The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-01-06
GET OUT OF THE MUD.

Suppose every main travelled road
leading out of every county seat
town in Iowa had been macada-
deep with crushed rock from the
stone quarries, what saving in eX-
pense to farmers it would have been
during the past six weeks What
saving of business to the merchants
in town! What a comfort in living
to us all! But it is impracticable in
Iowa, so says everyone, because in
this country road building is every
body's business. We refuse to see
beyond the end of our noses.
But look at the cost! Well look
at it then. About $46 per year for
ten equal annual installments plus
quarter section of land abutting on
such a highway; So per year plus
( interest for each quarter section for
two miles back from such "a road
and road building tax Of less than
one-half of one per cent per annum
for 200 miles of such road in a
county like Marshall for instance. Is
it worth it? Would it be worth the
price of four loads of hay per annum
to farmer living on such a road to
have it extend from his mail box to
town? Would it be worth the price
of 90 pound shoat per annum to
each farming living within one-half
to two miles from such road?
Would it be worth about twice the
public library or city park tax to the
city of Marshalltown to have such
roads leading for nine miles out of
town on every highway approaching
it? Is it worth it? If it is let's have
| it.
Here is the plan. In the first place
the state must abandon it's peniten-
tiaries and sets it's criminals to work
at the quarries to man the stone
crushers. We want crushed stone
delivered free of charge except the
freight. For 60 cents per square
yard or $4,000 per mile we can
grade, macadamize with free stone
or gravel and roll such a road twelve
feet wide to perfection. We want the
state legislature to give us the same
kind of deal on road building as
has been given us for drainage work.
We want the special road district
whereby we can assess the land with
in two miles of stone roads for one
third the cost on ten year bond is
sue or paving certificate plan. Then
we want the abutting land assessed
for one-third of the cost on the same
plan and we want the county to pay
the other third by a special levy and
bonds. 1t could be provided that
such special levy should not exceed
ten mills and when road building has
progressed SO fast as to reach the
limit we could stop until some of the
other roads had been paid for. In
Marshall county we could build 400
miles before we had reached this
limit and the limit of ten mills is
only one per cent tax which the
people of the city of Marshalltown
once gladly voted upon themselves
for five years to aid a single line OF
interurban to Grundy Center. In
twenty years we could build and pay
for such roads every four miles apart
running from east to west and from
north to south across the county.
The people of every county talk
glibly about the feasibility of inter
urbans costing half a million for
every thirty miles and seem conf
dent that those who live along the
line will patronize an interurban
strong enough to make it pay. Why
be afraid then of the same invest
ment for 100 miles of stone roads
when the terms are the ten year
easy payment plan! If men in the
$40 per acre swamp spots of north.
ern Iowa launch their half million
dollar drainage bitches in order tc
raise the value of their farms what
is the matter with 100 miles of stone
roads at the same cost creating the
same benefits? If the farmers liv.
ing on the stone road thinks the
cost too steep let him increase the
yield of his forty acre patch of corr
two bushels per acre and pay the
: bill or raise one acre of potatoes {
year to pay his road tax. What we
need is some stone road promoter:
: to talk it into s.-Marshalltown
ITimeS-R eDuh1ican