The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-03-07
ROAD COMMISSION FIGHTS NEW
LAW,
Declares it would be Step Back
wards.

The Iowa Highway commission has
come out strongly against the new road
law which passed the house, after a
lively scrimmage early last week and
which is now soon to be before the SEN
ate. The officers of the association de-
clare that the proposed law would be
step backward in the solution of the
good roads problem.
at would do the work of the highway
commission nestimable HARM said En-
gineer of the Commission Z. H. Mac
Donald, of Ames. "The old system of
working out road taxes should never by
any manner Of means be restored.
During the last session of the general
assembly several bills contemplating
return to the old labor tax method of
working the roads never left the COM
mittee rooms, and the uniform success
of the money tax system during the past
year has been such that surely quietus
has been placed on the old system for all
time.
"The passage of such bill now would
mean most discouraging backward
step as it is entirely contrary to the
trend of the road legislation of the past
four or five years, and it would put a
serious stumbling block in the way of
further progress.
cit might be argued that the bill now
pending is hedged about with the pro-
vision that to be affective in township
a petition of two thirds of the voters
must first be filed, but it would be a
comparatively easy matter for few
dissatisfied men to have petition signed
by two-thirds of the voters in town
ship even in the localities where SPLEEN
did work is being done under the present
system. This provision has the sem
blance but lacks the inherent strength
of safeguard. The attempt is con-
. stantly being made to interest the
highway commission in petty neighbor
quarres apparently oyer the road work,
but really over some little personal
grievances against the road superin-
tendent. In these cases, We're such
statute in force, a petition would soon
be started to go back to the old labor
tax system. But this is only one of the
many conditions which exist in MANY
townships that would bring into being
such petition.
"There is no call in state as uniform
as Iowa to have road laws passed for the
whole state that are the outgrowth of
local conditions in a few counties or
townships and meant to be applicable
only to these. Such laws would soon
result in distressing non-uniformity of
road building and maintenance within
the limits Of each county.
GAS the law now stands, four superin-
tendents can be appointed in each town
ship. The average road tax available
bred dollars. Divide this amount into
four parts and each district will have
three hundred dollars to expend besides,
the poll tax. In the rolling districts of
the state, three hundred dollars will
grade one mile of road in fairly good
shape and take care of the small culverts
necessary. In the more level districts
the same amount will grade one and
one-half to two miles of road. These
amounts are not given as the cost for
the mere scratching of the surface with
a road machine, but for putting up good
grades such as have been built in the
southern part of Carroll county or in
Dallas county, and these figures are fur
nished from actual work done in these
counties. 1t is not to be hoped, how
ever, that with four superintendent in
a township each one will content him
self with building one or two miles of
we'll graded roads, but will attempt to
make it go further than this and thus
secure no fairly permanent improve
ment. The road machinery of each
district is used perhaps ten to twenty
days during the year and the rest of the
time lies idle, Notwithstanding that its
value in most cases amounts to more
than the entire road tax for any one
year. This condition of affairs is bad
enough and so it is hard to understand
why anyone would wish to divide the
townships into more than four districts
In direct contrast to this policy OF
division is the consolidation of not only
each township into one road district
but practically the whole county into
one road district, as has been done in
Dallas county.
"There are certain changes in the road
laws that could proftably be made, but
the highway commission has recon.
mended only two of these this year. 1t
has recommended that the county road
fund be increased by one mill, making
it two mills in place of one as heretofore
and decreasing the township road tax by
a like amount. This is to secure more
centralized and better systemized adj
ministration of the road funds. Tha,
such plan would prove successful has
already been demonstrated in Dalla.
county. The second change recon
mended is an act substituting a county
engineer appointed by the board of sup
ervisors or elected by the people, tx
hold Office as long as competent ane
satisfactory service is rendered, for the
present county surveyors. Such al
engineer would have general direction
of the bridge and road work under sup
ervision of the board of supervisors, ant
be held responsible for carrying out thu
plans adopted, and the contracts made
by the board of supervisors. The sue
: cess of such plan as this has alread,
- been demonstrated in Lee county.
saA "The whole tendency of modern roat