Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-22

arriving at an agreement respecting
road financing and Legislation. You
must also agree with me that the
clarifying of this point and the adj
option of one theory or the other that
is, either the public welfare theory
which calls for direct taxation, or the
transportation theory which call for
self support, is a prerequisite to any
sort of clear thinking on the subject.
In the course of my study of the
road laws of the various states, and
] have made more or less of a study
of all of them, / have been rather sur
prised to find how few appear to have
gotten hold of the subject in anything
like q broad comprehensive way. The
lack of any clear cut comprehension of
fundamental principles applicable to
the financing of road construction has
been most apparent.
Laws on top of laws have been
passed in a half hazard way apparently
without any attempt to conform to any
definite plan, scheme or basic theory
of general application. The result in a
majority of cases has been just what
could be expected, namely, conflict,
confusion. overlapping. inefficiency, in
sufficiency taxes. Taxes are always
there. But being rather modest and
polite you usually find it at the tail
end Of the procession. In fact every
thing nowadays appears to end in
taxes. The unfortunate result of this
condition is that in some states road
construction has been brought into
more or less disrepute among the bust
ness men and property holders who
pay the taxes.
Not ar Original Scheme
'The theory of self support for
roads is by no means new nor original
with me. 1t is probably as old as road
building itself. 1t is merely the revival
of the old toll road" principle except
ing that we now go at the collection
of the necessary revenue in q different
way. Instead of the old offensive pole
stretched across the road that abruptly
! STONED YOUR conveyance and held you
up for the toll like a highway robber,
we now have the more polite system
| of collecting our fees for the year In
advance. In demanding self support
| for our state system of highways l am
| proposing nothing new but am merely
asking that we get back to normally.
"When we define roads as econom-
ic transportation enterprises and de-
mand that they be self supporting 1t
is clear that the definition can nave
| only a general application n that It
cannot be applied to each individual
railroad system in which every mile,
road in a state or system. Ihere Is
no railroad system in which every
mile. section. or branch, is self-sup-
n~orting. Nevertheless, all such units
| are necessary TO the system. Practical
| considerations demand that we shall
! classify the roads of the state into
| grouns with respect to their order or
sm~nortapce as natural channels of
transportation.
The federal bureau OF pubic ROADS
has been of great assistance to the
states in this respect; first, by de-
mandin classification as a prerequisite
of federal aid and second, by furnish
ing q definite basis for classification.
The ArteriaI System.
sThe ideal state road system is a
web of inter-connecting roads that
shall include the main arteries OF COM
merce and connecting links tleing to-
gether every county seat OF the state'
The state of Oregon has 1900
miles of road, the state OF Montana
81. 900 miles. 1T is manifest that Meth
or state could include all of its roads
in a self-supporting transportation sys-
| TEN. The state of Oregon, prior 10
| the federal act, selected those ROADS
| which were a~rterial in character n
| Inns GROUPED together 400 miles, ~
! ner cent of the total road mileage of
! the state. into a state transportation
| system. This system included one
navpd highway stretching across the
/ entire state from the Idaho line on the
east to the Pacific ocean on the west,
and another paved highway stretching
across the entire state from the stare
! of Washington on the north to Cali
fornia on the south.
The selection of these roads was
made by the legislature and therefore
was more or less political in character.
The locations were not based on the
sound principles of classification That
have been laid down by the federal bu-
reau of roads. If they had been so
classified, the state would have had a
better system of road transportation
and would have saved the expenditure
of several millions of dollars. How
ever. Oregon has included in its state
system loo miles of road more than
the federal law will permit the bureau
of public roads to cooperate with III
in. and we are not sorry for il. In the
state of Montana the federal bureau
will cooperate in the building of AGO
miles of your roads or I per cent OF
YOUR total of $1,000 miles.
Starting Oregon's Fight.
Tin my judgment the adoption of a
state system Of highways, to be state
owned, state improved and state main
tanned is a primary necessity for the
successful management and financing
! of the roads systems of any state.
The selection of the roads to be in
cluded in the state system is a matter
of very great Importance. SO far as
possible | know it is difficult TO do,
politics should be kept out of it. When
ever it gets into the road program It
costs the taxpayers millions of dol
lars.
"In the year 1917 a few men in the
state of Oregon walked up TO realize
that world progress, ike IA great cara
van, was passing our state by without
over the fence. Blessed with a charm
ever stopping TO take a look at us
ing climate. a wonderland of scenic
beauty. rich in diversified resources,
supplied with excellent harbors and a
fair system of railroads, nevertheless,
the bird of progress. if | may so mix
metaphors. was grabbing on us. We
were at best only moving sideways, II
not actually backwards. Our rich re-
sources, majestic scenery and productive