OF
] road materials, gravel, limestone
ID furnace Stag, while Chicago's
eat drainage canal has upon its
INKS millions of cubic yards Of good
ad material. and at the south end of y
is stone pile is the Joliet peniten- q
lry,-ChicagO Tribune