The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-11
BUILD ROADS TO LAST

| BUILD ROAOS IO LAD
 That the state highway commission should proceed with the building of roads and not wait for the slow pro- cesses of availability of federal funds appears to be wise program. The people of this state have no desire to wait twenty years for this benefit. Such delay would be calamitous. h. deed, long before the expiration of such a period the unacceptable neces- sity for paved highways would cause the several counties to snatch from the state the leadership in road build ing. Already the people of Tusca- loosa county, having become wearied of the quick dissolution of graveled roads, have expressed themselves en- phatically and unequivocally in favor of paved roads and no other kind. The people of that community have discovered, according to the Tusca- loosa News of last Monday, that "the Birmingham road in this county was thoroughly and we'll built with a gravel surface just eight months ago and that the road is now badly in need of re- surfacing. Travel on the road is so great that a gravel surface will not stand the wear. Upkeep of any other than paved road is at cost too great as compared to the first cost and upkeep cost on paving" The highway commission ought to be preaching this gospel instead of hav- ing it preached to them.
 There are some details, however, in the commissions tentative plan which do not lend themselves to thoughtful approval. To begin with, the pro- posal to construct preliminary dirt or gravel roads is unsound in two direc- tions. First, the proposal to leave the maintenance of such roads to the counties in which they are built is to offer the shadow without the sub stance. The counties already have quite enough roads of soft material to keep up. Proper maintenance of soft road is very money-swallowing undertaking and in the long run is far more expensive than to build a paved road in the first place. Then there is no assurance that the coun- ties will maintain state roads, and there is no way to compel them to, in spite of the suggestion thrown out by the commission that further help will be withdrawn from the counties that fail in upkeep. The highway commits sion, on the other hand, is compelled by the terms of the amendment, under which it receives it's authority from the people of Alabama, to safeguard the roads it builds with suitable mainte- nance.
 In the highway act, maintenance is given equal emphasis with construc- tion. The commission cannot delegate the responsibility, and if it should delegate the task, it must resume the responsibility whenever any county falls down. To construct roads with out maintaining them would be illegal. The suggestion that further aid will be withdrawn from such counties IS fail to keep up state roads is absurd. The commission might do it, but if so, it would be violating the spirit if not the very letter of the highway act. Are the people of any county to be punished and their welfare materially delayed because of the derehction of certain of their officials?
 The other direction in which the proposal to construct preliminary roads is unsound is that the state should not spend the public money in that manner. The whole basis of state highway construction is perma- hence. The cost of maintaining con siderable mileage of these preliminary highways would be excessive and would soon swallow up the very funds the people are depending on for a permanent highway system. Let there be designed some plan of construction which will give each county a definite mileage of paved highway, leading from it's most important city outward, with such temporary construction as may be necessary to piece that paving out to the county lines. Public opin- ion in each county would soon become strong enough to bring about compile ton of this paving to the county boun- daries. In ten years the cost and upkeep of gravel road would amount to more than the cost of a class A concrete road. Let the commission verify this by visit to states whece road building is successfully done. The state of Alabama cannot afford to have the state fail to do this.
 EXEMPTION AND TAXATION
 In reply to an inquiry as to how the