Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-09-02

For three generations the people or
the Middle West have acted upon the
supposition that the country roads be-
longed to the farmer and that it was
his business to build and care for them.
The farmers have accepted the burden
and spent tens Of millions upon the
highways with very little If any per-
manent benefit The art of road build
ing is not understood, and often times
as much harm as good has been done
by the expenditure of time and money
upon the roads. The fact is the coun-
try highways do not belong to the farm
err any more than they belong to any
body else; they are public property, as
much so as the state house. That being
the case why should the whole burden
or practically all of the care Of the
roads be placed upon farm property.
This question was answered about fff-
teen years ago by New Jersey, which
State passed a law requiring that a
portion of the expense Of permanent I'M
provements should be paid by the State.
1t is not uncommon for q county to aid
a township in building bridge; that is
county aid. If the highways belong to
all the people of the State, why should
not all the people aid in the improve
ment Of the highways?
In Illinois less than one-third Of the
taxable property Of the Staterfs farms.
Why should the twO-thirds escape and
put practically the whole burden upon
the third? If we are to have good
roads in Illinois-that is, roads good
every day in the year-two things are
necessary. First, to make every dol
lars worth Of property in the State pay
its fair proportion toward building the
roads, and secondly to so eXpend the
money that q dollars worth of improve
ment will be had for every dollar eX-
pended; that is, to stop the awful waste
that exists to-day upon the administra-
ton of the highways.
There is not a farmer in the State
that does not know and will not agree
that the money spent is as good as
wasted Probably there are few, if
any, farmers in the State who do not
wish for good roads, or who would not
appreciate them. The only thing they
fear is that the roads are expensive,
and to build them would enormously
increase taxation. That would be true
If all the money were paid by the re-
spective townships and paid at any
one time. The people could not stand
1t. But if all the town and city lots
and the property of corporations, the
railroads, telegraph and telephone COM
panies, all were compelled to pay q
moderate tax to create q fund to assist
in building such country roads as the
voters of the respective townships de-
cided to improve, the burden would be
comparatively light. If a general tax
were levied upon all the property of
the State nearly 20 per cent would be
paid by the property that now escapes
taxation for road building purposes
Fifteen States, one after another, have
adopted the State-aid plan Of road
building, and in every case 1T has work
ed to the satisfaction Of the people and
roads are rapidly being built under it,
and the people do not feel the burden:
1t will be interesting to observe what
the effect Of a State-aid law would be
In Central Illinois, provided the State
should adopt a strenuous campaign for
good roads and arrange for an eXpendi-
ture of $5OOOO,O00 in ten years. The
State could not well expend wisely, if it
had to, larger sum of money per year
than that indicated. Let us make an
application Of this plan to a typical
farm in Central Illinois.
A 100 acre farm in the corn belt is
valued for taxing purposes at from ST.
500 to $4,000; $4,000 IS a fair average
assessed value Of these farms. Now, If
$5O,0O0,O00 were to be expended in ten
years, the State paying one-half and
the townships one-half, the State would
have to raise money at the rate of ST.
100000 per year as its proportion, and
to do this on the present assessed val
uation Of the State, which is a little
more than $3.50, 100000, would require
800. This upon q $4,000 farm would
be exactly 81 per year, and in ten years
It would amount to $40, to produce the
State-aid fund. 1t is worthy Of notice
in passing that 2-mill tax OH the prop
erty Of one single corporation in Hi
nois would require it to pay $1,000
per year or $4,000 in ten years But
one gas company in the State would be
taxed $4,000 per year. The railroads
in the aggregate would pay about $212,-
600 per year, while the farm in ques-
ton paid 81.
Under State aid, the township is re-
uuired to furnish half the funds for
building earth roads the people Of the
township wish to build; they are not
compelled to build any unless they de-