The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-11-14
GOOD OR BAD ROADS

The anti-bond boys have been fir
ing steadily the last two weeks, and
as their letters have, we think, dis
abused our more tenderhearted
friends of the idea that they can't
take care of themselves in contro-
yersy, we are going to turn loose
few shots in return.
Our first target will be Mr.. George
Stuart, not because he is first on the
list but because he has bombarded US
the most heavily.
Mr.. Stuart thought he had the Star
between the devil and the deep blue
sea when he compared its opposition
to the ten-mill tax for schools and
its advocacy for bonds. But he has
another think coming.
We opposed the ten-mill tax be-
cause we thought it was unjust and
unnecessary. We sincerely believe in
the public school system, but we
know it is run in a clumsy and inef-
fcient fashion, that it is burdened
with unbusiness-like methods, and
honeycombed, or rather maggot-bored
with politics. The determined oppo-
sition of the people of Marion county
to this unjust tax, which the Star
gladly expressed for them. has saved
them thousands of dollars. Had the
ten-mill tax carried in the county by
even one vote it would all have been
laid upon their shoulders this year in
addition to their other burdens. Next
year is election year, and if they
choose they can put men on the board
pledged to save them at least this
much off the mountain of taxation.
We are supporting bonds because
we regard them as an investment
rather than as a tax. Not one critic
of bonds has yet answered or tried
to answer our argument that better
roads will save them enough and
more than enough in time and ma
terial than needed to pay additional
taxes. A large number of our farm
ers own autoes, and the number in
creases steadily. Every man who
owns horse or mule knows how
rluch better work with less strain the
animals can do on a good road than
on bad one.
Mr.. Stuart wants us to wait until
normal times arrive. Will Mr.. Stuart
tell us when normal times will arrive
and what will they look like? We can
tell Mr.. Stuart that what he and us
and the other old boys think, to look
back at them. were normal times will
never be with US again. We have
never seen any times that the people
around us thought were normal. They
1xxyax
annoyed some way. In previous let
let, Mr.. Stuart said, eve have the
assurance of all history that affairs
will get back to normal" IF Mr..
Stuart has read history carefully, he
knows that it firmly establishes that
prices have steadily risen for more
than two thousand years. When the
good Samaritan left the wounded
traveller at the inn, ne gave the land
lord twopence to pay expenses until
his return, which must have been not
less than a day or two. Today at an
Ccala hotel, twopence would not last
until the good Samaritan got around
the corner.
We had higher prices during and
after the war of 1912, than during
better times before that contest. Then
prices went down again as raw pro-
ducts became more cheap and plenti-
full, as the country developed, up to
the beginning of the civil war. Dur
ing the civil war and for some years
after, prices remained high; then
there was a panic. and they went
down. They went back to what Mr.
Stuart calls normal, but they were
much higher than in the days before
the civil war. Then they went down
again, because the country developed
too fast and raised more cotton and
grain than it could use. there was an
other panic and men who had to sell
could obtain no money and men who
had to buy had no money. Then came
the Spanish-American war and with