Arizona republican., 1917-01-08
MuestOys QS ROQd-bMildeys

The taxpayer is no longer the sole arbiter of road building. for after he has decided to spend his money on road Improvements he Is now inclined to ask the investor to carry part of the burden. The opinion he often holds IS expressed by D. w. Norris, as follows:
 If We had waited for our railroads to be built out of one years freight rates we would never have had them. Investors build our railroads for us when they invest in bonds and stocks. They anticipate earnings from the road for fifty years and the public has the railroads to use while it pays the investors back little each year in the freight tax which the people pay to send their hogs to market. Nobody ever tried to put freight rates high enough to pay for a railroad in
 me year. Investors should build our hard roads and bridges for us. by buying county bonds. We could then hove the roads to use while our reg nlar taxes were uesd 10 pay the in
 vestors back. So long as we wait for ono years taxes to grow large enough to build long g-time road we will keep on boosting our taxes with
 out having the road to use"
 The investor has already become one of the leading road builders of Inc country He alone is responsible for nearly sl1,900000 of bonded in- debtedness for roads in Florida. for instance. He is taking up his full share of the work of road building, in fact, there are economists who as
 ec't with much emphasis that he is taking more than his share of the work, Financial papers have already "omna"ed some classes of highway ronds to the county and state in Cebtedness incurred for railroad pur- poses about 15 years ago. which re- 71lted in the ruin of thousands Of | farme-s and artisans the destruc-
 ton for number of years of the financial credit of some of the central
 states. and the practical stagnation of that section of the country. The gloomy views of these specialists do : not receive much attention now. but
 1I the next marked depression in business, suet as that of three years ago, the investor may be led bv the pessimistic economist to curtail his
 -oad building just as he has curtailed his railway building for g number or years. Consequently it is well to con sider his point of view during hard
 times. such as those of 1918 and 1873.
 when tho world readiusts its business | 1ffairs after long periods of wide | spread warfare.
 The investors in bonds are Of two 1 classes. The first is the small number
 nf men or some means who are will | ing to help along undertakings in ! their community. but wish to have 'he money they advance returned tu hem eventually So they take up l he bonds issued to pay for churches, ! hhraries. lodge halls and the like. | They do not regard the security as ~ood but they are willing to run 2 1 considerable financial risk to aid someth.rg in which they are inter rstef Tho second class of investors nre the people who save money and | desire 'o uso it 10 secure the max
 mum intereFt consistent with safety The second class of investors is
 that which includes large part O,
 Na ~oad builders of today for il | furnishes the money without which l -o+ch of the work could not go on | Theoretically this class is supposed
 'o he very conservative It is sup
 nosed that before a bond is bought
 the investor ascertains that the pur-
 nose for which it is issued is meritor-
 ous tho company or public authority
 issuing t IS well managed and finan-
 ~iallv able to repay the loan Of which l the bond is an evidence and that tho ! lrnrd has amulo ~ornritv pledged tf