The Topeka state journal., 1909-02-16
General Good Roads Bill Passes
in House.
First Important Legislation on
Highway improvement.
LITTLE OPPOSITION
Only Ten Votes Are Cast Against
Measure.
Automobile and Engineer Bills
Are Sidetracked.

The good roads bill creating the of
fice of county engineer of highways
providing for the use of the road drag
and raising money for Improvement OF
roads was debated in the house all day
Monday and passed on roll call at
o'clock, only ten votes being recorded
against it.
Three good road bills were placed on
third reading the first thing Monday
morning. one providing for a tax on
automobiles. the receipts from which
were to be applied to the payment of
state and county engineers created by
the other two bills. The three bills
should have been considered together
as they were contingent to each other,
but there was no one with the nerve to
push the matter to an issue, so the
house let two of the bills ride and took
up the county engineer bill which had
been reported in the regular way by
the roads and highways committee
The other two bills, both by Case OF
Dickinson, were not considered regular
and in due form.
The house debate on good roads was
interminable. Minor points took up as
much time as the most important ones
Every phase of road making was dis
cussed. A road could have been built
from Dan to Beersheba while the
house talked on. Fifty out of the 12o
members arose ana spoke IneiT S6HlI-
mentS. A few minor amendments were
carried while a score failed to stick.
The hardest fight of the day came on
the wording Of the second line in the
first section of the bill and hinged on
whether or not "the county commits
sioners shall Gas provided in the bid or
may appoint a county engineer of high
ways. Some of the members wanted
the matter left optional with the COM
missioners, but a majority favored
mandatory good roads law as was
shown when the vote was finally taken
1t developed in the debate on this
question that the success of good roads
legislation depends upon a mandatory
law one that will compel a system of
permanent road making along scientific
lines.
Big sum for Roads.
The bill passed provides for the
placing of the construction of Kansas
roads of the future in the hands of
experts and raises nearly four mil
lions of dollars per year for that
purpose. This money is raised by a
poll tax of SO in cost to be paid by
each male citizen between the ages of
81 and So years which will amount to
a million. and the levy of tax of
one mill on all property in the state
which will amount to two and one
half millions more.
If it required a day to pass the
county engineer bill then it will take
up the rest of the week to get the
state engineer measure through
against which there is still more
bill designed to pay the county and
state engineer, freight and the general
good roads bill all yet to come.
Have Many Opinions.
The discussion of good roads in
the house Monday showed conclusively |
that while every one is in favor of
good roads there are one hundred |
different ideas as to how the result |
shall be achieved.
1t may be argued that England has /
good roads so why not Kansas, but
England, while not much larger than |
Kansas has thousands of dollars in |
taxable wealth where Kansas has one |
dollar, and besides is couple of |
thousand years older than this state !
Kansas is 400 miles wide and good !
millions in money and years of work |
America has wrestled with the bad |
roads handicap for two centuries, |
Kansas for a half century. The house |
of representatives Monday passed the !
first practical, efficient law looking !
towards permanent good roads work |
that has yet progressed thus far to- |
wards enactment into a state law. |
Three other bills are necessary to 1
the excellent system out
lined for the beginning of a real good |
roads work. There was opposition |
Monday and there will be opposition |
anu anu CdNlllHB To-Day
and tomorrow on the bills yet to
come, but there has always been /
opposition to every act of progress |
for the public good since Noah built I
the ark and there will be opposition
to the blowing of the trumpet |
on the last day, Let the good roads /
continue. Legislation of |
the kind now under conSid Grafton |
will be worth more to the state than |
all of the other thirteen hundred bills
in the 1909 legislature.
The talk of an extra session con- |
tinueS but there is not much founda-
tion for the belief that one will be
called. Gov Stubbs is opposed to it.
The legislature can still finish up all |
important business Only ten votes
were recorded against the good roads !
bill in the house Monday yet it re-
quired six hours of debate to bring the |
bill up to roll call.
State Normal II Years Old.