Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-06-12
DEsERET EVENING NEWS SATURDAY. JUNE 81 1909

is ID S F.R &. u EN-
The q tyi hall cost n m ilion dollsrE
|9at al time when building was nearly A
per. cent less expensive than 1t IS today;
and the State must have a. building
lar gen, than the CITY and Count y build
| ing. But event the cost could be
| limited 10 two and a half mill Ions, ~
would seem to be better econoiny te
build reservoirs for the reel ar'ation q
1.-the dry land first, and to erect the
| capitol building later on. Ia (
Almost every valley In Utah Us ma
naced BY floods - ac tual or Imminent:
and this state has y q money 18th which
to remedy al condition hat 10 a danger
to 70 many communities, and Is wholly
unnecessary and easily prevent IL bic.
Floods can be8controlled or@preyented
I IL tile State has the money But: there
THE rub
tho State should bond itself fo ~
ten million dollars With which to re,
forest all the cooler slop can olls,
| and plateaus Of the Wasatcf range
with pines, ana the lower nj ateaus and
valleys with catalpas, then floods
would soon become impossible In per
haps twenty five years the State would
have standing timber worth possibly
$50, 0oo, COO. But it would then have also
that which is or more value than
none the mountain and valley parks,
the rainfall and the dew which tho
vegetation would attract, the birds, the:
|ilealth, the Joy OF life found only in for
est areas In the midst of the desert, the
beauty OF groves, the feeling OF safety
from Hoods IN a. word. many Of tl,e
things which5ar more excellent Z would
then be ours
u And the State might we'll bond it
self 10 build good roads, which tax tho
farmer, and through him. all the rest
OF lbs. about $3.50 on every ton OF pro-
dice hauled TO market pI, Of freight
hauled TO the mills In this dry cli-
mate we are entitled TO the best roads
IN The world Practically all OF them
run through agricultural distriGts and
it is said to cost the farmers rs cents
to haul ii ton a mile on them. The ay-
Serage haul OF farm products is nine
miles. according to the estimate of the
Deparetnent Of Agriculture. The aver
age cost of hauling il ton a mile on the
roads OF France Is q cents. i
To transforln* our roads from bad to
good would cost an immense sum OF
sessary amount by taxation of land IN a
short fern of years would cause loud
protests from every tax in the
country 6 Il
* Yet this could be done simply by
all the country roads from
their preseslt a.verage width Of 80 feet
to so feet. The average width Of tile
German country road is from 20 to 80
feet BY narrowing them one-half We
could raise almost enough money 10
build the finest rock bedded roads In
the world simply by selling this surplus
land to the owners Of abutting pro-
perty Then, with q very small bond
ed Indebtedness In addition, u tab could,
without any added financial burden,
construct and maintain roads better
than even the excellent ones Of con
ttnental Europe. Why not bond the
State, IL 1t can be done, for something
that is productive of revenue to the
State? Il WHY & not for good roads? for.
state fisheries? for reservoirs? or even
for state libraries and museums, or for
insect termination
Not many of the states have before
them such opportunities for enormous
internal development as our own. Now
is our time to develop; the Capitol
building can wait AZ short time, and
then be more splendiily built out Of
our enlarged resources and by our
greater population. without burdening
the people and without in any way OBJ
STRUGGLING the advent Of the pending era
OF great industrial and commercial ex-
pansion now evidently before us, if
only we have sense enough to see 1T
and sand enough in our makeup as q
State to do the right thing.
II Yours for progress,
= Fl. PAUL. s1I
There is, it seems to US, food for.
thought in the suggestions contained In
this communicable lon. BY the proper;
management Of the resources of q
state, or a community. it should be
possible to progress and make ali
necessary improvements without max
ing the tax burdens unbearslble, as
seems to be the general tendency all:
oven this country