St. Tammany farmer., 1908-05-23

Australia and New Zealand countries newer than our
own less popuous, and with nothing like our aggre
gate wealth The fact that the of the world has
good roads while We have bad is significant; it
shows that the plan have been pursuing has not
been successful. In three hundred years less than
eight per cent Of the highways OF our country have
been permanently improved and at ths rate 60
ing it would require nearly four thousand years to
complete the job So roadbuilders the people of
the United States have been a failure.
This is all the more surprising when consider
that they conspcuously successful in every other
line of human endeavor. Millions upon millions of
dollars have been wasted in every state in the union
upon the public roads by illtmed misdirected ef-
fort and with really very little to show for the
pendture. 1t is only within the last ten fifteen
that real progress has been made along the
line of permanently improving the conditions
The trouble is we have been endeavorng to un
tangle the snar by pulling the wrong string Without
any for doing the farmers of the country from
Maine to California from the very first assumed that
the country roads belonged to them and it their
business improve them, and this misconcepion held
sway for nearly 800 years.
A few years ago a man in New jersey made dis
covery It that the highways public property,
as much so the state house This raised the ques-
ton: Why, if the highways public property, should
not public take of its own why should not the
state and all property therein contribute to building
the roads?" Everybody is interested in them every
body is affected through the markets by the road
ditons; they benefited by good roads and injured
by bad ones. The thought spread throughout the
state and finally New Jersey led the way to better
dons by passing law by which the state should con-
roads Other states followed increasing the proper
tion to oEshaf and in one case, Massachusetts,. to
threefourths.
In many cases of the New England states farm
propery is only very small portion Of the total taxable
property not ten per cent, and when the
cost of road improvement distributed all prop
erv of the state the burden hardly felt yet
immense sums were raised for road purposes Best
Of ALL the roads built under proper supervision,
instead of leaving it to the inexperienced hands of
local path master.
Ten years ago New York state began in small
way to aid appropriated $4,000 to start the work
The plan grew favor rapidly that within five years
the state by overwhelming vote passed constitu-
tonal amendment providing for issue of 5O000000
in bonds to help build the highways. What a record!
In five years from fifty thousand to fifty miIlions The
tax necessary to pay the interest this enormous
sum and then finally pay off the bonds will hardly be
felt by the property of the Empire state owing
to their immense list of taxable property.
Ohio after 40 years of building roads by the old
plan of local taxation and bond issues in which the
farmer had to pay practically the whole bill, has
passed a state aid law which win enable it to build
three miles of improved roads where it has been build
ing one, without any increase whatever in taxation
upon farm property
Virginia is the first southern state to join the
state aid column for good roads Kentucky is alive to
the situation and is taking steps to change it's const
tuition IL order to be in position to spread the road tax
over all the property in the state.
In certain parts the country, notably in the Mis-
sisspp valley, there is entire misconcepon to
what the state aid plan Of road building means Some