The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-07-16

out Of the great mass Of suggestions
We shall no doubt eventually evolve a
nation wide system Of highway i'm
provement Until that time comes.
0 ever. II is probable that each state
must work out its own plan OF action.
The question then for such organiza.
lions a. ours is how W. shall secur.
.u the immediate future general high
way Improvement Individual effort
and personal contributions are TO b.
commended but VIII never be ADEQUATE
taken by themselves.
u, Ii government having a com nosi,s
nature such az our il is not easy 70
determine Just who should have iurls-
a.'f.". over the roads and what par+
each division Of the government should
Lat' . their building and maintenance
. ser- p state politics have been
-..s 'y .r-r e bond issue or a general
'.E -. highway Improvement fearine
rho wrath OF the public when add.
non. 'aA is imposed. For as NcCauIev
1Ju>i and absurd taxation 10
which wen are accustomed. is borne
ga. more willing than the most reason.
able l"gost which is new" As a re-
' ~ fri> policy the entire burden
||@ Hle4AAa0444l@ -
fallen upon those living in rural
communities. and when we consider
chat during the past thirty years there
.#- been q remarkable concentration
~ wealth in the cities. and thar fully
bali II no three-fourths Of the weaItf
o' the country escapes entirely anv of
The burden OF highway improvement
u Us manliestly time that new methods
and new plans be evolved.
| have always believed, (and results
obtained up TO date convince me thar
ara righU that there is only one way
70 build wagon roads in a communtty
SIch as ours and that is by a general
tax. You know what happens when
you make a personal appeal to your
city FOR money for road improvements
lhe man most able to contribute and
usually the man most benefited bv
TINS improvement has become so al
tached 10 the money he has accumulat.
ed that 10 part with even a small Dor
ton OF il even for so good a cause
gives him a shock which his nervous
system cannot stand. Consequently
out of sympathy for his condition we
pass him by and contribute the money
ourselves. This kind of man would
I'y i'' 'iHhl ~ W. Dulll OuI IOduS ON
OF the general fund.
In our state we should consider ROAD
building entirely from a business
standpoint and what we should build
IS business roads and not automobile
Speedways. | 10 not Criticise the effort
to build a great trans-continental
speedway, as | believe every effort of
this kin hastens the day for a nation
wide system of highways. TO see a
concrete highway spreading like a
great ribbon from the rugged coast or
the Atlantic to the sunkissed beach OF
the Pacific, over which the automobile
driver can send his high powered car
at a sixty mile rate, stopping at the
various towns en- route, for his sup
plies appeals to my Imagination and |
also appreciate the wonderful impetus
that Is given to cities through which
such a road passes. But what appeals
to me with greatest force, is a system
OF wagon roads radiating from the
small towns and county seats to the
different rural communities and ind.
vidual farms, over which the pro
duceT in our state can haul his pro
duce to market 500 days in the year if
he wishes. 1t is TO this end that our
association and every other similar
organization must be working and /
believe that this meeting should go on
record as ~favoring certain legislation
which will bring about this greatly
desired condition.
We have at this time an excellent
piece of legislation known as the Issen-
huth law. which has given most of the
counties a good sized road fund. This
law fails in n important particular,
il does not make its provisions manda.
tory. For instance-one section pro-
vides that h township supervisor
shall have all the main travelled roads,
including mail routes. dragged, and
provides for a means of compensation.
II leaves the dragging question. how
ever, TO the discretion of the super
visors and their Judgment in the mat
ter SO far tells them that dragging the
road is a waste of time. Our sister
state Iowa, makes road dragging com
pulsory and has even zone so far as 10
fine Il commissioner $1,000 for falling
TO have the roads in his district proper
ly dragged.
AT the last session of the legisla-
ture the State Good Roads Association
e~ndeavored to get d law authorizing
the use of convicts for road building
But wheu all the wires had been pulled
and all the trades for votes had been
made there were not votes enough left
TO pass the bill.
The governor of our state in his in
augural address in 1913 took a posi-
tive stand for out door employment OF
conVicts and as a result of that stand
the d~isgraceful and pernicious prison
labor system is in a fair way 10 be dis
continued in South Dakota. Had the
governor gone further and commanded
this convict labor bill we would be
today building highways at less than
half OF our present cost.
had the pleasure in May of this
OF riding oyer fifty miles of road
IN and around Savannah, Georgia.
which had been built by prison labor
passed several groups of prisoners
At work road building and l was in,
by a state official that this
of working convicts has proven
70 be the most successful they ever
onA chat thA aA " A,1.-