214 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



toward the support of tUe liigLways of the state. This property consists 

 of the raih'oads, the telegraph lines and telephones, insurance companies, 

 and other corporations that are users of the highways or are the direct 

 beneficiaries of the highways of the state. Why not make this vast amount 

 of property pay its share of the burdens of maintaining the highwayh? 

 But that we can not assess this property by a labor tax is conceded. We 

 must tax it under a money tax. This money when paid in must find some 

 one and some way to expend it. Will we do this by and through the 

 present system of pathmasters, and permit it to be frittered away? It is 

 estimated that a proper tax collected from the property now exempt 

 would amount to about $250,000 per year upon the same basis as the two 

 mill tax for schools. Will the gentleman that is to open this discussion 

 please advise us why we should not provide a tax upon the property men- 

 tioned? All this wealth is taxed for other purposes, but not for the 

 roads. We ask that it be charged with its just share of the public bur- 

 dens. All this compels the other changes mentioned. 



As to the change from the labor to a money tax, what additional bur- 

 den w'ill it impose upon the taxpayer, if he is allowed to work out the tax 

 the same as he is doing now, with the exception that he would be required 

 under the law proposed to give a full day's work in payment of the tax 

 as assessed. This would change the present charge for the use of 

 scrapers, plows, and things that are used upon the road and for which 

 an outlandish price is received. 



I ask why not make these changes, and why not create a state fund by a 

 tax on the owner of each bicycle, and a special tax on the man who does 

 teaming and uses the highway for a living — such as the liveryman, the 

 peddler, and the like? Let the state collect from these people and turn the 

 amount so received to a fund that is to be distributed to the various 

 townships in proportion to their rights, and from these and other aids 

 build up our highways and make them what they ought to be. 



I might go into a minute description of the saving to each freeholder 

 that would come from good roads. To figure out the increase in value 

 of the lands adjacent to the improved highways, and the amount that a 

 horse can draw upon a macadamized road, and how much he can draw 

 upon the common roads of the country, and go into a long talk about the 

 way roads ought to be rounded out and drained, and so on. But, believing 

 that that is but a mere detail, and feeling that these and like questions 

 have been considered by you, and that you have reached the conclusion 

 that a good road is a good thing, I have avoided this in what little I have 

 had to say. I ask for the question of good roads your careful thought, 

 believing that the matter will receive at your hands that consideration 

 which the subject demands; and when the matter of the changes men- 

 tioned is fully- considered and understood, the opposition will have van- 

 ished and the work of bettering the roads Avill be pushed, not by us 

 "cranks," but by the whole people; and if I can be instrumental in calling 

 your attention to this great subject, and assisting you. to its investigation, 

 I shall feel that my coming to your meeting has been of profit. What we 

 want, and what we mean by good roads, is a good road that connects 

 the home and the farm with the school, the church, the postoffice, factory, 

 and depot. Good roads mean a benefit to the masses, to those who go 

 afoot and to those who ride. Good roads mean a more contented life on 

 the farm, more of home and its refining inlluences. Good roads will 



