ROADS 217 



Road administration. The problem of proper and ade- 

 quate road administration is one on which there is a number 

 of different opinions. Some believe that road adminis- 

 tration is a problem for the state or the nation, though the 

 majority of landowners are opposed to centralization and 

 do not want the national or even the state governments to 

 interfere with the local road policy, except in the matter of 

 giving a boost with an occasional appropriation to be spent 

 on certain definite stretches of road. The problem of how 

 to develop roads so that those deriving the most benefit 

 will pay their just share without throwing the burden on 

 the few has not been satisfactorily solved. 



Labor-tax vs. cash-tax system. Some people favor having 

 the state develop its roads by means of the labor-tax system 

 alone, all able-bodied men being required to put in a certain 

 time of each year on public road work. This system has 

 been abolished in most of the northern states. On pioneer 

 roads, where money is scarce, the labor system, or the pay- 

 ment of a road tax in labor by the individual owner of the 

 property subject to-, the road tax, is desirable, but, as con- 

 ditions improve, this method becomes unsatisfactory. The 

 more progressive states are dispensing with the labor system 

 and requiring that the road tax be paid in cash. It has 

 been found in practice that the best roads are built and 

 maintained where the labor system has been abolished 

 and the work done by labor regularly employed and properly 

 supervised. 



The first step in road making in many rural communities 

 is to replace the old labor-tax system by a cash-payment 

 system — not that the labor system is wrong, but it has 

 served its time and should be replaced by a better method. 

 The labor system has done excellent service in the improve- 

 ment of pioneer roads, and is the only method that can be 

 used in a newly settled country; but, like the log house, 

 it should give way at the proper time. When the time 

 comes that the road should be built to accommodate the 



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