No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF' AGRICULTURE. 667 



sure tliut von will not rail iiw and I hat I shall iioi Ih' (Jisa ppoinic!! in 



.you. 



Will .you do it? 



The CHAIRMAN: What is the width of the road in Snyder 

 county? 



MK. HUNTER: Eighteen feet wide and costs one dollar a running 

 foot; but that portion is to be re-constructed over a road on which 

 a considerable amount of stone has been placed, but which has be 

 come rutted. \Ve will use native stone in the bottom and place a 

 course of limestone on top; that is, Crawford native stone, four 

 inches in depth with a course of limestone on top. When I say, that 

 I doubt very much if the county tax rate will be raisel and the town- 

 ship can build one or two miles of road, without materially increas- 

 ing their taxes, I speak with my knowledge of the roads constructed 

 in Abiugton and Cheltenham townships, in Montgomery county, 

 under the previous law. In Abington township they voted an 

 indebtedness of eighty thousand dollars; that was used up in 

 1893, and the following spring they voted an additional loan of fifty 

 thousand dollars. I had charge of the construction of those roads 

 and the bonds were sold at a considerable premium, I think the 

 premium was something like thirty-two hundred dollars. In 1S98, 

 the mill tax was four mills on the assessed valuation; that gave the 

 township between ten and eleven thousand dollars to exjjend on 

 their roads. The following year, 1894, they raised the mill tax to 

 five mills. Out of that they have paid the interest on their bonds 

 and eight per cent, of the principal, as required by law, and have kept 

 their township roads in repair and have built from one to two miles 

 of road each year and that five mill rate has been continued ever 

 since, for over ten years. With the development of the properties 

 in that township the amount raised for road purposes this year was 

 nearly twenty-five thousand dollars. It is true, there has been some 

 slight increase in the assessed valuation, but most of the money 

 has come from the putting up of the value, of farms. In 1893, farms 

 that were assessed at fluO to $200 an acre have been cut up into 

 four and five-acre lots, and these been cut up again and houses placed 

 on them at a cost of from $10,000 to $15,000. However, there are 

 many properties assessed now just the same as they were ten years 

 ago. This same condition applies to Cheltenham township. The 

 latter township was bonded and have been carrying on their tax 

 rate under the same principle for the last five years. Even after 

 the township became first class the tax rate was five mills for town- 

 ship purposes. Nineteen hundred and two was the first year the 

 rate was increased; it was increased to seven mills; but, in addition 

 to what thev did formerly, they now police the township from one 



