Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-02

manGnI ~ 49,
use of income now available and
small additional Appropriation by the
state such a loan can be financed
without hardship And when the
bonds for the proposed 100000 are
all issued, the whole highway loan IN
Guiding the amount now out, can De
financed and the entire cost or mann
tenance and administration paid with
appropriations not greatly, If at ALL In
excess of the proposed mill tax.
/ BY way of suggestion merely, nave
divided the proposed s6.o0O,OoO BOND
issue, so that when it is expended the
trunk lines will have been completed
by the use of two and one quarter mil
lions of this money, to which VIII be
added money from other sources, and
the market or country roads Will nave
received the balance of the S6,0Oo,0O0
or a total of three and three quarters
millions.
In order to put this in concrete
form, | suggest that commencing with
1918, after the constitution shall have
been amended to permit the proposed
issue, the sum of 100000 shall be
expended each year in the proportion
of one and ope-quarter millions for
market roads and three-fourths of a
million for trunk lines. Whether or
not this division is correct. whether or
not it is too much to be handled in one
wear does not materially affect the
general proposition. The fund will
have been provided and may then be
expended as rapidly as the State high
way organization will permit, but it is
believed that approximately these
amounts are necessary If road building
in Maine is to be speeded up to its
proper pace.
AS | have stated before, bond money
should be used for permanent work
only and the wearing surface of the
road and all cost of maintenance and
administration should be paid, not by
bond money, but by direct taxation.
When it comes to dividing up the pro-
ceeds of the new bond issue, whatever
appropriation is allotted to market
roads should be used solely for perma-
nent work, like the removal OF ledge,
change of grade and alignment, etc.
AS heretofore stated, the wearing sur
face and all other improvements of a
"perishable nature" should be paid for
with money raised by the towns as
now to secure State aid, estimated to
aggregate 100000 yearly. This plan
does not increase the direct town tax
a single dollar. The bond money
which is allotted to the trunk line
should be used solely for permanent
work, and the wearing surface of the
trunk line and all other improvements
, of "perishable nature" I suggest
, should be paid for from what I call a
general highway fund" This high
way fund will be made up partly of
the automobile license fees and partly
| from a general State appropriation.
, This general highway fund will be used
for the following purposes:
First, for surfacing the trunk lines.
| Second, for interest and sinking fund
) on all outstanding bonds.
, Third. for administration.
And fourth, for the States proper
ton of maintenance.
! In the creation of this general high
g way fund, l will show in the schedules
for each year the amount, which 1t ap-
! pears to me would be sufficient to ap-
propriate to cover all the required
needs. For 1918 this amount will be
but 100000 in excess of present road
: appropriations; for 1919, but $250,000
in excess; for 1920, but $450,000 in ex-
: cess, which will mean a saving in di
rect taxation in those three years of
; SS50,000 as compared with the amount
: of taxation demanded by the mill tax
. plan.
At this point the speaker illustrated
: by large charts the funds available for
, the year 1917 showing that there are
/ over 100000 already available for that
year without a penny of increased
= taxation. This was followed by a
/ series of charted tabulations, showing
the method of raising and dispensing
: money under the bonding plan, and the
amount of additional cost to the
State. He showed that while the total
expenditure during the next four years
would be nearly S10,000,000, it would
cost the State very much less in direct
2 taxation than the proposed mill tax
i, plan, but would produce a vastly
f greater sum for immediate expenditure
9 than is yielded by the mill tax plan.
f He further showed that the total
: saving in direct taxation during the
r next three or four years would amount
= to nearly $1,000, 900, which amount
would pay the average interest on the
new bond issue for the next ten or
: twelve years
Names Great Opportunity
Maine stands at the door opening
upon the greatest opportunity for in
, dustrial development that she has ever
2 had Road building must be conduct
= ed by the State. 1t can be done in no
other way. 1t is essentially a State
activity. We have gone through the
T early stages of experiment. We have
> made some mistakes which can easily
be remedied n the future, but there
: can be no doubt in any mans mind
t of the advantages to be derived from
road Improvement. Maine occupies a
unique position. She is what L like to
call a Destination State, state to
2 which the tourists are going In ever
' increasing numbers, and going to stay.
, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Is
: land. New Jersey and even New
! Hampshire to some extent, are what l
l call Thoroughfare states, that is to say,
they are states over which an enor-
nous percentage Of motor travel is for
the sake of getting somewhere else.
! You can cross Massachusetts in two
or three hours. You can cross New
t Hampshire in less time, but you can
not cross Maine in any such manner.