The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-10-19
GOOD ROADS.

1t this Government has one hun
dred million or two hundred million
dollars year surplus revenue, why
not use that surplus revenue for max
ingimprovements ! Why not deepen
harbors, improve waterways and
build good roads all over the United
States? The supposition is that we
and our descendants are going to oc-
cnpy this land permanently; why
not then make it a land worth living
in1
People are always bowling against
the railroads, but let us see if works
which legitimately belong to the Gov
ernment are as we'll equipped and
maintained as are the enterprises
built and managed by the rapacious
corporations. It is admitted by all
parties that public highways are
properly the concern of the Govern
ment and that they should be estab-
iishe6, maintained and controlled by
the Government. No wicked cor
poration is monopolizing or attemp-
ting to monopolize the public high
ways of any State. They are exclu-
sively under the control of the Gov
erment. What sort of public high
ways have we? Rotten-I say rot
ten.
The railroads, owned, maintained
and operated by the wicked copor-
ations, which have no business to ex-
ist except TO pay tribute topoliticians
and be regulated" are the best
managed properties, on an average,
in the world. They are in the high
est state of development, giving the
best and most efficient service for the
least amount of money and employ
ing at remunerative wages hundreds
of thousands Of men. On the other
hand, the public highways are SO bad
that savages might be ashamed to
own them.
If the United States Government,
then, has the 'huge surplus" which
Ellis H. Roberts regards as such
wrong" it would seem a measure
of prudence to use a portion of this
surplus, thereby diminishing the
wrong" in building and maintain
ing a system of public highways
throughout our national domain which
would make locomotion possible be-
tween our villages and towns with
some degree of comfort and safety.
If Congress would pass a general law
providing that the Federal Govern
ment contribute one-half or one-third
of the cost of building public high
ways in the several States, under
proper restrictions and conditions, it
would operate as great incentive to
each of the States to raise its share of
funds necessary to build such high
ways and would give marvellous
stimulus to the good roads movement
in general. The national Govern
ment could we'll afford to appropriate
one hundred million dollars year for
this purpose, on condition that the
several States would raise an equal
amount or, say, double that amount.
It does not follow that all high
ways, or even the major part of them,
should be favored with Govern
ment appropriation. On the con-
trary, most of the county and town
ship highways should be maintained
by local taxation or by a local and
State tax combined, but system of
good State roads and national high
ways might appropriately be devel-
oped by the national Government in
cooperation with the State govern
ments. This would dispose of our
huge surplus in common sense
manner by adding enormously to the
wealth of the nation; for each dollar
so invested, if honestly expended,
may be relied upon to increase the
national wealth at least three or four
fold. It would also keep money in
circulation here at home, give en-
ployment to vast number of men
and assure good times permanently.
-Ge0xge C,ichfeld, in ~. Y. Sun.