The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-12-13
sAuK CENTRE HERALD, Sank Centre, MINI.

0k2 IN
oppose any movement which gave
promise of speeding up the inn
rrovement of the secondary roads,
so our only course was to take no
active part in the campaign and
to trust to the good sense and prac-
teal judgment Of the people and
the legislature to not only see that
if funds were taken away, other
funds would be provided to take
their place, but to see that addi-
tional funds are provided for con-
struction so that We may reduce
our steadily growing maintenance
bill.
While the attorney general has
not ruled on the question, it is
generally assumed that the gas
tax diversion will go into effect as
soon as the result of the election
is officially certified. If the leg
islature authorizes an increase to
three cents, it will be several
months before this increase can
go into effect, and in the mean
time we will be losing one-third
of all the receipts. 1t will there
fore require a tax of four cents
if our receipts for 1929 are to
equal those of 1928.
Our receipts for 1927 were &C
tually under those of 1926. The
increase in gasoline consumption
may bring our receipts for 1928
slightly over those of 1927, in
spite of the decrease in motor We
hicle receipts, but the net increase
will not be anywhere proportion
ate to the increase in traffic and
the wear and tear on the highways.
Even if the increase in registra-
ton and gasoline consumption con-
tinues, our receipts for 1929 with
one-third of the gas tax taken
away, will fall far below those of
either 1926, 1927 or 1928, and
we will be called on to mainte
roads for a heavier traffic burden
than ever before.
Every vehicle owner in the state
has an interest in this situation
This applies even to the few who
never use the trunk highways. The
car owners who do not get enough
direct use of the trunk highways
to pay their entire license and
gas tax l believe are very few in
deed, but even if there are any
such, they gain indirectly. The
trunk highway plan has relieved
the counties and townships of the
burden of caring for the primary
roads and has resulted in a great
improvement in the secondary
roads even though county and
township road taxes have actually
been reduced since 1920. But if
the trunk highways are not kept
in good condition, much of our
traffic will soon overflow onto the
county roads, destroying the good
work which has been done in tn
last eight years and throwing ad-
dltlonal expense on the counties.
A four cent gas tax will barely
take care of the diversion in 1929.
TWo-thlrds of a four cent gas tax
would give us a little more than
we would receive from a straight
two cent tax in 1880, but it would
barely make up the loss caused by
the reduction in truck license
rates. 1t would enable us to main
tain our highways and have some
money for construction, but not
enough so that we could catch up
on the rapidly growing traffic.
The only way we are ever 60
ing to catch up on traffic and eff
feet any actual reduction in our
gravel road maintenance bill is
through bond issue. The Iarg-
est amount of bonds we can issue
in two year period without fur
Their amending the constitution is
$40, 100000. This would not give
us a completed trunk highway sys-
tenn as Illinois and Iowa and Mis-
souri, expect to have very soon but
it would enable us to make a for
ward step which would for the
first time effect an actual reduc-
ton in maintenance expense. If
during the next two years we
could devote the same amount of
current funds to construction as
we have in the last two years, plus
a $20,000,000 bond issue, we
could pave 1000 miles of the
more heavily travelled routes and
effect an actual saving of $1,000
600 year in maintenance.
If we paid $6,14O, 900 in inter-
est on the bonds in fifteen years
and thereby saved $15,0OO,00O in
maintenance, we would be saving
$8,86O,000 and we would be get
ting the use of the highways in the
meantime.
The situation is one which
should concern every citizen of
the state. All our roads are part
OF a system. We will make no
progress by taking something away
from one part Of the system to