﻿330 
  Geological 
  Survey 
  of 
  Louisiana 
  [Sect. 
  

  

  The 
  proposition 
  to 
  pay 
  road 
  taxes 
  in 
  cash 
  met 
  with 
  little 
  favor 
  in 
  the 
  

   beginning. 
  Farmers 
  were 
  unwilling, 
  as 
  might 
  reasonably 
  be 
  expected, 
  to 
  

   pay 
  their 
  road 
  taxes 
  in 
  cash 
  instead 
  of 
  in 
  work. 
  But 
  sentiment 
  is 
  now 
  largely 
  

   the 
  other 
  way 
  among 
  intelligent 
  farmers, 
  since 
  experience 
  has 
  shown 
  that 
  

   more 
  can 
  be 
  accomplished 
  with 
  one 
  dollar 
  of 
  tax 
  paid 
  in 
  cash, 
  than 
  two 
  dol- 
  

   lars 
  or 
  even 
  three 
  dollars 
  of 
  tax 
  worked 
  out 
  on 
  the 
  highway. 
  Where 
  the 
  

   system 
  has 
  been 
  fairly 
  tried, 
  farmers 
  have 
  found 
  it 
  b}^ 
  no 
  means 
  the 
  burden 
  

   expected, 
  since 
  they 
  may 
  still 
  be 
  hired 
  by 
  the 
  road 
  officers 
  to 
  run 
  the 
  

   machinery 
  used. 
  Two 
  cases 
  in 
  Wisconsin 
  are 
  instructive 
  on 
  these 
  points. 
  

   Martin 
  J. 
  O'Malley, 
  chairman 
  of 
  the 
  town 
  of 
  Westport, 
  Dane 
  county, 
  

   writes 
  : 
  '• 
  We'adopted 
  the 
  money 
  system 
  in 
  the 
  town 
  of 
  Westport 
  two 
  years 
  

   ago. 
  We 
  purchased 
  a 
  good 
  road 
  grader, 
  and 
  we 
  levied 
  a 
  2-mill 
  road 
  tax 
  

   instead 
  of 
  the 
  4-mill 
  tax 
  that 
  we 
  had 
  been 
  paying 
  working 
  the 
  old 
  way. 
  

   The 
  people 
  are 
  allowed 
  to 
  vote 
  on 
  the 
  question 
  at 
  every 
  election, 
  and 
  thej' 
  

   are 
  full}- 
  convinced 
  that 
  the 
  cash 
  system 
  is 
  the 
  only 
  true 
  way 
  of 
  getting 
  good 
  

   roads. 
  There 
  has 
  been 
  more 
  work 
  done 
  on 
  our 
  roads 
  during 
  the 
  past 
  two 
  

   years 
  than 
  in 
  twenty 
  years 
  before." 
  

  

  The 
  same 
  experiment 
  w^as 
  tried 
  in 
  the 
  town 
  of 
  Middleton 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  

   county, 
  and 
  with 
  the 
  greatest 
  success. 
  In 
  1894, 
  under 
  the 
  new 
  law 
  passed 
  

   the 
  year 
  before, 
  the 
  town 
  paid 
  its 
  road 
  taxes 
  in 
  cash, 
  and 
  used 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  

   money 
  for 
  the 
  purchase 
  of 
  two 
  road 
  graders. 
  Wm. 
  F. 
  Pierstorff, 
  chairman 
  

   of 
  the 
  town, 
  told 
  of 
  their 
  experience 
  in 
  an 
  address 
  delivered 
  at 
  Watertown, 
  

   in 
  the 
  spring 
  of 
  1896. 
  "Under 
  the 
  old 
  laws," 
  says 
  Mr. 
  Pierstorff, 
  "we 
  

   always 
  levied 
  a 
  road 
  tax 
  of 
  4 
  to 
  6 
  mills. 
  In 
  1890, 
  a 
  tax 
  of 
  f2, 
  297.80 
  was 
  levied 
  ; 
  

   in 
  i89[, 
  ^,346.70; 
  ill 
  1892, 
  $2,326 
  77, 
  andin 
  1893, 
  12,471.93. 
  In 
  1894, 
  the 
  first 
  

   year 
  under 
  the 
  new 
  law, 
  we 
  levied 
  2 
  mills, 
  amounting 
  to 
  $1,051.58, 
  and 
  

   bought 
  two 
  road 
  graders. 
  We 
  gave 
  the 
  farmers 
  a 
  chance 
  in 
  handling 
  graders 
  

   to 
  work 
  at 
  three 
  dollars 
  per 
  day 
  with 
  team, 
  they 
  giving 
  us 
  ten 
  hours 
  for 
  a 
  

   da3-'s 
  work. 
  In 
  1895 
  we 
  levied 
  2 
  mills 
  as 
  before, 
  and 
  expended$i, 
  231. 
  56 
  for 
  

   our 
  regular 
  work 
  on 
  the 
  highway. 
  You 
  will 
  see 
  that 
  for 
  the 
  last 
  two 
  years 
  

   we 
  expended 
  for 
  general 
  highway 
  purposes 
  an 
  average 
  of 
  $1,141.57 
  a 
  year, 
  

   while 
  the 
  average 
  for 
  the 
  preceding 
  four 
  j-ears 
  was 
  $2,827.28. 
  It 
  is 
  admit- 
  

   ted 
  b}' 
  all 
  that 
  there 
  was 
  more 
  work 
  done 
  in 
  the 
  last 
  two 
  j-ears 
  than 
  the 
  town 
  

   has 
  ever 
  done 
  before. 
  You 
  can 
  do 
  more 
  work 
  with 
  three 
  teams 
  and 
  one 
  

   grader 
  in 
  a 
  daj- 
  than 
  with 
  three 
  teams 
  and 
  a 
  small 
  scraper 
  in 
  a 
  week. 
  Our 
  

   people 
  are 
  well 
  satisfied 
  with 
  the 
  new 
  system, 
  and 
  they 
  will 
  never 
  vote 
  to 
  

   go 
  back 
  to 
  the 
  old 
  method 
  of 
  working 
  the 
  highway." 
  

  

  For 
  the 
  most 
  recent 
  exhaustive 
  treatise 
  on 
  roads, 
  road-niakiiig 
  and 
  road 
  

   materials, 
  see 
  Rept. 
  Geol. 
  Surv. 
  Md., 
  Vol. 
  III. 
  

  

  