Arizona republican., 1918-01-20

designated on the map is that the board of supervisors have signified their intention of connecting the south end of the ScottsdaIe highway with the Tempe road, and the north end of the Indian school road. Ow- ing to the favorable conditions that exist at these points, these connect ing roads may be built and main tained without excessive cost to the county.
 Certain of the designated highways are within special road districts. It is only fair to the residents of these districts that part of the money to be expended should be devoted to the improvement of highways within the districts, inasmuch as the resi- dents are to bear their share of the burden of taxation. They should, therefore, be relieved of some of the burden of maintaining the roads within their respective districts. Center street has been improved by the residents of the Center street district. It is well known that on account of the increasing traffic on Center street there is urgent need that it be widened and in some places rebuilt. It would be unjust to the taxpayers of the Center street special road district to require these improvements to be made at the ex- pense of the district, when at the same time they are to be taxed for improvements outside of the district. Then again, both Center street and Mcdowell road are used, and will in the future continue to be used, as popular driveways for the people of Phoenix who will likewise be called upon to pay their share of the cost 1 of the improvement of the roads 1 throughout the county.
 1 While on the subject of the special road districts, wish to add that the scheme of highway improvement con- | templated by the Act of March $, 1 1917, does not take into consideration the fact that special road districts have been created. It would seem, therefore, that the next legislature should provide some way by which | these districts may be abrogated and l the residents relieved from the bur den of maintaining roads within ! these districts at their own expense while contributing to the improve ment of roads throughout the county. | If the bonds should be voted, leg1s- lation looking to this relief ought 1 to be secured without difficulty. 1 Now that the secretary of war has given his approval to the proposed plan of road improvement, there is no longer occasion for opposition to the issue of bonds upon the ground that the raising of so large a sum as S2,000,000 for road construction at this time might prove an embarrass- ment to the government in its ef- forts to place future issues of Lib erty bonds.
 | Any scheme of road improvement that does not necessarily involve the
 improvement of every highway in the county must necessarily be unsatis- factory to certain people. Those who
 oppose the issue, upon the ground
 that the location of the proposed
 roads is subject to criticism, should
 remember that the history of road
 improvement shows that the inn
 provement of one road leads ineyit- ably to the improvement of other
 roads. The expenditure of s2,000,0OC
 on good roads in Maricopa county
 will unquestionably lead to the ex-
 penditure of other sums in the fu-
 ture. If this valley continues tc SSSN
 road building will not end until every
 highway, in the county shall be inn
 proved, so that ultimately the bene-
 fits derived will be equally distrib-
 uted.
 4 While it is true that under the
 proposed scheme certain sections will be especially benefited. it is equally
 true that under the scheme as out
 lined, every section will be benefited
 No scheme could be devised, short o1
 one including every highway in the
 county, that would not be open to
 the objection that certain residents
 will fare better than others in ob-
 taining improved road facilities. Te
 do the most good to the most people
 has been the aim of the committed
 and, while mistakes may have beer made in the selection of the roads tt
 be improved in few instances, i
 must be remembered that such mis- takes are inevitable. But if there
 have been mistakes made, these are
 surely not serious enough to justify
 the defeat of the bonds, and thus tt cause the resultant delay in inaug- urating the work of road improve ment so vital to the interests Of the valley.
 Respectfully