The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-07-09

construction. Maryland has sold &c.
100000 of it's state bonds for roads;
Connecticut, $4,50O,000; New Jersey
$4,000, 900; New York, 500 100000
and California, $1S,OVO,O00.
The people of Europe understand
! how to finance their public improve
ments in a way that would stagger
the most of us, for if the land owing
taxpayers of Iowa would take on the
same per capita debt for their roads
that the wage working mill hands of
Manchester have assumed for a deep
waterway to the sea we would have
road fund in this state of $780,
100000, four times what we could
actually use, enough in fact to build
| the Panama canal.
But the issuing of bonds SO as to
distribute the cost of a road over the
period of time in which it is to be u.s.
ed is not the only necessity which
stares us in the face. There is yet
the problem of distributing the tax
over the property which is to be
benefited by the improvement. In
our street paving we assess the whole
cost to the nearby lots, but that is
linequitable for there is distinct
public benefit and it is the public
which wears the pavement out when
the lot owner may never have owned
wheel. The states of Massachu-
sets and of Illinois have shown us
by statistical count that 10 per cent
of the main travelled roads carry 80
per cent of all the miles Travelled,
Just as the trunk lines of railroads
require double tracks for the traffic
received from their branches.
For this reason in Iowa we have
designated Is per cent of the roads
as county roads, and they carry 80
per cent of the miles travelled. They
should be graveled and paved first
and the whole public should pay
large part of the expense. In Mime
sofa the state pays half, the county
one-fourth and the nearby property
one-fourth. In Wisconsin it is one
third each, while in Utah the whole
cost is assessed to all of the land
which lies nearer to the road i'm
proved than to any other county
road, and then this land is divided
into three zones, the nearest sharing
half of the cost of the road, the next
zone 80 per cent and the outer zone
20 per cent.
There must be some recognition in
our Iowa statutes of the principle OF
special benefit. A farm which enjoys
paved road from its front gate to
the court house manifestly has been
enhanced in value far more that an
other farm on the other side of the
county, perhaps many miles distant
from the paved roads. So apparent
is this fact that unless the property
especially benefited in to pay for the
benefit men will not vote road
bonds unless they get the road and
this would lend to the extravaganza
of trying to build pavement enough
to tickle majority of the voters.
From one-third to one-half the cost
must be assessed to the land nearby.
Furthermore the towns are inter-
ested. The main roads lead to town,
and when they are paved they bring
business to town. The day of voting
taxes for interurbans has gone by.
From henceforth we will build pub
lie road beds on which everybody
can travel in his private car. The av-
erage distance from farm to town in
Iowa is five miles The time will
come within our own short lives
when every farm which now pos
sesses top buggy will own an auto
mobile On paved road every farm
will be fifteen minutes ride from the
store on every day in the year in
any kind Of weather. For this reason
we must adopt the special assessment
road district Under such q law in
Missouri two years ago the business
men Of Sedalia laid out road dis
ftrict twelve miles square with Sc
dalia ~ center. The commercial
| club got behind Il and they voted
| 5000 900 In road bonds % put hard