The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-06-09

,,u voted a bond issue OF 100000 to
be spent upon the highways OF wayne
comfy. The state will also help, and
the result will be ESQ to 300 miles OF
Grst class highways, covering tne
county with Detroit as center by
spreading the payment over 20 years IL
Is found the increase In taxation is SO
small as not to be noticeable. On an
average 80 acre farm II will be some
thing like $3.50 year.
Roads well built are permanent
given moderate amount Of attention
and expense for maintenance
There is no reason why the present
generation should carry the whole bur.
den, and the future should be relieved
therefrom.
The plan Of building a s'gall piece OF
road every year by an an sual tax. and
extending the road a mil or two at a
time is unsatisfactory in results, the
cost is considerable more than It
should be, and It takes long time to
get the roads. II 20 miles were built
at one time in a townrhip, there would
be strong competition among contract
ors and the tax payerl would find they
could get their road9 from 10 to 25
jer cent. less money that they would
have better built roarfs and would have
them to use at once instead OF waiting
ten years or more t. build them piece
meal. and have the first mile practi-
cally worn out before the last one was
finished OF course there would be
interest to pay on the bonds, but If the
use of the roads is not worth more to
the community than the interest on the
bonds. it would not pay to build the
roads. Money can be borrowed at four
or I'VE per cent, and those In posi-
ton to form good judgment, will say
that first class roads will pay for them
selves every five years. or in other
words, that their use is worth 20 per
cent. of the cost each year.
One sometimes hears a farmer, who
is opposed to the building of hard
roads, say that he can raise no more
grain or get larger return from the
farm by reason of having good roads.
Such one will attempt to sustain his
position by stating only part of the
whole proposition. OF course 1t is true
hat the road has no influence upon
the productivity Of the farm along which
t passes, but 1t does not follow that
the net results are the same, whether
the roads are good or bad.
Only few days ago the writer was
down in the corn belt of Illinois and
saw four horses hauling load of corn
into town. 1t was all the horses could
10 to handle the load, although the
country was comparatively level. The
| mud in the road was nearly a foot
deep. No fair minded man will say
that crop can be marketed under
such conditions as cheaply as when the
roads are good, and single team can
handle the same at twice the speed
The value Of the farm does not de
| pend alone upon what the soil will pro
| duce, but upon its accessibility to
| market, the environment and whether
| the farm Is In every way desirable al
a place to live. We spend money fol
| pleasure and for comfort, and it il
right that We should do so. Probably
as a rule too little is spent fol
this. Whenever good roads have beer
built, In any community, there hal
been sharp advance in the price O.
land, because the farms are more &C
cessible. The writer has in mind ,
county in northern Indiana, wher,
about ten years ago a system of 2.
miles of hard roads were built, cover
ing the main highways of the town
ship. About $4,000 were spent upor
The improvements, the payment spread
over ten years. Within a year afte
the roads were built the farmers wer,
asking and getting SIS to $25 an acr,
more for their farms than they coul,
have gotten before the roads wer,
built. In some cases the advance wa
even more. The increase in taxation
was hardly felt.
One of the prominent residents O
the township, in commenting upon tn,
Improvement, said that the building n
the roads eXerted a powerful infiuenc,
upon the lives Of the people of tn,
township-everybody began to slicl
up, new picket fence replaced the nj,
tumble down beard fence, the hous,
was painted, walks laid out, and ar all
OF thrift was apparent everywhere
| Also following the good roads, a town
snip high school was built, and ar
engagements made to carry the childre,
TO and from school. This was a graa
relief to the isolation the youn,
people were placed under before In,
roads were built. The new school he
came the social center and they foun,
IN that township that the building of ,
system of roads was the best invest
ment they had ever made, and unde
no circumstances could they be in
duced to go back to the old way T
Is the same story everywhere: in ever,
locality where any community ever he
gan to build good highways, and ha,
the experience of building, using ant
paying for them, the community wa,
not only satisfied but kept ON build
ing more and more roads.
In the last analysis It will be toun,