The Farmington times., 1920-12-03
LEGISLATURE MUST WORK OUT
SYSTEM OF BUILDING HARD
ROADS IN STATE

Adoption of the $60000,000 bond
issue amendment to the Missouri
constitution will put squarely up to the
Legislature the working out of COM
prehensive system of hard surface
roads in Missouri, in the building of
which $60,000,000 will be expended.
While the voters of the State ap-
proved the road bond issue by ma
jority of 233, ,493, the largest major
ity received by any one of the pro-
posals voted on, none of the bonds
can be issued until they are voted by
the Legislature, which is authorized
to order the issuance of the bonds in
such amounts and at such times as it
desires, the total issuance to be not
to exceed $6Q,Q00,O00.
It will thus be possible for the next
Legislature to issue any part or all
of the $60,000,000. The bonds will
bear interest at the rate of per cent
and are to mature not later than 80
years from the date of their issuance.
The Legislature in submitting the
bond issue amendment to a vote,
guarded against any possibility that
the money would be expended only for
roads across the State, such as a
State highway from st. Louis to Kan
sas City and a state highway north
and south through the state by insert
ing stipulation that funds derived
from the sale of the bonds were to be
expended for hard surface roads in
each county in the state.
This provision, however, will pre-
vent the waste of the money on dirt
roads, which were provided for in
the Mccullough Morgan road bill
passed by the Legislature. The amend
ment particularly specified hard sur
faced roads.
1t is the expectation that the $780,
O00,0 900 will be merely the nucleus of
much larger fund. In itself it
would provide an average of only
$520,63l for each county in the state, |
which would build less than two miles
of good hard-surfaced roads. Through |
the matching of dollars with the
counties and with the Federal Gov
ernment, however. this amount can
be largely increased.
The proposal which an effort will
be made to provide will require each
county obtaining the bond issue mon
ey to put up an equal amount of its
own funds, and then an effort will be
made to obtain from the Federal Gov
ernment an amount equal to this
state and local fund. The Government
in the past has been matching dollars
with the states in road building.
The Legislature has full power to
provide all the regulations to sur
round the expenditure of the money.
Officers of the Roads Council, who
the amendment and managed
the campaign for it, announced that
the bonds could be paid off by the re-
ceipts from automobile licenses and
that no direct taxation for their pay
ment would be necessary.
The amendment provides that all
moneys derived from the sale of auto
mobile licenses, after the expense of
the money and the admin
strative expense of operating the
State Highway Department shall have
been paid, shall go into the sinking
'und to retire the bonds as they ma
ure. 1t also provides, however, for
lirect tax to pay the interest and
principal of the bonds, the amount of
AK to be determined by the State
Auditor. Advocates of the bonds said
his provision was necessary to make ,
he, bonds saleable, and that would
lot be necessary to resort to direct
ak.