The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1920-04-22
The Road Problem In The
Legislature.
By w. r. Baxxel.

1
ture did not authorize $25, ,000, ,OOC
bond issue for the purpose of build,
ing a system of state roads, and
take this method Of explaining why
it was not done. -
| Perhaps 80 per cent of the mem.
bers of both houses were in favor oi
building statewide system oi
highways connecting all county
sites, and ready to approve a bond
issue for that purpose, provided
some plan could be devised
which would afford reasonable as
surance that the money would
actually be spent in building roads
and that we would get million
dollars worth of roads for every
million dollars of the states money
raised for that purpose. But for
the reason hereinafter given. the
majority of US felt that we had no
such assurance.
Several bills were introduced and
many days were spentby the men
best qualified to. deal with the road
proposition trying to frame a work
able plan for building state high
ways, but we encountered many
difficulties, and found it harder
and more complex problem to work
out than many of us had imagined.
/. Section 40 of the constitu-
ton OF Mississippi says: The
board OF supervisors shall have full
jurisdiction over roads, ferries, and
bridges to be exercised in accord
ance with such regulations as the
Legislature may prescribe" 1t will
readily be seen tina. until we amend
the constitution the legislature can
not create any sort of state COM
mission able to exercise real author
ity as to laying out or locating state
roads. We have State Highway
Commission. and State Highway
Engineer, but they are without real
authority so far as locating roads
and enforcing rules and regulations
governing same is concerned. 1t
would certainly be poor business for
the state to undertake to spend the
enormous sum of $25, 100000 in
building a system of state roads,
unless the state could give some
board or commission the authority
to say how and where the money
should be spent. Each board OF
supervisors is the supreme and final
authority over all roads within the
several counties of the state, and
we have an illustration in Tisho-
mingo Co. now OF the difficulty OF
locating pike roads to suit every
body. Ii it is hard to get one board
to build roads where all will be
pleased with the location, how
much harder would it be to get 81
boards throughout the state to all
agree, cooperate and coordinate
their plans in building a e-wide
system?
2. Various sums, totaling near
ly 100000, are now lying idle
in. the various counties sums
which have been raised by issuing
county and district bonds for the
purpose of building good roads,
but which cannot be profitably
spent in building good roads now
because OF the high price OF material
and the scarcity of labor. Al
present prices of material and the
fact that it is impossible now to get
laborers at anything less than five
dollars per day, and in some places
impossible to get sufficient labor al
any price, majority of the mem.
bers of the legislature thought il
wise to wait two years before
saddling the state with a $25, ,000,.
600, debt. Remember the interest
alone at per cent would cost the
state a million and a quarter
(1,250,000) dollars annually. Thai
it is very difficult to build roads
now is proven by the fact that SC
, many millions of county and distric
money is idle and the bonds draw
ing interest throughout the state.
8. 1t is believed that a moto
vehicle tax, with possibly small
privilege tax on the sale OF gasolin
] would take care of the interest an,
provide sinking fund to redeem