River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-05-07

Australia and New Zealand. countries than
own, less populous, and with nothing like aggre-
gate wealth The fact that the rest of the world has
good roads while 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 country have
been permanently improved at the rate we are go.
ing it would require nearly four thousand years to
complete the job. So roadbuilders the people of
the United States have been failure.
This is all the surprising when consider
that they conspicuous 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 ltimed or misdirected eff
fort and with really very little to show for the
penditure 1t is only within the last ten fifteen
years any progress has been made along the
line of permanently improving the conditions
The trouble is have been endeavorng to un
tange the snarl by pulling the wrong string Without
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 msconception held
sway for nearly 800 years.
A few years ago man i'll New Jersey made dis
covery 1t that the highways public property
as much the state house. This raised the Ques
ton: why, if the highways public property should
not the public take of its own why should the
state and all property therein contribute to building
the roads," Everybody is interested in them every
body affected through the markets by the road
dtons; they benefited by good roads and injured
by bad The thought spread throughout the
state finally New Jersey led the to better
dons by passing law by which the state should
tribute one-hird the money required to improve the
roads Other states followed increasing the proper
ton to onehalf and in case, Massachusetts, to
three-fourths.
In many of the New England states farm
property only small portion of the total taxable
property in not ten cent and when the
cost of road improvement distributed over all prop
ertv of the state the burden hardly felt and yet
immense sums raised for road purposes. Best
Of ALL the roads built under proper supervision
instead of leaving it the inexperienced
loca: path master.
Ten years ago New York state began in a small
way to and appropriated $4,000 start the
The plan grew in favor rapidly that within five years
the state by overwhelming vote passed constitu-
tional providing for issue of $50
in bonds to help build the highways What a record
In years from fifty thousand to fifty millions The
tax necessary to pay the interest this enormous
sum and finally pay off the bonds will hardly be
felt by the property of the Empire state owing
to their immense list of taxable property. s. q
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 aid law which will enable it to build
three miles of improved roads where 1t has been build
ing one, without any increase whatever in taxation
upon farm property.
Virginia is the first southern state to join the
aid column for good roads Kentucky is alive to
tuition be in position to spread the road tax
all the property in the state.
n parts of the country notably in the Mis-
If the state aid plan of road building means Some