The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-03-05
CASH GOES To WASTE
MUCH MONEY is F0OLISHLY Elk.
PENDED ON THE HIGHWAYS.
Minnesota Has Devoted More Than
Two Million Dollars to Road Bet
terment; Do Away With County
Supervision and the Statute Labor;
Address By L. W. Page to Solons.

st. Paul, Feb. 27.-"This state is
spending 100000 annually on the re-
pair of roads and is. not getting more
than one per cent of that amount APP
piled so as to make the roads better
than they We're the year before. Let
us do away with the system of county
supervisors and statute labor. 1t was
originated in the reign of Henry VIII
and abolished in England during the
reign of James L.. but we are yet
clinging to it in spots"
This was the special message to
Minnesota which Logan W. Page, di'
rector of the office of public roads at
Washington delivered yesterday. Al
the request of James j. Hill and OF
Louis w. Hill, chairman of the state
highway commission, Mr.. Page was
sent from Washington to address the
legislature at the crucial time when
bills affecting the Minnesota good road
problem are before that body for con
sideration.
Bristled With Statistics.
AT the close of the session of the
senate yesterday afternoon Mr.. Page
gave a talk bristling with statistics
Stereopticon views We're shown at the
evening meeting in the chamber OF
house. Before andafter pictures OF
roads in Alabama, Maine, and Califor-
MIA and other states illustrated what
could be accomplished by the judicious
expenditure of money on roads.
The pictures which received the most
applause was one showing load OF
two bales of cotton stuck in deep mud
on a road in Alabama and the com.
panion picture in which load OF
twelve bales We're shown rolling
smoothly over the same road after il
had been treated by the federal gov
eminent. In each case the load was
drawn by two mules, but in the lat
ter picture the animals were not
exerting themselves.
This road was a mixture of sand
and clay and the transformation, Mr.
Page said, was effected at cost OF
$1,000 per mile.
Europe Leads Road Work.
Mr.. Page said in part:
Europe surpasses us in agriculture
methods and produces twice as much
to the acre. Their land has been farm
ed for centuries longer than ours, foi
we are wasting the treasures of om
forests and mines and farms so rapid
ly that the big subject of the day is
conservation of our resources. Eng
land, France and Germany have 81
improved their common roads tina
hauling costs on the average less thai
half what it costs in the United States
"The average haul for wheat from
farms in Minnesota to shipping point
is S.3 miles, and the average cost pc
ton per mile is about II cents in Min
nesota, making a total cost for haul
ing your wheat to market of $4,000,
600. The accepted average cost o
hauling in leading European countrie
is 10 cents per ton per mile, so tina
it costs you $500 more to marke
your wheat crop than it would if you
roads were as good as those in Europe
What Minnesota is Spending.
Minnesota is now spending Owe
100000 in money and labor on it,
public roads, and this amount it i:
amply able to eXpend, because, accord
ing to a comparison of taxable valua
ton in the different states, Minnesota
is one of the nine richest of the union
The state is practically out of debt
the entire amount being, l believe
about 100000. Massachusetts, il
going ahead with her road improve
ment programme with large annual ap
preparations, and with no i'll effects 81
far as money is concerned, and ye
Massachusetts owes $l05,000,O00, o.
2l0 times as much as Minnesota.
"a property tax of onefourth o
one mill ON each dollar of taxable val
uation would impose very light bur
den upon the property of the state
and would yield, on voluation of 81,
000,000,000, S25O,000 year. Even TIN
$250,000 would be inadequate, and
assume it would be supplemented b!
money derived from other sources, "a
is the case now. The state ought t.
feel confident of it's ability to spen,
at least 100000 a year, and this
with the $2,000,000 now being spent by
the counties, would soon place Mime
sofa among the foremost improved
roads states; that is, if the $1,000,
O00 iS eynended aS wisely aS the $500