Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1917-01-02
The Only Salvation.

The only salvation of the road pro-
gram for Oregon is to increase the
auto license fees. Not tritling IN
crease, such as is recommended by
so-called Oregon Road committee
which is being manipulated by adroit
road-fghters to scuttle the highway
program, but an increase that Will
Weld a fund sufficient to finance a fair
and reasonable adequate plan or
thorough highway Improvement direct
! ly benefiting all the principal sections
of the state and indirectly benetitlns
even the remote counties.
To merely double the auto license
fee will not accomplish. The social
ed Oregon Road committee has COM
mitted itself to the limitation OF doub-
ling the fee TO make meet the SIT
nation, its recommendations must be
disregarded Auto owners can each
save the price of one tire a year II
given better roads to travel over, and
each auto should contribute an annual
license fee approximately equal to the
price of tire In addition, the auto
owner will save this trifing extra
cost many times over in repairs, will
save something in gasoline and much
in time and profanity.
Many auto owners realize this, anc
feel liberally disposed towards heavy
increase in the fee. Others oppose
this extra expense, mainly because
5 thev do not feel like paying for road'
if the over-burdened taxpayers vii
provide them free.
Automobile dealers are opposing
5 heavy increase, because like some au
TO owners, they want roads for auto
Iif somebody else pays for them.
Auto owners and auto dealers mus
wake up out of their dream OF tn
! overtaxed property owner taxing HIM
i self more and bonding himself furth
or for auto roads unless the auto
I themselves contribute reasonably t
1.-THE cost of the roads they tear W
The taxpayer is crowded to the wa
and will fight big highway expendI
S tures unless the automobile traffic ca
d he made to carry some part of tn
burden.
S Auto dealers urge that horse W
# b;cIes wear out the roads and shoul
: be required to pay license fee
:. autos are subjected to an increas'
a This claim sounds fair on its fac
e but it will not bear examination. III
J. horse vehicle traffic is amply provide
d for by small taxation; the great roa
2 burden that has come in recent veal
y is because of the auto traffic. Woul
II it be fair to tax the horse vehicle e.
II ira to build the costly roads that al
y needed for autos?
&c Horse vehicles do not wear Il
is roads as do the autos. The lmpa
- of horses hoofs and narrow Ire
tires does grind the surface OF
macadam road, but the heavy damat
. is done by the autos in sucking u
10 tiny particles out of the road to
blown away by the wind, in tearil
- the roads at sharp turns which can
3 negotiated by horse vehicles with Il
- tie extra wear, and in raveling Il
n n thin edges by turnouts.
10 An autotruck in one trip often daI
~ ages one road many hundreds OF de
y lars, and the property owner has
- make repairs at his own expense. 4
:. pairing the damage done by hor
= vehicles is a trifing cost in propc
e. ton.
Analysed, the claims that horse v
hieles should pay license fee
solves itself into an injustice towar
ck the traffic for which the less expensi
ey roads Of former years were built. L
ed autos cannot justly shift to the hui
ne bic horso drawn vehicle a portion
st the extra cost incurred solely to pI
v;Sa - outo traffie Auto OWnf