Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-22
GOVERNOR GILLETT'S
HIGHWAY BONDS

cen million dollars of state bonds, to
be spent by the representatives of
corrupt political machine in the pre-
tended construction of highways
throughout the state that thing is
found in the communication of J. NJ
Eddy, secretary of the California Good
Roads association, to the board of di-
rectors of that association, lately made
public. OF the many objections to the
bond proposition discussed by Mr..
Eddy, one should alone be sufficient to
utterly condemn the proposition in the
minds of all honest citizens, and to
accomplish its overwhelming defeat.
Mr.. Eddy says:
Perhaps 1t may not have occurred to
the authors of this project that If the
interest provision of the measure is
enforceable, 1t is possible to tax every
county of the state for fifty years in
terest, except the county of san Fran
CISCO from which. by the terms of the
act itself. the authorities are estopped
from constructing roadways. The 9TH
er counties of the state may be called
upon in fifty years to pay over $20,-
100000 in interest on these bonds, be-
sides their share of the $4,000, 900 prin-
cipal
But the city and county of san Fran
cisco-the richest municipality of the state,
tne center OF the automobile trade-through
the extreme cunning of the acts construc-
tion, is exempt from any interest burden
on tile bonds. while every other city in the
state sustans such a proportion of the in
terest burden the county in which such
city is situated shares in the supposed bene-
fits or mileage-cost of the state system.
IT fully agree with the principle that
the large cities should share in the
cost of construction and maintenance
of country highways for modern traffic,
especially for roads designed for thor
oughfare traffic. But I deny the con-
stitutional power or right of the legis-
lature, or the people themselves, to de-
wise and enforce law creating a pub
lie Indebtedness purporting to be uni
form in it's provisions, yet eXempting
the largest and wealthiest community
in the state from the larger part of the
burden of such indebtedness. VIII
IneSe become NdIlu SldlG JULIUS IL lliC
principal assumes to be a lien on the
whole state while the interest is con-
fessedly a lien on a fraction of the
state? Whether or not the lawyers
will be able to secure a solution of this
question in time to construct the state
system of highways before the bonds
mature, the equities of the case will
never be adjusted until we are given a
highway law through which every
community in the state bears its just
share of the tax burden
From the foregoing it would appear
that the present state board of equali-
zation does not represent all the friends
whom our sister city of San Francisco
has in the state government. 1t is
quite evident that the governor, at
whose dictation the law was drawn and
passed. is as much interested in pro-
tecting the people Of San Francisco
from bearing their just share of the
burdens of the state government as
were the members of the state board
of equalization, who by their unjust
valuations imposed taxes upon the
Southern California counties largely in
excess of what they should Justly pay
and correspondingly lightened the tax
burden of the people of san Francisco.
There was probably no doubt in the
mind of every honest citizen Of average
intelligence and observation, that the
governors scheme for bonding the
state in the huge sum of eighteen mil
lion dollars to construct public high
ways had its origin primarily in the
desire to strengthen the political ma
chine to which he owed his political
eminence in the state. The fact that
it was proposed to make this bond
issue a burden upon Los Angeles coun-
ty, which had already provided for its
own highways by a bond issue of three
and a half million dollars, and should
therefore have been exempt from any
additional burden, was enough to have
condemned it in the minds of all our
citizens. But when, in addition to TINS
Injustice, it IS shown that while Los
Angeles county, which has already pro-
vided for her system of highways, VIII
he called upon to bear the burden of
this bond issue, the city and county Of
San Francisco viii escape the payment
of any interest upon the bonds. the
governors scheme becomes so doubly
unfair and unjust as to make 1t un-
thinkable that it shall receive the sup
mort of any honest, fair-minded voter,
1t is pretty safe to say that as soon as
the voters get a chance at the gov
ernors scheme 1t win be so completely
hurled under an avalanche of negative
votes that it will not again be heard