The record., 1912-08-22
DUTY OF UNCLE SAM
BUILDING OF GOOD ROADS PROB.
LEM FOR FEDERAL GOV.
ERNMENT.
WOULD HARDLY FEEL TAX
General Welfare Clause Of Constitu-
tion Gives Congress Power to Build
Roads-Federal Aid Would Give
Mighty Impetus to Road Building.
BY HOWARD n. GROSS.


partment sends out word to the vari-
Gus postmasters throughout the coun-
try where the roads are bad. threat
ening to suspend rural mail delivery
unless the roads are put in acceptable
condition. This is right and proper.
II is an outrage to expect the mail
carrier to wade through a sea of mud
TO carry the mail to the Farm home.
IL ought not to be necessary for him
to do so. At times the roads get so
bad that the mail wagon must be
abandoned. and the trip is then made
on horseback. carrying only the let
ters. Sometimes the delivery has z
be abandoned for days at a time Oh
account OF road conditions.
Why the roads should be SO bad the
country over. when nearly everybody
wants good roads is strange
anomaly. and this unfortunate situa-
tiOn will probably continue until the
people approach the good roads prob
lem from the right angle.
II is a tremendous undertaking to
gravel and macadamize the principal
highways of the country-it means
the building Of 100000 or 800, 900
miles of roads. and would cost be-
tween a billion and a half to two bill
Hon dollars. or from SIS TO 500 for
every man. woman and child in the
land. This seems like O colossal out
lay and II Is, but the money could
not all be spent at once. 1t would
take probably twenty years to do it.
so 1t would be at the rate of per-
haps one dollar per year per capita.
The department of agriculture esti-
mates. that the actual saving to the
people by good roads would be at
lease $3.50 per person per year. II
this estimate is anywhere nearly cor
rect, and II probably is approximately
so. then the saving to the people alone
by good roads would pay for them in
five years. time.
There Is no fact better demonstrat
ing OF good roads adds to property
values many times the cost and
brings social, educational and eco
nomic benefits that make the building
of roads the best paying investment
that any community or state can
make.
The question is, how ought this mat
ter to be handled? In the writer's
opinion the first duty is to the fed
eral government. It is high time for
1t to get busy on this problem. The
money Uncle Sam raises is by indi-
rect taxation and this tax the people
scarcely feel and there is very little
complaint about II. It hurts us more
to pay one dollar as q tax through
the tax collectors office than it does
to pay FIVE times the amount by indi-
rect taxation. Under the general well
faro clause of the constitution, con-
gress has the power to build roads.
It also has specific authority to do SO
for those roads used for rural deliv-
cry, and these comprise nearly all
the main highways of the country.
Suppose, then, we estimate an ex-
penditure of $1,000. 100000 to be made
upon highways. jointly by the nation,
the state and the township or county,
letting the federal government con-
tribute one-third the amount, and pro-
rating the money between the states
on q joint basis of population and
road mileage. This would give a state
like Illinois between $26,0O0,000 and
s27,000,0 900. The funds to be pro
vided for from time to time by long
time, low interest bonds. The tax
per capita to carry these bonds at
three per cent, when all are issued
would be about Is cents per year
three car fares! Then let the state
pay one-third from a general tax levy
or, better still, by a bond issue, a.
one-third paid locally by the towns .p
II is common practice for the sta tc
contribute to road building under
what is popularity known as the state
aid plan-the townships have been
doing the little that has been done
and doing 1t without help for many
years. The new feature of the prop
osition is the federal contribution
for which there is ample authority
and for which there is precedent
and a paramount need.
Within the last few years there has
been a great hue and cry throughout
the land for waterway improvement
conventions have been held and the
demand made that the federal gov
ernment contribute $5o0,000,O00 t.
that end, at the rate of $4,000. 900 {
year for ten years. The point the
writer desires to make is that where
1t is possible for one ton of freigh
or produce to be carried by water
there would be thousands Of tom
moved by wagon over the public high
ways, and that II the amount o
money demanded for waterway i'm
provement were applied to highways
It would be hundreds Of times NOR,
beneficial, and the benefits woul'
reach all OF the people.
The government is using about 500
600 miles of public roads for rura
mail delivery and these are pos
roads within the meaning OF the Con
stitution. Congress has express pow
er to build and maintain post roads