The Democratic advocate., 1909-08-13

| drew the constitution and necessarily
ought to have known something about
it insisted upon building roads with
! government money. They were a
Door ignorant set, were Hamilton, JEFF
ferson and men of his kind and we
waited until the reign of OF Cannon
the First, before we discovered 1T;
he, the man who had the supreme
nerve to inform the National Good
Roads Congress last spring that
though he was in favor of it, that
nothing would be done by the Govern
ment to aid in the building of good
roads, because it would be unconstl-
tutional. Well, if he was sin
cere, he can prove it, for there
! is one thing the Government
can do that cannot be accused
of unconstitutionally if they are will
ing to help the cause. and that is
build a great highway from Washing
| ton to Gettysburg as a Memorial to
| Abraham Lincoln. 1t is going to
spend millions of dollars in some kind
of a memorial to that great Ameri-
can, and what more fitting tribute to
| his memory could there be than a
great road 1t would be typical of
| the man, it would be useful, it would
| be something that would serve the
people, not a thing to be looked at.
The lessons learned by its construc-
! ton would be of aid to us all in road
building, and if built on the lines sug-
gested by Mr.. Lafean and outlined by
Mr.. McCleary, and then called the
Lincoln way, the memory of that great
man would never perish as long as
as our hills and valleys last.
It may be thought that l am vast
ing time talking about it, as Speaker
| Cannon says we can't have it; he
wants to spend $4,000,000 in beauti-
| fying that vacant lot of ground be-
| tween Union Station and the Capitol,
while some of his friends are inter
ested in land along the Potomac
River, which they wish to sell for a
park. Why, he and the Republican
| House of Representatives are so SUI
Dremely Indifferent to our demands
that they actually turned down Sena-
| tors Knox's resolution which had
passed the Senate appropriating $780,
! 900 for survey for the highway from
Washington to Gettysburg. So you
see there is not much hope of any
general legislation in Congress bene-
| fetal to the farmer as it is at pres
ent constituted and will not be until
the Republicans wake up and send
a different kind of men to represent
them, men who will make the ex1s-
tence of the rule Of Cannon and his
| kind impossible. At present our case
before the National Government does
not appear to have any one represent
| ing us and the question of aid to road
building is laughed at. But l yet be-
Iieve that if you get after them you
can at least get the Lincoln way and
this would be a good beginning IN the
right direction.
State Roads.
The signs, though, in the State are
more encouraging We have good
or bad Roads Commission, according
to ones point of view, Whlch mas
clearly spent 18 months getting ready
to build roads. The suppressed en-
ergy which it has concentrated DUR
ing this period of time when releas-
ed should accomplish much. In Car
roll county it has so far Succeedeu
in selecting the routes OF the ROADS
to be improved, two OF Whlcn, tne
one to Taneytown and the one to Man.
chester, will serve large NUMBER OF
people, will act as trunk lines ana, IL
built, will be of inest1mable Denenl.
Why this commission should have Sc
lected a side road in the Southern
part of our county I am not prepared
to say. In fact, it is such dellcate
subject with me that l will drop 1t
at once, and, leaving the State work,
come to our county, for from the pres
ent progress in State road building,
it looks like the greater part OF TINS
work will have to begin at home, IL
we wish to enjoy it.
Our County.
We have bad roads and fairly
good road law, but this alone is not
ADEQUATE to the conditions CONFRONT
ing us. Under it we can repair all
our roads and improve portions.
When the State builds it's roads, those
of our people who are not living on
or near them will want improved
roads also, and they should have them.
They can only, however, be given
these roads by bonding the county
and building the roads ourselves
Now, bonding the county Is nothing
to terrify one, for the bonds shoulo
be for a long period so that we, anu
our children, and those that come
after them, who will receive the bene-
fit of these roads could help pay for
them. There are about 500 miles OF
roads in Carroll county including the
turnpikes, and taking off the pixies
and the roads that the State will i'm
nroye. will leave us about 73O miles
to take care Of There are about
272. $40 acres of land in the county
and at the average saving of 90 cents
per acre, you can pay $177,2l6 year
which YOU save, which Will pay 3H2
per cent interest on $2,O0O,0OO and put
S1O7216 to the sinking fund. Thls
would pay off the bonds In twenty
years. If this is too srort, we "ouiu
make them for fifty years, and pay III
only half of what we save. Inc cal
culation is based on what 1t IS estl-
mated would be saved each year. AS
this money would not be collected ano
handed over directly, it would neces-
| state being included in our tax levy
which would raise the taxes aDou'
| one-half per cent on the dollar, at oul
nresent taxable basis. The increase
| in the value of land, however, In Ne"
Jersey, was so great that 1t was no'
necessary to raise the levy, and tnls
! might be so here. Again, ~ ,OOU,OoI
would improve every road. There are
many side roads that are little useO
that could be left out, and l DelleVe
when the question is carefully ex'
amined it will be found that $l,OOO,
600 would be all that we need. In ad'
dition we can build cheaper than tne
State, but this is matter OF detai