The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-18


 cisions of our courts. would be uncon- | stitutional and void.
 Pablic Examination
 Another defect in our present plan of municipal government is that there Is | no method by which the taxpayer can be kept informed of what he gets foi what he pays. or how the public money is disbursed. In my judgment this should be corrected by state inspection of local administration. A uniform sys- tenn of bookkeeping should be estab- l lished and the state examiners should have authority to investigate the books and accounts of every municipality of over s50o0 population and make full and careful reports as to any mfsman- agement or waste of the public money.
 Under the system that now prevails l the officials who may be guilty, em- | ploY the accountant to examine and audit the city's accounts. The account ant employed is responsible to his employers, and hence il is utterly vain 10 expect by such methods any accurate or reliable reports, except in occasion al instances
 Publicity is the best known method of enforcing honesty and economy in all public eNpenditures-a check against graft and waste cf the peoples money Bad as has beea our present system bi HluiiItIPdl SoAtlHiltIlts we uluSt dt- init there has been nevertheless steady progress and improvement. Look kin g back over the past decade, even the most pessimstic will concede that our cities are reasonably well governed i, that public conscience is more alert, that life and property are more se- cure. and that conditions are steadily improving While much may be done by legislative remedies it is in an aroused IT., Ia t-f.f. Of o stronger sense of civic duty, a more diligent and waiehful interest by the people over their own affairs. that we must rest our ultimate hope of perma- nent municipal reform.
 Public Roads
 It is universally conceded by all who have given any study to the subject that system of good roads lies at the very root and basis of countrys prog ress and that upon them largely de- bends it's material development and ad- vance in civilization, They have been compared to the veins and arteries. the means by which the circulation of the social body is carried on, and when they are clogged the march of progress is retarded Without them there can oe no proper development of the enegries, resources and enterprise of a people. In inventive skill, in scientific discov-
 
 public has led all nations, vet we must admit that our rural roads and high ways are propably the poorest of any country that has attained the same standard of civilization.
 That the railroads have been the most potent agencies in the rapid advance of modern civilization all concede. They furnish additional markets for our prod ucts, stimulate industrial enterprises, pp ta of population, invade the desert, penetrate mountains. and overcome the obstacles which nature has placed across the path way of the peoples progress. Over coming distance, they disSipate that provincialism arising from differences in custom, soils and climate, and bind the republic together with the lasting bonds of unity of purpose an dinterest. Yet this very development itself de- mands and requires more and better highways and public roads, The railroad makes necessary good roads for the rapid and easy distribution of the freights they deliver and receive, and hence the assumption that railroads are substitutes for an improved system of public highways is absolutely un- founded.
 First and last, % per cent of the vast internal commerce of this country must be moved over the dirt roads which are feeders for the railroads. The in- terest manifested in the cause of good roads by the great carrier systems of the country show that they realize that their prosperity is intimately associ- ated with. and to a great extent, de- pendent upon the construction and maintenance of suitable highways for the moving of the internal commerce of the nation.
 Tne praSeuf SyStcm
 While the system of road building and road improvement which has pre- vailed in this state since it's adms sion to the union might have been adapted to conditions which existed when our population was sparse and our resources undeveloped, no one can deny it has utterly failed to furnish such roads as the growth of our popula- tion, the increase of our production and the industrial prosperity of our state now imperatiyely demands. In the early days. when the state was covered with vast nrimeval forest, when pop ulation was meagre and our income was limited, no other system might have been practicable. Yet, after q trial for nearly a century, we know that all the labor done ard money expended during that entire period under the sys- tenn which now prevails has utterly failed to secure for the state a system | of adequate and improved highways. Road making by the aid of improved machinery, as the result of long expert ence and careful study. has now become an important branch of government, re- | quiring both engineering skill and sci entfic knowledge Yet the system | which exists today generally in Ala | bama, by which We entrust the con- struction maintenance and repair of | our public roads to men without any | special aptitude or training, and who are frequently ignorant of the first principles upon which successful road building depends, must necessarily result in dismal and humiliatng failure. Only | in those countiesiWhere improved roads 1 and highways have been built by con | tract, or by the issue of bonds. or by n ! system of general taxation, and under | the control of skilled engineers. do we | find today a system of improved high | ways and roads.
 Who Shall Bear the Cost l The question of who shall bear the cost of the building of our public roads | is one as to which there is a large di- vergence Of opinion In New York and l the New England states almost the entire cost iss borne by the state: but | the prevailing system which has ex- isted in his country and this state has been that the countries and local com nfunities should only exercise jurisdic- cost