Milford chronicle., 1947-02-14
ACCUMULATED HIGHWAY FUNDS


ACCUMULATED HIGHWAY FUNDS,
record breaking gasoline tax collections and
Federal aid grants are making millions and
millions of dollars available for postwar road
construction 1t is up to the mOtOriSt to see
that he gets dolar-for-dollar value on his
huge road investment, that his hard-earned
tax dollars are not squandered in the present
inhatiOnary price market, that inflatlOn-bOrn
highway projects creating their own vacuum
of funds do not suck up more and more OF
the taxpayers money needlessly. Easy mo-
ney, mad money, is the curse of this era of
higher taxes.
American motorists should demand more
roads for the millions they are paying, not
more money for roads. In this respect, this
most heavily taxed citizen; the man, little or
big who owns car and pays in addition to
all other taxes special multiple hidden fees
has champions in several of the governors
who have addressed State legislatures con-
vening this year. Coming in the midst of the
current avalanche of demands for higher and
higher automOtive taxes, these messages are
bulWarks of sound economy and common
sense government With such leadership the
motorist can effectively demand and get more
roads for his money and put stop to the
trend toward lush, limitess spending of the
highway tax dollar.
Governor Bradford told the Massachu-
sets legislature, "It is clear that nc
matter how much the actual budget figures
may be trimmed and pared, the citizen strug
Cling with his own problems of cost is en-
titled to insist upon sixty minutes of service
for every Government hour he pays for and
one hundred cents of value for every dollar
his Government spends
Carrying this statement a step further,
(1OvprOOr DpWoV Of Now Yorl5 coid that II
should be ga cardinal principle Of govern
mental fiscal policies that large-Scale spend
ing for public improvements ought not to be
undertaken at the peak of an infiatiOnary
period but should rather be reserved SO as to
be available at time when such eXpendi-
lures could have healthy and stimulating
effect upon employment" Such a course, he
said, would help to be "a stabilizing rather
than a disrupting influence in the economy
and it can make sure that the people get their
moneys worth for the dollars they have paid
in taxes" Governor Blue of Iowa expressed
practically the same thought in these words:
I'm the next few years we shall be confronted
with a recession. The time to build public
improvements is during such a period. The
cost to the taxpayer is reduced and employ
ment provided for the unemployed"
Calling for the postpOnement of less es-
Sentlal highway construction until time
when the money will mean ''more in miles of
roads built and also in jobs when the need
for jobs is more acute" Names Governor
Hildreth told the legislature that highway
construction is competing unsuccessfully
with private industry for men and materials
in market of scarcity and high cost, and
with consequent delays in construction
Whatever ones ideas regarding postwar
construction may be- it must assuredly be
granted that these governors, and the others
not mentioned here who expressed similar
views, have hit the nail on the head. The
main problem is not getting more money for
roads, but giving the motorist-taxpayer more
roads for his money. And to give the mo-
torist more roads for his money is only to
give him full value for his tax dollar The
citizen has as much right to expect full value
for the money he contributes to government
as from the money he spends on food and
clothing
Those who stand for more roads for
your money have one unselfish and domi-
mating interest. They want the highway
users to get what they pay for. The highway
users IN the United States are paying heavily
for magnificent highway system in gasoline
and other autOmOtive taxes Government
should see that they get it
EVER SINCE ELI WHITNEY invented
the cotton gin in 1894 cotton has been one of
6ne most important crops in America The
Secretary of Agriculture has just pointed out
some interesting developments and this is
what he said:
we have not assured the United States
longtime World market for cotton, but
we nave built an immediate market far be-
yond yy,1 what we could have expected naturally.
we nave not improved the longtime COM
petltlve position of U. S. cotton, but we have
ueveioped plans for research that should con-
trloute TO this end. We have not licked the
lone-tlihe problem OF surpluses, but we have
completely cleared the decks of the Govern
ments me- stock of cotton" In other words
hng Cotton has not too much to look for