Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-08-07

support a trading center at that point. |
If the surrounding country We're not
rich enough to support a trading CEN
ter, they would not have been found
ed. or when founded, could not have
continued to exist The success or
failure of the small cities and vii
lagos depends invariably upon the
success or failure of the farmers in
the adjoining country, and on this
ground we believe that the assess
ment of a part of the cost Of coun-
try highways against cities and vii
lagos is entirely fair.
AS a matter of fact, this distribu-
ton of cost has been recognized as
advisable in every state, and it is
fact that a very few villages or
cities object to paying taxes for
country roads construction, provided
the money is well spent.
1t might be well to point out that
the state aid law provides practical
ly for the imposing Of a tax of two
thirds of the cost of construction as
county tax, and for one-third the
cost of construction against the local
units of government, while the coun-
ty aid laws in effect in the state
heretofore, provided for a county tax
of one-half the cost of the construc-
!; 10 IF nnn-holf
that in those counties which have
large valuation outside Of the towns,
the towns have had a larger share OF
the cost of the work paid by others
under the state system than they
would have had paid under a county
system. The fact that the legislature
of 1913 included all villages and cit
les under 5000 as eligible for state
aid has materially reduced this adj
vantage, except in counties having
large cities.
co. Is it necessary to have a
state highway commission to super
wise the work?
This question has been answered
quite fully under question Co., 1t
can be demonstrated that the pres
ence in the state of a consulting
body with wide experience in road
and bridge work if of value to every
unit of government in the state. We
know that the work done under the
State Highway Commission is super
ior to that done under any system of
county supervision in effect in the
United States except where high
grade civil engineers were employed
as county superintendent. The engi-
neer is just as much a necessity in
road construction as he is in rail-
road construction. Counties, as
general thing, cannot afford to hire
high. class engineering talent for
work exclusively in one county, but
by cooperating as units of the state,
they can afford to hire high-class en-
gineering talent who give the results
of their education, ideas and exper-
fence to every county.
The one fact alone, that the en-
ployees of the State Highway Com
mission see work in many counties
and distribute the knowledge gained
and improvements made by the var
ious county highway commissioners
to other highway commissioners, is
in itself a sufficient reason to juSti-
fy the existence of a state highway
commission. In other words, the
State Highway Commission acts as
clearing house by which every new
method in road construction is eX-
amined, and if found good, is distrlb-
uted to every other county; while If
there were no central organization,
this distribution would not occur, or
it would occur very slowly.
We believe that a careful reading
of our answers to the ten questions
stated will convince any reasonable
man that the present state aid law,
if given only a fair opportunity, will
work out to the satisfaction of all
the people in the state, whose nature
permits them to be satisfied with
anything; that the results secured so
far have been efficient; that the
cost of supervision has been reas-
enable; that if road improvement is
desirable, then the law is desirable,
and that any steps backward toward
a county system of road construction
or town system Of road construc-
ton without the standardization OF
ideas and methods produced by a
central head. would be extremely in
advisable.
ITO Be Continued Next Week.