Milford chronicle., 1929-01-18

penses of our schools. In establishing
this amount however, no consideration
has been given to the additional funds
that the City of Wilmington is obliged
to raise. due to the fact that in alloting
State School funds, no allowance is
made for the expenses of the Whining
ton City Board of Education. AS Will
mington does not have higher educa-
tional standard than that maintained in
the Special Districts of the State, the
law should be modified so that the
needs of the City and all Special Dis
trictS will be covered in the future. For
the above purpose an additional $780,
900 will be required, making a total of
SS,4O0,000 to be furnished by the State.
The income tax, franchise tax and If
necessary a small personal tax, can
provide for such an appropriation.
STATE CONTROL OF HIGHWAYS
'As is generally known the present
system of State highways reaches every
Incorporated village and town in the
State and comprises 18 per cent of all
the roads in the State. Possessing such
a system, the urgent need at this time
for the class of roads heretofore built
is necessarily limited. With a compe-
tent engineering force to direct the
work, the time is propituous to suggest
that all highway work in the State be
under the control and supervision of
the State Highway Department. Should
such a policy not be generally accep-
table, any of the Counties desiring to
avail themselves of this State service
should be allowed the privilege upon the
condition that any and all taxes their
governing body is required now to levy
for road purposes, shall be repealed.
Existing legislation makes it possible
for the State to inaugurate a system for
the maintenance of dirt roads, and such
work can be carried on in conjunction
with the county organizations, but II
the Highway Department is to system
atically organize to undertake mainte-
nance work in any county on q large
scale the cost to the taxpayer will be
duplicated if his local road taxes are
not cancelled.
DISCONTINUE ROAD BONDS
"The Highway Department has prov
en- to be and will continue to serve rs
an important bureau of the State but
its work and finances, as early as pos
sible, should be so arranged that it VIII
operate on a pay as you go basis.
With the retirement of sufficient part
of the outstanding State highway dept
which may be possible this year, the
Department should Immediately there
after discontinue the issuance of fur
ther bonds and operate on current IN
come.
and highway programs would be bene-
fetal if it had as its purpose the inau-
guration of a policy that where new
Schools could not be located neat an
already improved highway the latter
would be extended to meet them.
RAPs HIGHWAY BILL BOARDS
There is a problem which we must
face with determination if the roads We
are building today shall be a heritage
of pleasure to those who are to follow
us. l have reference to the abuse of :
our costly and generally speaking at
tractive highways by the indsctimlnate
erection of not only unsightly but i'll
some instances repulSVe signs The ra-
pidity with which this class Of adVertis-
ing is increasing in our State demands
that the business, which entirely de-
rives its life and subsistence from the
publics investment in motorized high
ways, be subjected to state regulation
if our main thoroughfares are lot to
become avenues of artificial scenery.
EXAMINATIONS FOR AUTO DRIVERS
"In this era of American life with the
country on wheels and speed apparent
ly so essential to our movements, we
are inclined to be little impressed with
the motor car fatalities that have be-
come an everyday occurrence. In ur
own State the fatal accidents on the
highways seem ever on the increase. |
The condition is alarming, particularly
as the cause of many accidents is attri-
butabe solely to the physical, mental or
mechanical unfitness of the operators.
That new drivers be required to dem
onstrate their ability to drive before