The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-26

those already constructed in a state of
 high efficiency. There have been no important new roads opened in France for a dozen years, and the country is so traversed with excellent roadways that no more lines of communication are likely to be exploited save in the case of mill tary necessity. The wagon roads of France, always passable and reaching al. centers of population, no matter how small, are the chief competitors of the railways as means of communication by water are not numerous.
 "The road system of France has beel of far greater value to the country as a means of raising the value of lands and of putting the small peasant proprietors in easy communication with their mar kets than have the railways. It is the opinion of well informed Frenchmen who have made a practical study of economic problems that the superb roads of France have been one of the most steady and
 potent contributions to the material de-
 velopment and marvellous financial elas-
 ticity of the country. The far-reachlng
 and splendidly maintained road system
 has distinctly favored the success of the small landed proprietors, and in their prosperity and the ensuing distribution of wealth lies the key to the secret of the wonderful financial vitality and solid prosperity of the French nation.'
 Our national wealth for 1907 was placed at $1160O0, 900, 900 while that of France
 was placed al 42,000, 900 600; yet we have improved only 10000 miles of our public roads, while France has improved 340,55I miles.
 Is this condition of our public roads an
 enviable reputation for this great coun-
 try? After laying claim to superiority
 over all other nations along almost all other lines of development should we bt content to drop to the bottom of the lis in road improvement? Can we, at the peri of our commercial interests, afford it | Can we. at the sacrifice of the genera wellbeing and comfort of the great bod, of our rural population tolerate it? Some of the opponents of this propos ton would lead us to believe that tn macadamizing of all the 2.151 ,000 miles oi roads in the United States would bank rupt the government. It would be just as absurd to macadamize all the roads in the United States as it would be tc
 build a railroad or dga a caanl through
 every mans farm. It Is well known among highway engineers that a horse
 can, for a short time, exert about foui
 times his average tractive force without
 injury By reason of this fact a team
 of horses can draw for two or three miles
 as much on common earth road as they
 can draw all day on good macadam
 gravel or sand-clay roads.
 Cost of Roads.
 It should be apparent to any rational being that this two million miles of public road would be classified according te the traffic and the requirements in each section of country and only the main
 arteries of travel would require so expen- sive a form of construction as broker stone macadam. It would be entirely feas- l4l ot1I +l sand miles with gravel, many more thou.
 sand miles by mixture of sand and clay and probably more than one-half of tMs
 great total would be adequate if main.
 tained as first-class earth roads So tha
 it is absurd to figure on the cost of i'm
 proving our public roads at $5000 per mil.
 for the entire mileage, or at $4000 or ever at 5000
 The burden of inadequate transportation facilities falls not alone upon the farmer but upon the consumer. If 1t costs ? cents per ton per mile to haul the prod
 ucts of the farm to the railroad station the consumer must pay this additiona cost without increasing the farmer: profits one penny, and the farmer must pay an increased price for the finished product which he obtains from the cities because tho same facts hold good, botl going and coming. Some years ago corn
 was burned as fuel in the Mississippi valley, because 1t would not bear the
 cost of transportation, since the margain was insufficient. The railroads lost tho freight and the markets the product. It may. be argued that if the advantages 1 to follow road improvement are so great the states should take action and levy sufficient taxes to improve them. Some of our states have already passed road laws, providing for a road tax levy on
 their taxable property. Such laws, how ever are necessarily confined to the wealthier states whose taxable property Is sufficient to raise the large sum from small levy. All of our states are not able to lew such tax. For instance,
 tax of 1 mill levied by the state of
 Pennsylvania would raise more money
 than a tax of 100 mills levied by the state
 of Nevada. So 1t is not from a lack
 of interest in good roads, nor from a
 want of progressiveness, that all of our
 states have not passed highway laws, bu,
 it is because the taxable property of most
 states is so small that to raise a suff-
 sient amount of money for practical re-
 suits would require an exorbitant rate oi
 ta Xation
 Furthermore, to undertake by state tax
 ation to raise all the money necessary tc
 build and improve our roads will con-
 tinue the burden upon those upon whom it has so long rested. The state revenues are raised by direct taxation, and the | levy is upon visible property. The farm
 er's property is all visible, and, therefore never escapes taxation: while a large pei cent of the property of the people of the cities is represented by stocks and bonds Is easily removable from place to pa ce CT concealed, and is rarely ever subjected to taxation. The farmers have thus al ways been forced to bear disproportion- ate share of the burden of taxation which is an injustice which they should be relieved against.
 ,, Poorest Roads on Earth.
 MT. President of all the civilized coun- tries on earth, this country has the poor, est roads. In all else that is progressive l it stands first. In material wealth, 1T iNaried resources, in the products of agri- | culture, in the making of iron and steel | in the number of miles of railroad ir