The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-13

1zdt1On and progress IS Teldfueu. 0itH- out them there can be no proper devel- opment of tho resources, the energies and the enterprise of a people. In inventive skill, in scientific discovery and in in- dustrial progress our republic has led all nations. Yet we must admit that our rural roads and highways are prob ably the poorest of any country that has attained the same standard of civiliza- ton.
 Influence of Railroads
 'It is true that the development of the railroads in this country has been mar vicious and unprecedented, and has alone enabled us to maintain our commercial supremacy. The locomotive was almost coeval with our manufactory develop ment, and has been one of the chief causes of the rapid development of the country. A great many people assume that the railroad is a substitute for good highways, but this assumption IS absolutely unfounded. The railroads do unquestionably develop the country; they increase population, furnish additional markets for production, stimulate indus trial enterprises, create new centers Of trade and develop cities, towns and Vll- lages. Yet this very development itseH demands and requires more and better highways and roads. The railroad makes necessary good roads for the quick ana easy distribution of the freights which they deliver and receive. First and last ao per cent of the vast internal com merce of this country must be moved over the dirt roads. These roads are the feeders for the railroads, and the in- terest manifested in the cause or good roads by the great carrier systems or the country show that they realize that their prosp gritty Is intimately associated with, and to a large extent dependent upon, the construction and maintenance of suitable highways for the moving or the internal commerce of the nation.
 Better Day in Sight
 Tt is a matter of sincere congratula- ton that our defective system of high ways has received the earnest and careful attention of the people and that the day Is not far distant when the importance of the improvement of our roads will force some wiser and better system than now prevails. While the system or road building in the state since It's admis- sion into the union might have been adapted to the conditions that existed when our population was sparse ana when our resources were undeveloped, no one can deny that 1t has utterly failed to furnish such roads as the growth of our population, the increase Of our producton and the industrial prosperity of our state now imperatively demand In the early days, when the state was covered by vast primeval forest, when population was meagre, and when our income was limited, no other system might have been practicable. Yet, after n trial of nearly a century, we know that all the labor done and money ex- pended during that entire period under the system which now prevails has ut terlv failed to secure for the state a system of adequate and improved nish- ways Road making by the ald or iih- nroved machinery, as the result or long experience and careful study, has now be- come an important branch Of governments requiring both engineering skill ana SCI entiac knowledge. A system which en- tr,,sts inc construction of our public roads to men without any special aptitude or training. and who are frequently uh- skiIlf,1l and ignorant of the first principles unon which successful roadbulldlng de- nends. must necessarily result in dismal and humiliating failure. Only in those countries where improved roads and hlgh- ways have been built by contract py the issuance of bonds, or by system ol gen, oral taxation, and under the control or slsj,led engineers. do we find today sys- tenn of improved highways ana roaos'
 Who Shall Bear Costs
 .'rrhe question of who snail pear eile cost of the building of our pubic roaus is one as to which there is a large d. vergence of opinion. In New York and the New England states almost the en- t,re cost Is borne by the state; but the nrevailins system which has existed Tn this country and this state has been that the counties and local communities should only exercise jurisdiction and pear the whole burden of the cost. Since the for- nation of our state government the peo- ple residing in the rural districts ana owning our agricultural lands nave borne the entire burden and have built sup stantially all the roads in the state. Ihe people of the cities and larger towns have been exempted on the theory that tbeir revenues should be devoted ex- clusively to the construction of streets and sidewalks in their respective limits The result has been that the burden has rested too heavily on the rural conn munities In most of the counties .of the state the rural population has been unable to bear the entire burden of the cost of road building and the necessary result has been that our roads are wholly insufficient to meet the wants or pro- gressive and advancing civilization. The question therefore necessarily arises: IS 1t just or fair to require portion or the community those residing in the
 
 roads for all the people? Can such proposition be maintained in the forum of justice, or be sustained by the plain dictates of fair dealing?
 "A distinguished authority on this sub feet says that the same conditions which now exist in Alabama confronted the peo- ple of England during the close of the seventeenth century; and Macauley, speaking of it in his History of England, and describing the almost impossible highways of England during that period, said that the chief cause of the badness of the roads was a defective state of the law and the folly of maintaining at the cost of the rural population the great highways connecting the great clties or England.
 T'he general government of the United States is one of delegated powers. It can exercise no authority except what is conferred by the express terms of the constitution, or by necessary implication to carry out the powers specifically granted. The constitution, however, does vest in the Congress power to establish postoffices and post roads. Cooley i'll his work on the constitution declares that any road existing in state becomes post road whenever Congress makes pro- vision for the transportation of mails over and upon 1t. Therefore it is evident that the thousands of miles of roads over which the rural mail carriers travel are post roads and that their improvement is within the power of Congress. But what part the general government. the states and the counties should take In the construction and improvement of oui highways is a question yet undetermined. We all concede.y however, that there should be a joint cooperation.