The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1923-09-01

road as it is paved, obtaining the
money therefor by slight increase
in the tax rate, instead Of paying
100 per cent Of more in interest,
bond-election costs, discounts and
similar givings Of something for
nothing.
The supervisors of San Diego
County. influenced by Mr.. Heston's
plan, have pledged themselves to a
program which includes both bond
issue and payment as paved. A
5000, 900 bond issue for paving a
part of the roads of San Diego
County was voted by the people in
February. The remaining 100000
proposed and surveyed county road
work is to be done over a three
year period, by using 100000 of
the. motor vehicle tax money, each
year, thus accounting for 100000
and raising the remainder Of $780,
600 by direct tax, as suggested
by Mr.. Heston.
The entire Heston program con-
templates the spreading of the
necessary paved-highway building
over seven years, at the end of
which time every mile of road so
built will be paid for. This is in
contradistinction to the forty-year
bond-issue plan, whereby the roads
could be completed Immediately, or
within year or two, but the peo-
pie would continue to pay for them,
| for four decades more. Under the,
Heston plan, allowing $4,000 a
year for the maintenance Of the.
actual roads so constructed, the
actual cost, including all incidental
expenses, of every mile Of road
built would be $4,000. Under the
bond-issue plan, the total cost Of
every mile of paved road built,
exclusive Of all maintenance costs,
will be at the end Of forty years,
when the bonds are all paid for,
exactly $51,275, or $26,275 more
a mile than under the cash, pay
as-you-pave plan. Quite naturally,
the bankers, with few exceptions,
the loan sharks, and even the con-
tractors, to say nothing Of the poll
tieians, are opposed to the Heston
plan. The grouping of all these fac
tions in this opposition is one rea-
son that 1t should be considered a
good plan. The main obtacle to be
| overcome appears to be- the quite
| prevalent opposition Of the tax
payer to an increase in his tax
rate, regardless Of the fact that that
increase is trifling compared to the
ultimate sum he must produce to
pay interest on the bonds and other
expenses incidental to Iong-term
borrowing for bodybuilding. Within
the life of the present-day taxpayer,
even though he be. in middle age,
the increased value of hls property,
and the augmented facilities of
transportation, produced by the
building of the road, will exceed
many hundredfold his immediate ex-
! pense in sustaining an increase IN
! taxation. But it will not exceed for
many years the outlay of 100 per
| cent Of the cost Of the highway
in interest charges, for which the
! taxpayer receives nothing except the
use of the money, which he could
! furnish from his own pocket at no
cost except the principal.
Placing the actual cost Of paving
highways at $4,000 mile-which
Is a very liberal estimate on most
California roads-Mr. Heston has
worked out the following interesting
statement regarding fiFe-year con-
structiop program, paid for as, it
is paved, in which he says:
| /"It is simple to pave the roads
Of any given, fairly WeI1-inhabited
territory, without bond issue and
without paying interest or election
costs. San Diego County, taking this
as nan example because T am more
familiar with costs and road-bui1d-
irg here than anywhere else, receives
from the state approximately $685.
600 a year as the county's share Of
y