The bee., 1914-11-20

IL this was not sufficient hired la
Dor was employed. and the expense
was met by the psrocLial rate"
In . very considerable portion Of
Kentucky bad roads reflect the plan
OF road making which was 9 failure
IN England more than 200 years ago
Those sections are In some respects
very like rural England in the Sew.
enteenth century. Thev will not be
brought up to date without good
roads, ana they will not secure good
roads unless the State.aid plan is
put IN Statewide operation Al
present the fsi mers Of the rural"
coun ties-cOunties without centers
OF population other than those sup
ported by the surrounding agricul
tural community-Are expected to
bald the roads. With the labor OF
thsir hands and that Of their teams.
or by the payments OF taxes. they
are expected to build and maintain
roads for general service. Because
they do not the values OF their farms
are kept much below what the flg-
ures would he II Improved highways
traversed the rural counties.
The State-aid plan is designed to
equslize the burdens Of taxation for
roads and give tte less wealthy
counties an opportunity to increase
their wealth by making themselves
accessible to travel and by reducing
the cost, aud eliminating the hard
ships, of freight hauling and pas
senger transportation within their
borders.
In his address at the good roads
meeting "Wednesday afternoon Pres.
Nc Bryde, of the Kentucky Good
Roads Association, called attention
to the fact that to a State-aid plan
adopted 100 years ago and discon-
tiuued seventy-five years ago, Ken
tucky owes her best inter-county
roads. Some OF these roads, notably
the Louisville & Nashville turnpike.
Re feet at once the employment of
right methods of road making when
they were laid down aud long pc
riod of neglect due to the inability
of the poorer counties to keep them
In condition. The "Old State Pike"
between Louisville aud Maysville
has been kept up because it traver-
ses the weslthIer counties. Owing
to peculiarly unfortunate conditions
in Jefferson county, the worst part
of the Louisville-Maysville road is,
the section lying within the
of jefferson, the richest
county In the State, but even in
Je fferson the Louisville-M -Maysville
road has not been allowed to go to
pieces.
Mr.. Dunlap, speaking for the Ma.
tiouai Highways Association, of
which he is assistant director gen.
eral, ended his address with the fol-
lowing appeal for attention to the
importance of the campaign which
the meeting ilaugurated:
II want to leave this one thought
with you, aud it should impress you
more than any statement that could
be made-that is: If enough coun-
ties do not take advantage of State
aid during the year 1916 TO show
that 5tate-aid is wanted 1T will be
the easiest matter in the world for a
few enemies of good roads to repeal,
as before stated, your present legis-
lation, which will, II you please, re-
tsrd the good roads movement In
at least twenty years"
There are differences 90 opinion
rs to whether the Kentucky law 10
as good as Ii might be made. In all
Of its provisions, but 1t will not be
improved by disuse, and there is be-
tween advocates of good roads no
difference OF opinion as to the State
aid plan being essential TO the de-
velopment OF Statewide system
Of roads. There can be no differ
euce Of opinion upon the point that
the poorer counties are the counties
having the greater opportunity to
profit by taking advantage of the
5tate-aid plan. Jefferson counties
interest lies IN promoting the States
development. The road problem in
hits county will be but little affected
oy the addition of triffiing amount
lin comparison to the sum repre-
'eDting the county levy-to the an
nual road fund, by application for
state aid. Yet Jefferson should be
he leader In the effort to awaken
he whole state.