Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1909-06-24
TO RAISE FUNDS
BY COUNTY BONDS
Counties Should Learn What Types of High
ways are Best Suited to Traffic and
Climatic Conditions.

DuilulnR Oh graVel ROADS.
w. l.. Spoon, United States Super
intendent of Road Construction, be-
ing sent to make an inspection of the
county's road possibilities, learned
that 700 miles of important routes
needed improvement. He figured that
the cost of gravel road would be
SO, 600 a mile plainly sum greater
than the county could be bonded
for. Conditions, however. were
ideal for sand clay construction and
he strongly urged its adoption. BY
legal proviso the county could be
bonded for only 81 per cent of the
assessed value of the real and person
al property. The plan was decided
upon and an issue of SAB. 900 was
voted. One hundred thousand dol
lars worth of the bonds were quickly
sold. being disposed of in $50. 900 al
lotments.
The first allotment brought prem
ium of 1866 and the second one of
1925. Forty thousand dollars was at
once spent for mules and road build
ing machinery and work was started.
With the remaining, 118 miles of
the finest sandclay roads in the south
had been built within two years from
the date of the bond issue; a gem
erous sum was still on hand eight
gangs were at work, and the people
were so pleased that they stood ready
to take up the remaining issue of
S4S. 900 and expend it in the same
way. 1t is the belief of the Di-
rector of the Office of Public Roads
that such facts should be impressed
upon the people of all counties de-
sirous of extending and improving
their highways before actual work is
under way. When that has been
done, he is warmly in favor of the
raising of funds by issuing county
bonds with the restrictions which the
Virginia Highway Law imposes, viz
that all moneys so raised shall be
spent under the watchful supervision
Of State Highway Commissioner.
because otherwise the money may be
wasted
Many farmers. fear bond issue as
they do the visit of the chionch bug
or the Kansas grasshopper but the
benefits they derive from that method
of raising money for read improve
ment are far reaching and immediate,
while the Individual tax on each is SC
small that it is scarcely rot ceable.
In reality, borrowing money through
the sale of road bonds is like buying
house, a farm. or business on the
installment plan. The purchaser
receives the object at once and de-
rives the benefits from it while pay
ing for it. AS the benefits derived
from perfected highways cover long
periods of time. fairness and equity
demand that the rising generation
should bear portion of the cost and
that the increased citizenship. always
attractive to~the locality by system
, of good roads. should also aid in
paying for the added benefits.
Besides that, thcre is financial
wisdom in floating county bonds for
road Improvement In many cases
those bonds sell at q premium, and
everybody interested gains benefit.
In some Southern states good road
hopda bava hoprh& a x,~,on -. I'LL
that the premium has wiped out two
or three years interest on the prin-
cipal- In Bradley county, Ternes-
see, but few years ago the super
visors voted bond issue of 800, 900.
Those bonds bore interest at the rate
of five per cent So enthusiastic
were the citizens for road improve
ment, and so much confidence die
they have in the locality in which
they lived that the premium wa:
$50. 600, the cash sales placing in the
county treasury S1l0. 1000.
1t has been ascertained by the
Office of Public Roads, the Bureau O.
the Federal Census, and the land an,
industrial divisions of twelve grea
railroads, that the blilding o
modern highways Immediately en-
hances the value of the propert,
through which they run to marked
extent. This increase is estimate
by the most conservative at 81 a
acre, and by the more enthusiastic a
50. All eoncede. however. that tn
increase is immediate and inevitable
Place the acreage of the rural porto
of a county, therefore, at 200. 90
acres and the increased valuation du
to the construction of better high
ways at but 81. SO an acre, and it vii
be seen that the property holder
whose land is to be thus benetfie
would gain not less than 5000. o.
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