Arizona republican., 1913-09-24
URGES BONDS
 FUR HIGHWAYS
Letter from Superintendent Lin B. Orme Advocating an Issue of Approximate ly $1,O00, ,000 Bonds for County Road Construction

a letter to the public through the
 newspapers advocating a bond issue l for county road construction. Such an election Mir. Orme says, could be ordered on a petition signed by 15 per cent of the qualified voters. The
 bonds, if carried. he said could be ready for sale in from six to eight 1 months. The letter follows:
 To the Editor of The Republican. Sir. 1 l notice in the columns of your 1 paper from time to time numerous 1 discussions in favor of better roads. | Board of trade and kindred Organi- zations hold meetings and pass re- | solutions favoring the building of q
 road across some mountain top or in some other particular place or To- l cality, but it all amounts to nothing l except to show that a majority of 1 the people of the country are in favor l Of a better system of roads.
 1 Outside of a bridge a few miles
 of road the state is building. and some improvement in special road districts accomplished by means of special bond issues, the county is making no progress at all in road building. In fact we are retrOgrad- ing. With an increase in road mile age of about twenty per cent each year, and an absolute limit, fixed by law, restricting the amount of money that can be raised by direct taxa tion in any one year to an amount not exceeding ten per cent greater than the amount raised the previous year. Maricopa county will have about fifteen dollars per mile this 1 year for road construction, sum that will not even maintain a dirt l road much less construct one You l may change supervisors and road su- perintendents but you can never ac- 1 complish anything with an amount 1 of money so hopelessIy inadequate.
 After studying the subject for two | years and investigating conditions in 1 a number of counties in southern | California, I am satisfied that you can not build roads successfully by ] direct taxation. The money must be raised by bond issue. And why not? We bond for schools court houses. paving in cities then why not for roads.
 Maricopa county is in splendid shape financially. When the public lands allotted to the county under the enabling act are sold. and the land commission has already been by the legislature to sell l these lands, the county will De able to pay off all indebtedness and will have a small balance to her credit
 The amount of bonds to be sold should be carefully considered and while I have not fully made up my mind, for the sake of argument I
 
 issue We are collecting by direct taxation for road purposes about seventy thousand dollars each year. Fifty thousand dollars would pay in terest at five per cent on the mill ion dollars and with the issue of i :. ong time bonds would suggest the placing of every safeguard possible both in the issue of the bonds and ' n the expenditure of the money.
 This amount of money would en- lble us to build a system Of per ,, nanent roads now. It is only a mat CT of time until we will have to do t why not now? Everybody is doing t; Yuma, Navajo and Mohave coun . ies have issued, or are preparing to ssue, bonds for road purposes. Why : hould We not follow their splendid xample?
 IL Has BceI SuSStSlth llletA tiiC tate should issue road bonds but it will be at least three years before . he state can legally issue bonds for i' oad purposes constitutional " being necessary. And it V you'd amount to the same thing u nyway. If the state should issue - i've million dollars in bonds, Mari d Opa county, having one-fifth of the i' ssessed valuation. would be pledged e or one-fifth of the bonds or one IT lillion dollars. s' It will probably be argued that Il re do not know how to build good y pads, not having had the eXPer- ence, etc. I do not believe that we ill ever get sufficient experience in Is pad building by spending fifteen Ia ollars per mile each year. The D 1ing to do is to profit by the ex- W erience of others, especially the eX- u erience of southern California here conditions and climate are milar to ours. I think that we all gree that the city of Phoenix with bi Ut any experience. has made a de- or ded success in the paving of her s: reets. pa lan I intended to make it but I si 'ust that you will give it space in W le columns of your paper. and in ia lat way put the matter before the fy Iblic for consideration st