The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1906-11-29
State Geological Survey Of Wis.
Sends Out q Call to the PEG.
Pile Of the State for Help
BEHIND OTHERS
Amendment Which is to be Voted on
BY the Next Legislature Will
Make it possible for Rural
Highways to Have Aid

1cal survey and the provisions of the
proposed amendment to the taxation
laws of the state which was considered
by the County Board on Wednesday
| afternoon will be of more than pass
ing interest at this time. In regard
to the system of State Aid for High
ways the State Board has sent out a
long bulletin of which the following
is a portion:
.The effect Of the adoption of such
a system in Wisconsin can be Judged
| by its effect in other states. Where
the plan has been adopted the public
spirit of the citizens has been aroused
and their interest in the good condi-
ton of the roads excited to such an
extent In some cases, as in New York,
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts,
that millions Of dollars have been
spent in improving the roads. Ac-
cording to most careful estimates the
people have had more than these mil
lions returned to them in the in
creased value of the land, and the in
vestment of these vast sums has
therefore been amply justified, even
though they had to be built directly
by the country districts through
which they passed The working of
state aid, however, is such that the
country districts through which the
roads pass do not pay this full cost.
In Wisconsin the assessed valuation
of farm property is very probably ap-
proximately equalled by the assessed
value of railroad and city property.
Under state aid all the property in the
state is taxed for the building of
country roads. and therefore the
country property bears only a part
proportional to its valuation. This
expenditure of taxes raised upon cities
and upon railroad property in the
building of country roads is amply
justified from any point of view.
Railroads in many states have been
keenly interested in the building of
roads and they have sent out experts
and trains of machinery to build sam
pie roads IN districts along their lines.
AS railroad official said at the build
ing Of one of these object lesson roads,
his railroad served the country for
not over five miles on each side of its
track lit was southern railroad and
It good roads were built in the country
It would serve the people within a
distance of Is or 80 miles. This would
mean to his railroad an increase in
business of several hundred per cent"
In the same way were cities inter-
ested in the building of good country
roads. The merchants of the cities
IN several parts of the state have
given ample subscriptions for the
purpose of aiding in building roads to
attract the trade of the country dist
riots to them. While they have done
this partly from phi1anthropic mo-
tives, no doubt there has been also
back of their giving, the knowledge
that they would receive this money
back in the profits on increased sales
OF goods. It may at first sight appear
to the ordinary dweller in city who
is not IN trade that he is in no way
benefited by the expanding of taxes
raised upon his property for the build
ing of country roads, but this is en-
tirely wrong, as moments consider
alton will show. During the National
Good Roads Convention at St. Louis |
Worlds Fair one speaker computed
for the benefit of his audience that |
the city of st. Louis paid each year
IN excess freight upon goods deliv- |
cred to them from the surrounding |
country in farm wagons a sum of |
$25O,O00 He stated that this sum was
paid by the city rather than by the
farmers because of the we'll known |
fact that the consumer pays the |
freight. In other words, the farmer
must make living, and if it costs
him dollar more to. haul load of |
potatoes to town over bad road than
It would over good road, the persons
who buy those potatoes must pay
dollar extra in order to give the far
mer that which he has a right to de-
mand for his labor. For these rea-
sons, therefore, the application of
state and county money raised by tax
. AOe OAAJ AAAAA RAORSAt CAe City
property and railroad property as
we'll, is justified, even IN the consid-
Grafton Of actual cash returns
The giving of state aid is also justi-
fed for the reason that it educates
the farmer in the value of good roads
and teaches him to build them for
himself. This has been the case In
every state where such course has
been pursued. State aid has not been
sufficiently extensive to pay for its
share of all the roads which the farm
ers desired and as consequence af-
ter once experiencing the benefits of
good roads they have gone ahead and
built them at their own expense with
out waiting for state money.
Nowhere in the United States have
good roads been built to any extent
where the total cost has been borne
by the farmers themselves. Some
such means as state or county aid has
been necessary to get the movement