Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-02-26
aI O and Corn Fifty Prosperity With Ca eHs For e Fa
district including cities of the
[nlrd class, al be used to i'm

district including cities of the
third class, all be used to i'm.
prov ethe roads in such district.
Each township is divided into
at least four districts and the oy.
erseer appointed by the town.
snip commissioners may have
charge of all four districts or
they may appoint an additional
overseer for each Of the districts
In counties having a County En-
glneer, said officer shall be the
county surveyor if he is quail
tled by training and experience
Tor the position and he shall hay,
charge of the road work in the
county, receiving for his ser
Vices the sum of four dollars per
DAY with certain maximum for
the year which in Barton Coun-
ty would be more than 500. |
felt rather elated over securing
the raise in the minimum popu,
latlon required for county engi-
neer so that in our county it
is optional whether We have the
engineer or not. The bill re-
celyed my vote on final pass
age and | believe it is an excellel
road law.
The next bill to be taken up
was the Automobile bill. This
provided a tax on automobiles
costing $250O or less, of $500 pei
year and over $25OO $1,000 per
year. The fee is known as regis
tratiOn fee and is to be paid to
the state engineer of roads and
public highways. Out of this
fund the expense of this new Of
flee of State Engineer will be
collected will be retained by him
him for a contingent fund and
paid. 5 per cent of the fund
the balance distributed to the
II
counties from which it came be-
ing pro rata according to the
total amount received from auto
|owners in such counties. While
favor the proposition of laxa-
tion or licensing autos, yet it
Hooks a little bit like class legis-
lFaiton and the 4opinion ofzsome
lawyers is that it may be uncon-
stitutional. l didn't vote for
this bill for several reasons:
First 1T implied the Great
ing of an additional officer, to-
wit: State Engineer of Public
Roads and Highways.
SecOud:-I lie leve that the
total amount Of money collected
as license should be retained
by the various counties in which
it is collected.
Third If, by chance, this law
should be declared uncOns,itu-
tional. the tax payers of the
state will be called upon to pay
tax for the support of an ad'
ditional officer of which a coun-
ty like ours will receive practi-
.cally no benefit.
If a bill could be drafted
providing for tax on autos
and leaving the entire amount
Of money collected with the
several counties, | would be glad
to support it but | DON'T be-
80 that the auto owners OF
barton County should pay any
part of the expense of an Offl-
Ger who will be useless to that
Ounty and only be useful to
the Eastern third of this State.
The third good roads law 10 be
taken up was one providing for
the appointment Of a State En-
glneer. The bill as drafted pro
vided that he should have his
office in the State House and
should be appointed by the Gov
,rnOr. The Bill, as 1t passed the
House provided that his office
should be at the Agricultural Col
lege at Manhattan and that his
appointment should be made by
the Regents Of the Agricultural
College. This looks to me like
a pretty good proposition becaus
at the Agricultural College he
will come in contact with hun
dreds of young men from the
tarms of Kansas and as a provls-
ion was added as an amendment,
that when not engaged in his Of
ficial dutie Q he should be CIV.
en- instruction in road building
and structural bridge engineering
and when called on by the coun-
ty institutes of the different
counties, he shall do likewise. 1t
shall be the duty of the State En-
gineer to, upon application of