The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-12-02
A DEFENSE OF ARKANSAS
tBy Sherman Rogers, in the Outlook,
Oct. 26.)

SOhNSllGlOilJ IOuT HlOHLHS dSOI was
introduced to tie Secretary of the Ar
kansas Bankers Association. My
mind Immediately reverted to the
stories published in the New York
Times in March, which declared that
the state was "wilIfrlly plunging in
to bankruptcy that, because of its
bodybuilding program, one-third of
the citizens of the state would lose
their lands; and that tie population of
the state was almost a unit in bitter
denunciation of the road building pro-
ject and taxes created IS a result. 1t
looked inquiringly at the Secretary of
the Bankers Association from the
state that had received tl.is unenvia-
bic newspaper comment, and | natu-
rally asked if the statements published
were true, generally speaking, He
asked, what do you mean, generally
speaking?" "Well," | answered "a
newspaper may print story that may
be true in a specific instance regard
ing a specific expenditure in a big
state, yet if they made this individual
instance appear to bea general prac-
tice an entirely erroneous impression
would be created in the minds Of the
people who read the articles. The
Times writer only quoted one man as
being satisfied with the road build
ing, although he spent several days in
the state. How about it," well"
the Secretary answered, slowly and
with great feeling: 81 tell you, with
out fear of responsible contradiction,
that Arkansas and its road districts
are as solvent as any states or any
other districts in the United States.
tell you that its road improvement
bonds are as gilt-edged as any road
bonds in the country. You won't find
any more bankrupt taxpayers in Ar
kansas than there are in any othel
State in the Union, and / don't believe
as many as there are in the average
state. And as to the reports that we
are bankrupt, | give you absolute as
surance that when the assessments
and interest on the hundreds of i'm
provements come due in June, July and
August the obligations will be met
promptly" | was interested and as
sured the Secretary that at the first
opportunity would visit his state.
l arrived in LltIle rock on Septem-
Der 6. The impression created on
viewing the hillv section from the
railway car was very unfavorable.
quickly found out, however, that the
roads Of Arkansas followed the hills to
avoid the tremendous cost of railway
construction through the valley lands;
that would have been prohibitive.
Arkansas has tremendous amount
of natural resources, most Of which
are in the initial stages of develop
ment, due to the lack of adequate
road transportation facilities. The
state has all the railways necessary
over five thousand miles of rail lines
within her borders. What she lacks
are hard-surfaced roads running
through her millions of acres of rich
lands to railway stations.
l spent two weeks visiting the va
rious agricultural districts of the
state, and especially those that were
under fire in the newspapers six
months ago. l covered twenty-five
hundred and fifty miles of road by au-
tomoble and travelled about one thou
sand miles by rail within the state.
can summarize the results of my
investigation as follows:
First, neither Arkansas nor any
part of Arkansas is in any danger of
insolvency over roads or any other i'm
provement.
Second, tax collections in the state
in the past and at present (1921) show
as high a percentage of prompt pay
ment of maturities as any other state
in the Union.
Third, the individual delinquencies
meeting tax payments are lower than
in forty-three states of the Union.
Fourth, tax payments in Arkansas
call for ten per cent more than is ac-
tually necessary to meet maturities;
therefore improvement districts have
always a goodly balance of cash on
hand after maturities are met, pro-
tecting the investor against possible
individual delinquencies that may oc-
cur.
Fifth, fully ninety-eight per cent of
the people of the state of Arkansas
are well satisfied with the road build !
ing program and bitterly resent the
adverse publicity that has been given
the state.
Sixth, it is true that there have been |
determinations in isolated cases. 1t |
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