Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1916-12-15
MONTEREY, Va, DECEMBER Is, 1916
Senator jordan
Wants Highland
To Secure Road
Stanton, Va,
December 1, 1916,
Editor Leader:


December 1 1916,
Editor Leader: -
There are two great highways In
development we, the people OF
Staunton and the whole Valley of
Virginia, are vitality interested and
which are worthy of and ought to
have local, State and National aid
The first runs through Virginia
from Winchester to Bristol. The
hand of COD marked out the course
of this great roadway and set the
Blue Ridge Mountains on one side
and the Allegheny on the other as
permanent c: .kes to guide MANN
locating the road So, too, the eye
of the Great Engineer ran line
through the gaps in the the sue
ceeding ranges to the AlIeghanies
to point the way for a second great
highway to connect the water sheds
of the Potomac and the James with
that of the Ohio. and it is to call
attention to the necessity Of build
ing a first class road running from
Stanton through Highland to
West Virginia and the Ohio River
that | now write.
These two schemes had the en-
dorsement of our far-seelng ances :
tors in the days when Virginia led
the Union in progressive develop =
ment, and the State built what W S
then considered magnificent high
ways from Buchanan to Seven
Mile Fora and from Staunton to
Parkersburg. If the Valley high :
way is completed, and it will lie
completed, the nee / for a first class
Highway through Highland is vastly
increased, and the construction OF
this road appeals to US locally be-,
cause the people of Highland and
of Augusta and Staunton are one,
We are bound together by the
ties of kinship and commerce and
by unity of interest. A large sec
ton of Augusta would be benefit
ted by the building of the road and
additional trade would come to
Staunton. Highland has no rail
road and a great highway would
make up, to a great extent. for
that deficiency.
The State should help in this
project as matter of justice to
the people of Highland. This as
sertion is based upon the loyalty
and fidelity of the citizenship of
Highland. Highland has State in
stitution. 1t is in no way a
special beneficiary of the State. 1t
is cut off from enjoying most of the
good things done by the State for
other sections of the State, but it
is and has been, one of the mo- t
profitable to the State of the
States political units. Year after
year it has paid taxes to the State
upon an assessment nearly forty
per cent higher than the average
county in Virginia. In 1914 there
was ouly one other county in the
State that paid capitation taxes as
we'll as Highland. The delinquents
being onlv a little over three per
cent of those assessed, and deaths
accounted for large part of these
The average delinquents for all the
counties and cities of the State was
forty per cent, On personal prop
erty, Highland led every other
county, the percentage of delin-
onent taxes on this form of prop
ertv being one hundredth OF one
ner cent while the average for the
State was three per cent. or three
hnndreh times that of of Highland.
In the matter of Grim inal cost to
the State those in Highland we're
less than FIVE cents per capita OF
total population while the everage
for the whole State was twenty
one cents per capita, or uloIe .nan
four times that Of Highland This
eou 1ty is, therefore, a profitable
asset to the State and these aud
ether similar facts give the people
Of Highland and undo"bted claim
for State aid to highway that
would benefit people 50 loyal and
90 profitable to the State and
which. at the same time would be
omen to the people of the whole
country.
The claim for Federni aid is
equally veil founded. Having. no
ra;Iroad the United States mail
must reach this section over Its
highways and this makes the
Tilted States Government directly
;nterested. The road would con
nect two great States. 1t would
be used by tourists from all over
the United States and would at
ford them the best scenery within