Middletown transcript., 1907-03-02
xrDDLErowN, DEL, MAR. ., 1907.
THE sSOO,OOO LOAN

presented JlaG II SuDlultGeu LII
the early days would receive
scant consideration. Sometimes
they slip through, but usually
they are caught. The latter was
the fate of the proposed bill to
bond this County for $500, 900 to
build Good Roads. 1t was jam
med through the Senate, but the
good sense of a few members Of
the House halted the proposition
there. And it is still there.
The TRANSCRIPT was one of the
earliest advocates of good roads,
and has consistently persisted in
the advocacy of better roads and
better commissioners to manage
them. But we are not in favor
of this proposed half-million
dollar loan, as at present framed.
The people and particularly the
taxpayers of this county, we be-
lieve, are willing and anxious to
have good roads, but they do de-
sire that any sum of money spent
for this purpose shall be so ex-
pended that a dollars worth of
value shall be received for each
dollar spent. We do not believe
that such a result can be had
under the present system, and
we are not attacking or impeach-
ing the honesty of any member
of the body that would have the
expenditure. But the matter of
good roads in Delaware is still
in an experimental stage. The
authorities do not seem willing
to profit by experience of other
states which have been in the
business of improving their high
ways for many more years than
we have. Without an exception
so far as we have been able to
discover every state requires
that the expense of building such
roads shall be apportioned
among the several parties bene-
fitted, namely, the abutting prop
erty owners, the local division,
(which in Delaware means the
hundred)the county and the.state.
The The proposed proposed bill bill puts puts Ell the
cost on the county. This is a
serious objection, but one easily
remedied.
We do not believe that wild talk
of the city papers that the City
of Wilmington pays from 60 to IS
per cent, ( variously estimated
according to the mood of the
writer) should have serious con-
sideration. In the first place,
the city pays less than 6O5 Of the
taxes. Then again the county
has built for the city six bridges
at a cost of considerably over a
million dollars, and the expense
of maintaining these bridges in
cluding tenders, repairs, &c,
amounts to many times the total
paid for all other parts of the
county. Wilmington contributes
probably 80 per cent. of the in
mates of the workhouse and the
county hospital. Therefore, the
matter of location should not be
considered. The question is too
large to be considered from a
local standpoint. What benefits
one part Of the county benefits
all other parts.
= There is hope expressed in
some quarters that eventually
the General Assembly may de-
eide to incorporate in the pro-
posed Act, q provision for a com
mission with authority to employ
a competent engineer and expend
this loan on a board general basis
rather than upon the plan pro-
posed. This would disarm much
of the opposition to its passage
as at present developed. The
selection of roads as made in the
bill will mean a slot of roads
starting nowhere, and ending
from two to four miles from the
same place, as was remarked to
the writer by one of the keenest
men Of this county, a day or two
ago. This, of course, is not to
be taken literally. The provis-
ion for the Improvement of that
part of the State Road south of
Middletown is really the only one
in the bill which meets our views
of what should be the plan. We
feel that any systematized i'm
provement of the roads should
start on the main highways that
are travelled most, and then
the betterment of the laterals can
and will follow. Let US have one
good road to start with. Take for
example the proposed road in
this hundred. The road from Mt,
Pleasant to Boyd's Corner. while