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

yours In ILLINOIS, the townships may
issue bonds in no event exceeding per
cent Of the assessed value Of the prop
erty, and the highest interest rate is 8
per cent.
Suppose the township in which the
farm is located issues bonds to the full
constitutional limit of per cent. The
amount of this obligation raised upon
the farm in question is per cent OF
$1,000, or 500, payable at the rate OF
$40 per year with interest. In the ten
years the owner of this farm would
have to pay 500 on account Of bonds,
$3.50 on account of interest, and $40
on account Of State aid, making total
tax Of $167.50, or $16.75 a year and no
more, which would be equal to a tax
Of 1874 cents per 500. Road taxes
now range from 40 cents to 81, with
an average of 60 cents. Thus it will be
apparent that under State aid the build
ing Of roads in large way would add
but very little to the farm taxes. The
and can only be understood after one
has had the experience Of using them
and knows the conditions.
The present highway commission had
a road census taken at seventy-two
places in the State on different days Of
the different months Of the year to see
to what extent bad roads affected trav-
ell. We all know that bad roads keep
the farmers at home the question was,
to what extent? Some very interesting
figures were gathered. Here are a few
of them:
In March, 1896, over an earth road
leading into Springfield the average
traffic was 6515 vehicles per day. Over
the same road in June and July, 889.
The same days a hard road leading
into Peoria, the count was, March 166.
June 155.
Over an earth road leading into
Champaign, March 81, June 200.
Over an earth road leading into Sui
Ivan, January, February and March,
81; August and September, 316.
At Centralia. over an earth road,
March %, June 1877.
At Decatur, over a gravel road,
March 24O, June 278.
No words can be more eloquent than
the above figures.
The space at the writer's disposal
does not permit further discussion Of
the subject in this article, SO he closes
with this general observation: In and
around Chicago, Joliet and Kankakee
are inexhaustible supplies Of road ma
terial Hundreds Of cars loaded with
coal 60 north to Chicago every day and
return empty. These cars on the re-
turn trip could bring road building ma
terial for a very small freight charge,
and the railroads are willing to do this.
It is feasible and practical to build
hard roads in Central Illinois at cost
of from $4,000 to $4,000 per mile, de-
pending upon the character of the road,
distance Of material to be hauled, etc.
What is true Of Illinois is largely
true of Missouri. Residents of st. Louis
and Jackson counties pay more than
half Of the taxes paid in the State, to
say nothing of the cities Of st. Joseph,
Hannibal, Springfield, Joplin, ETC.,
whose contributions would serve to
tighten the burden Of the farmer. The
need Of Missouri is parallel to the need
of Illinois, and the greatest good that
would come to both States would be
through an extensive system Of road
building under up-to-date State aid
laws This plan of road building has
been adopted in fifteen States already,
it works to the satisfaction Of every
one and more is being accomplished I'M
der it in one year than has been accom-
plished before in twenty years The
solution of the good roads problem is to
be found in State aid.
II. H. GROSS,
Secretary Farmers Good Roads League
Of Illinois.
Good Roads Proof OF Intelligence.
The Honorable John H. Bankhead,
Senator Of Alabama, in a powerful