The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-10-23
The Future of Highways.

The inevitable tendency of highway
legislation at Montpelier is in the line
OF state control. The failure of the
trivial and Intellectual system of town
construction and supervision was rec
ogniZed two years ago when the pre-
sent highway law was enacted. This
makes it impossible for towns to draw
money from the state highway fund
unless they have constructed perman-
ent highways that meet with the ap-
proval of the state highway commits
sioner or his men. This has helped
the problem somewhat but by no
means constitutes a solution.
Highways that pass through several
towns and are more used by the way
farer than by the townspeople them
selves present themselves at once as
proper subject for state control. In
the town of Gilmore, there is a road
that is extensively used by the people
passing through the town en- route to
other parts of the state, but it runs
through an almost uninhabted country
only two or three houses being situa-
ted thereon. There are dozens of
similar cases where the town is heay-
lily burdened TO keep up a highway,
used, perhaps, by less than a dozen
taxpayers but invaluable to the trav.
eller who may be going through and
beyond.
Highways that benefit the general
public more than they do the people
of the town should not be supported
by town taxation, at least not in the
proportion that prevails at the present
time. Where are the highways in Yer
mont to which this does not apply In
some degree?
State supervision for a few yards
of highway has worked we'll enough
says the advocates of better and more
permanent roads. Why should un'
trained and generally incompetent
road commissioners waste the money
of their towns in patching and putter-
ing at the roads wnen the state al
ready employs a corps of supposed ex
perts, the nucleous of an active and
efficient body of road builders that
might take the product of a uniform
tax and apply Il in every town of the
state, just as the county supervisors
now oversee the permanent road that
secure for the town its state highway
money?
The Howe bill for trunk line high
ways. with its affrighting appropria
ton Of $4,000 annually, would not
be half the bugaboo It seems at pres
ent II the entire business OF building
roads were given over to state com
missioner and his deputies Let then
have the entire expenditure Of the
highway money, and, IL they know
their business every town In the state
would have better roads, get more fol
their money and the tax could be graC
ually scaled down until, where some
towns are now staggering under ;
$3.50 tax on the grand list, less thar
one dollar would probably meet al
their requirements.
There Is something wrong abou
this highway business when about on,
town in ten Of this state is PRACTICAL!
bankrupt.
II may not come at present and 1
will never come unless the state
road builders can inspire the confid
ence needed to enlist the lawmaker
In such broad and far reaching pro
position, but, just as surely as count,
commissioners are getting some resul
from county supervision, just so woul
town supervision get results II the 10
cal roadmakers were under the con
, troll OF the state and entirely removes
from the jealousies and feuds Of loca
politics.
Eight trunk.line highways" sound
like a nightmare Just now. Fighter
or even eighty would feed them
there were efficient state supervisor
OF road.building. -Rutland Herald.