Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-11-28

parent that. ii the state system
, of highways connecting all couii-
| " seats was ever to be construct
ed the mileage must be material
IL reduced and the construction
. and maintenance placed under
the direction of the state high
way department. Ii was con
clusively shown that as long aS
the initiative in state todd coa-
struction and maintenance was
left i'll the hands of the average
fiscal court with the right to PEI
form such work with the Ccunl :
force regardless OF plans ald pc =
CihcationS. lust 80 long would the
state funds be unwiScly expended
and a poor type of construction
be obtained.
The General Assembly Of
1920 abolished the state aid law.
save for the completion al such
contracts as were under way. and
enacted the present law. under
which the department Il ...ate
roads and highways Is operating.
: They declared approximately =
900 miles Of the intcrcOu'iE scat
I systems to be primary state high
WAYS and limited the expenditure
+ OF state and federal funds tu this
{ system. The administration -
; the department was placed rr',er
. = bipartisan commission. ih:. "0nl
mission i'm turn SclcC ii.E lie
state highway cngin,cr. .yi'.' =
, the chief executive officer. &c
: department has been re" 7ed
from the field ui parfi ,;..l H"!:t:c>
and the employees OF tn. :'I,c ;.rc
made up OF members II ,'1.h pal
te>. selected Tor ther engineering
ability and efficiency.
III WAS estimated that the Ill
inmate cost oi the proposed syS-
tenn would be $5O.OOO,OC0 To sos
0JO.CO0 and at the time OF the en-
actmcnt OF the law the General
Assembly passed what ii Consid
cred revenue legislation for the
manual requirements OF the de
partmcnt. An automobile tax OF
90 cents a horsepower. gasoline
/ tax Oi one cent the gallon. and Il
+ three cents ad valorcm tax gave
/ a total oi S5,OO0,000. There was
/ levied fifty cents per gallon ta-;
OH all whisky stored i'll bonded
warehouses. estimated to give
the department with three or
! four wears Sl2.OO0,OO0 To- Sl5.OC0-
! coo N addition. The depart
mcnt'> revenues, there fore. would
have been from all sources. in
( including federal aid. some s. .OOO
600 To 100000.
/ But the whisky tax was held
unconstitutional and no revenue
was received from that source.
( The 100000 mentioned in con-
nection with $5.0O0,OOO received
from the federal government. arI
some SS.0O0,C00 contributed by
various counties. has enabled the
department during the last year
to maintain 400 III les uf the pri-
mary Sytem. and place under con-
: tract $50 additional miles OF con-
Structiun which l. now larGclt
completed. This splendid show
ing.- however. cannot continue un
! less additional revenues are pro-
: vidcd. ~ the present ConSres,,
has appropriated only 81 100000
for federal aid during the COM
ing year the department ;tseli
will be confined to It's own fund
OF S3.OO00OO. giving only 81. 90.
coo for use in 1922. The opera
tion OF the old satte aid law has
created a debt that will amount
TO S5OO.OO0 yearly for htc next
five wears. which debt the depart
ment i obligated to pay out OF It's
revenues each year TO the coun
ties. thereby reducing its total
fund for construction and main
tenance to less than $4.000,OO0
In the proposed primary sys-
tenn. S02 miles were constructed
under the provisions OF the old
state aid law, and the commission
, Is required TO maintain such part,
as meet the requirements OF :;
= state highway. Nearly half o,
this mileage has already been Ia
ken over and further mileage viii
. he taken over for maintenance !
, 1922. The state also Is required
= to maintain roads built under the
present law. There will be avail
: able. therefore, for construction
/ and reconstruction purposes il
t 1922 not over S3,25O.OOO.
: The department is now wei
; organized along business line.
r and has a definite system Of high
D ways TO build to. which system
!. , can be constructed during tn,