The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1916-06-15


In sc years pay in enough money to
put in these permanent bridges, in
Guiding all the interest you would pay
at four and one-nalf percent. You
ought under present conditions to get
the money at four percent and at that
rate you would discharge the whole
debt and pay all the interest in n
years.
wish to emphasize that this is on
the basis Of your average for the past
three years. On the basis OF what
you spent on bridges last year 19lo)
you could pay off all your bonds and
interest in 81 years. On the other
hand on the basis of what actually
went into permanent bridges last year
1t will take you 143 years to set per-
manent bridges in Cass County be-
cause so large a portion of what you
paid in bridge taxes went into repairs.
I also wish to call your attention
to the fact that Cass County was not
especially selected by me but | got
the figures on Cass County because
l was requested to come here ana
talk this problem over with you. You
will agree that with the Nishnabotna
River, Indian Creek, Camp Creek,
Walnut Creek, etc, more bridges are
necessary in Cass county than in
many of the other counties of the
state or counties not having so many
streams You have, in fact, one OF
the worst counties in the state so tar
as the number of bridges necessary IS
concerned. The average county will
need to spend but two-thirds to three
fourths as much for bridges as Cass
County will need to spend and their
bonds will therefore be paid Off in
proportonately fewer number OF
years The tax payers Of the other
counties of the state should have this
In mind in considering these figures.
Permanent Bridges Save Repairs.
After you pay off the principal and
interest on the bond issue that would
give you permanent bridges over all
your streams you are big money
ahead because you save the large
amount you are now spending for re-
pairs. In other WORDS, the tax pay,
ers would spend no more than they
are now paying and in few years
will actually pay less into the bridge
fund, and instead of putting bur
den upon your children you actually
relieve them Of the burden Of repairs.
Some Of your present bridges are
in good condition and you would Of
course not take these out but for the
present would borrow only sufficient
money to put in permanent bridges in
place of the temporary bridges that
must be replaced and then next year
or in two or three years borrow an
other amount to replace other bridges
that have outlived their usefulness
and then in another period replace
still others instead of repairing
them Surely no one will object to
this program SO far as bridges are
concerned, because the plan does not
contemplate paying into the bridge
fund a single extra dollar but does in
fact cut out the repairs that you
would be obliged to make during the
years to come on temporary bridges.
1t occurs to me that the only way you
can be sure that your taxes are not
going up is to follow this method
Build Bridges As You Do Schools.
l wish to call your attention to the
fact that if you were going to build
a school house you would get to-
gether and determine on how much
that school house should cost you. NO
one of you will propose to pay in
taxes enough this year to build that
school house. No one Of you would
urge that all you could do this year
would be to dig the cellar or furnace
room, next year put in the foundation,
the year after PVT in the first floor
the year after that put in the second
floor and in the fifth year put on the
roof. and all these years be without
the school building. No, you would
agree among yourselves that during
a period Of years you would under
your present rate of assessment pay
in a certain sum in taxes to the build
ing funds which could be applied to
THIS particular DulIul!S anu tIIdt you
would borrow the money and build
the schoc house and move into it at
once, paying interest and principal
from your taxes as paid in. This is
exactly the system proposed for our
permanent bridges. We will borrow
the money, build the bridges and have
the use of them now, cut out all re-
pairs because they will be perma-
nent bridges; and then use our funds
as they come in to retire the bonds.
There are counties in Iowa that
have been settled for sixty years that
did not have single permanent
bridge when the Highway Commits
sion was created in 1913 Cerro Gordo
County, on the other hand, which be-
gan building permanent bridges ten
years ago, will be completely bridged
with masonry in the next FIVE years
and will have no more use for bridge
fund except a very small tax to keep
I'D the maintenance on bridges that
should last one hundred years Cerro