The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1922-10-07

wctghtiiy to bring about legislation
In favor Of increased Federal nppro.
priations for road improvement. We
found during war time that we lacked
a system Of good roads, from coast TO
coast. on which to move men aud nun
itions In hurry. In the summer of
1870 came the peak Of post war pros
W'rity. and the true conditions became
more apparent. Unemployment was a.
cute. the public quit buying. prices
a period Of general depression set In.
Since that time. the country has been
gradually climbing back up to II con.
dition Of normal employment and pro.
duction. The cnsh disbursements. re-
sulting from the Federal Aid road
program. and the road activities In
general were OF wonderful assistance
during this trying period. Most OF us
know that for the pnst few years road
work hus been a life-snvcr to the pop
ulation In many communities. and the
road lettcrments accomplished were
necessary. timely and justifablc.
The Federal Aid program Is broad
and purposcful. II aims nt cOntIn-
nous. connected system Of standard
the so-callcd - per
cent system. II believes In cOnccntrat-
Ing upon certain roads In each state
until they ARE complete. standardized.
so as to form II link In TINT great
highway system
which we found lacking In war time.
Now the Federal Government under
the authority Of Article I. Section 8.
Clause 1 Of the Constitution. lcvics un
iformly throughout the states Internal
and corporation taxrs-whIclI the
great mass Of tile population pay In
AlSO. under the 10th Amend
rIent II levies direct tax on incomes
the big fellows pay this. not the lit
t.e fellows. nor the struggling farmers
whose incomes have been cut by rea-
s.!n Of crop failure or low priccI--nnd
this IL the source OF Federal Aid
which pOurs into the treasury In the
form Of tnxcs. and IL appropriated to
the different executive departments
of the Government.
The Federal Government offers to
It's proportion Of the total
Road Appropriation. conditional upon
our putting up approximately the
same amount. all to be used In road
If we do not accept and
put up our share. we lose the money
as taxes to the Federal Government
and It goes back into the kitty. that
is. the Bureau Of Public Roads np-
and is eventually divided
among the states TINT VIII accept 1t.
In answer I" the question then.
common sense. or good business judge
inent demands that we nccpct FEEDER
al Aid just ns long as It Is available
1T will not Inst forever.
Question 3 VIII the $G.OOO.OOO
bond Issue create additional taxes?
Answer. No. the bond issue rcsolu-
tion calls for no levyIng Of taxes
We shall why not. presently.
The Motor Vehicle License Tax
yields annually nearly S1.O00.0OO. One
half goes to the State Highway Fund.
the other half IL distributed among
the counties. and under the present
law. II always will bc. Let this he
well understood, since this question
has often been rnisetl-tle counties
proportion will In no way he disturb
ed.
Tie State Highway proportion. one
half, is. let MS say. $:O0OO0 annually.
Remcl,er that the number of motor
IN this State Is always in
carloads Of automobiles
rolled into Denver over the Union Pac
life Railroad In one dny, In train of
severul section--thIs was only one
brand Of ear. and they are not Fords.
ctther. In n recent interview. Mr.
Ford stated TINT there were 10000.
OOO,OOO cars IN Use. that the point OF
saturatiOn was not even In sight, and
That we could expect 3O,0OO.OOO cnrs
and trucks would he in use In few
years hence. His prediction Is borne
put by the figures showing the growth
In n,iui.,er of motor vehicles during
The pn;, five or ten years. Then n
gain. the natural increase In popIlh-
lion will increase the use OF cars ard
trucks. The State Of Colorado will get
It's share and OF course orr revenue Of
!500.0 900 annually from the licenses
will incrense eacl year Assuming
sj0O.OOO annually. however. II is pro-
posed to use $125.OOO in 1924 to pay
II the interest on $1.5O0,00O bonds
which will have already run one year.