Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-10-17
GREEN CLAY STILL
OPPOSES ROAD TAX
Road Building and Progress

con county road building "sys-
TEN" when he states in a recent
article in the Register-"This
60 IL miles designated as inter
county roads, has been absorb
ing and will continue to absorb
under the present system 80 per
cent of our income, leaving only
20 per cent for the other 2O7 IL
miles of pike"
Purely through Influence"
generally political, we put 80 per
cent of our tax money on the
roads where the users thereof
raise the greatest howl. To say
that they are the en- aim
thoroughfares is misleading and
often untrue. The best road will
draw the most traffic both horse
and gasoline propelled for, adj
ways, the best road is the short
est route, except from the farm
to the county seat. A very OBJ
vious example of switching traf-
fic from one pike to another is
the case Of the old Lexington
Boonesboro route and the Red
House-Shearer route to t h e
| Clark county line.
Because our present System"
is faulty, if not suicidal, we are
! called upon, not to remedy the
fault but to pour more money
into the faulty system. Perhaps,
if the state will take over the
support of part of Our burden we
may be able to struggle on, is
the hope held out to us by the
advocates of the 20 cent road tax.
Instead of developing Our own
agricultural possibil / ii e by
j., maintaining passable roads into
every nick and corner of fertile
land we are called upon to put
f! all Our resources in inter-county
roads that will be taken over by
state after we put enough money
into them to reach such a high
! grade perfection that we will
: have nothing left for other roads.
i We are called upon to furnish
the parlor handsomely by trad
ing the kitchen stove for Brus-
sells carpet.
! Clearly we can not now keep
UP all Our roads with the present
, road fund. Instead of increas-
ing that road fund direct, by vot-
ing an extra tax for that pur-
pose, we are called upon to i'm
poVerish ourselves to get State
aid to enable ourselves fix the
old road. Why the indirect
method instead of the direct
one?
Just a while ago a cyclone
arose against the building of a
bridge across the river at Clay
Ferry and Mysteries possessed
us at the suggestion of an inter
urban railroad to Lexington bas-
ed upon the supposition that
Lexington would DIR in tn e
wealth out of Estill, Jackson,
Eockcastle and Garrard counties.
In the meanwhile the old road
that points the way to Madison
! county's wealth is over grown
with weeds, back taxes and
oblivion.
Thomas Macdonald, U. S.
Commissioner of public roads,
the man at the head of the De
partment that is offering Madi-
! son county Federal road aid
/ says, Lack of correct upkeep
of roads is the worst menace to
good roads. The mement a We
hicle encounters a bad road sur
face the destructive effort of the
vehicle increases four to sever
times"
In all possibility our roat
builders recognize the truth of
this statement, "but," they tell
us. Eve can not fill all the chug
holes, repair all the washouts
and repair bridges and culverte
i because there is no money"
Our road System" has been
the building of new. roads with
cut making provision for upkeep
and scattering of what money
we have had where the greatest
howl arose allowing utter ruin
to overtake these new roads so
that they must be reconstructed
| in order to be made passable
This system has always been a
pure matter of Influence" and
not one Of business, justice or
for development of county re-
sources. This proposed 20 cent
extra tax to be expended under
the direction of the most excel
lent Committee the Fiscal Court
has turned its business over to
will not reCtify or cure the ills