Established 1899 Home Course ln Road Making lll—Method of Financing Improved Roads. By LOGAN WALLER PAGE, Director Office of Public Roads, United States Department ol Agriculture. Copyright by American Press Asso ciation. 1912. IT is a matter of sound business policy to require that all road taxes be paid in cash, in the past the collection of labor for road building has been compulsory aud tbe collection of money voluntary, but experience has shown that this system must be reversed. A tax which is levied for the puqjose of developing resources hitherto undeveloped, which development would add to the people's wealth, cannot be considered a burden in any respect. It is an investment. As to tbe methods of raising money for road building purposes, there are two systems which have been employ ed in different parts of the country, both with considerable success. One plan may be called the "pay as you go' system. Under this plan a small an nual tax is levied, the proceeds of which may be used partly for tbe pur chase of equipment and partly for ac tual work on the roads. This tax may be increased slightly at Intervals, but , '»'. v i■ ;» - * % ' * ' / WORKING OUT THE TAX. it continues to be paid as an annual tax, the proceeds of which are an nually expended for road building pur poses. This system has certain ad vantages, for example. In connection with this expenditure of the annual tax. While only a limited amount of work can be done each year, there is no opportunity for wasting large sums The people of the county gradually adapt themselves to the changed con ditions, and the persons placed in charge of the road work have an op portunity of becoming efficient by their own experience before they come to handle larger sums of money, and an other thing which has considerable weight with a large class of people Is that the county is kept out of debt. Another advantage of this system la that when a county has a large taxable wealth a small annual levy will yield as large a sum as can be wisely ex pended. The more enlightened and the more commercial a people are the larger la the application of the credit system in their business. In the early settle meat of this country the money for development and business enterprises Wa s borrowed from Europe. Grad ually the eastern states increased in wealth to such an extent that they not only paid their European debts, but had money to loan for the up building of their sister states in the west At the present time some of the western states are joining with those In the east in lending money to Europe. During the past 100 years on the system of "going into debt for public improvements" this country has risen from n small dependent na tion to the heed of the I'st- The disadvantages of the "pay as you go" system are that the work of r °ad building proceeds too slowly. In a county which has f>oo miles of road, 100 miles of which should be consid erefl its main thoroughfares, if it raises a tax sufficient to build five rones of good road each year twenty years will be required to Improve the 100 miles, and many of the citizens the county would continue to pay for years before they would re ceive an J" benefit therefrom. The system of raising money for rr »id building by Issuing bonds is gen ""Popular, because people dread the idea of debt. The great advantage In the system 0 borrowing money for road building s that by securing the larger sums of ®°&ey for immediate expenditure the ork can be pushed more rapidly, and roads which would otherwise re im r! or thirty years for their 1 I) J ore ment can. under this system. * nlshed in four or five years. The P'e of tiie county begin to receive ne,lts * rOQl the work more quickly, ( the benefits are sufficiently great enable them to pay the Interest on ~ ofToxved money and to provide a *./ h inR funcl to Pay back that money ♦I. more e ase than they could pay cnm I""" 3 ' taxes In advance of the w *t!on of the road. HK.I7 tht " "Pay as you go" plan the v went generation builds the road# and THE HICKORY DEMOCRAT L ,f? ratloll *** the benea t or them Under the bond issue policy both the present and the future genera tions receive the benefits and both help to pay for them. It may be argued that the system of borrowing money for road building is more expensive for the reason that the money borrowed must he paid back a* well as the interest thereon, wbleh at 5 per cent in twenty years will amount to as much as the principal, and there fore for each dollar borrowed two wll have to be paid back at the end ol twenty years. This is not strictly true however. The money will be borrowed as ueeded. Furthermore, a few thou sund dollars placed In the bank at com pound interest is sufficient for a sink ing fund. The above objection would in a meas ure apply to any similar transaction fn the business world, and yet today 90 per ceut of all the business of tbe civilized world is done on a credit ba sis. If nations, states. counties and in dividual had listened to this arjiu meut this country of ours would today be almost as little known aiul us little developed as the continent of Africa. When a community Us building pub lie roads for the use of Its (teopie nil of the money borrowed for this pur pose is placed in circulation arnoug the people. They use it in their business transactions; they make it earn an in terest often worth far more to them than the interest which the county pays for the sum. In other words, tlie county bas the roads and the mouey which has been spent upon them. The whole structure of our indus trial and governmental fabric rests upon the mechanism of credit. The amount of legal tender actually In Hr culation in the United States in 1!>10 was only $34.52 per capita and would be pitifully inadequate to' meet the demands of business if all transactions were conducted on a cash basis. The building of our great railroads, the financing of our war of independence and subsequent conflicts have been conducted through the powerful agen cy of credit. Our entire banking sys tem, involving $1,853,834,000. rests up on the foundation stone of credit. Would it be wise to advise a thrifty young farmer to refrain from buying a farm because he had uot the entire purchase price in cash? Would it have ever been possible for the vast do mains of the early landed proprietors to be divided up into small farms if the practice of partial payments bad not been introduced? It is evident that tha construction of a large mileage of improved roads at pne time would result in a lower cost per mile than if the* roads were butlt a mile or so at a time, as the contrac tors having large plants and the quar-' rles furnishing large quantities of ma terial could utilize their equipment and material at less relative expense than on small jobs. Because improved roads benefit all Interests In the country all interests should help to pay for them. A coun ty bond issue usually levies the cost upon the town property as well as the country property and thus relieves the farmer of part of the burden which he now bears under the old district or township system. In nearly every county in the United States which op erates under the "pay as you go" plan the country property alone bears the entire cost of road building. A bond issue is not an unjust bur den on posterity, because through the increase in the value of land and the development of agricultural resources posterity is benefited. Therefore the son who inherits the wealth thus pro duced by the preceding generation should certainly help to pay the cost of the factors which are Instrumental in bringing about this wealth. The increase in farm values as the result of road improvement Is so great that the tax rate is frequently lower than before the issuance of bonds. To substantiate this point the following BUILDING ROADS T7NDER A CASH BTBTKM OF TAXATION. extract is taken from a letter written by Hon. John Lu Young, county Judge of Dallas county, Tex., on June 21, 1911: There is one very Important item |n connection wiUi this county that I would call your attention to, and that is tne re duction of taxes for the past five years, or rather, since the building of good roads in this county. The value of prop erty has increased to sucly an «xt ent th ~ the rate has been reduced from 9 1 - cents n 1900 to G2 cents in 1910. or a reduction taxes of 32 per cent. alt^Xv) omin the issued bonds in the sum of *I.aOQ.OOO in the meantime. There Is one thing certain, nnd that is that we must have money for road building and that this money must be raised by taxation. Whether we adopt the "pay as you go" policy and build the roads only as fast as *be money can be raised by taxation or fcsue bonds and thus borrow money in large quantities and build the roads now is a question for each state, county or township to decide for ,t ln lag this decision that method should be adopted which will give the quick est and best results with the least bur den upon the Individual taxpayer. HICKORY, N. C., THURSDAY. APRIL 11,1912 | COMMENT j | "CATAWBA LEADS THE WAY." Under this heading the Raleigh News and Observer prints a dou ble leaded editorial in advocacy of the preferential primary. We are proud that Catawba has lead the State for this reform. Mr. W, J. Shuford, Mr. L. Eugene Isenhour. The Newton News and the Democrat have been advocat ing it, and now it has come. Says The News and Observer: The most serious objection to a primary is a second primary. It imposes a fearfui strain upon the vitality of the party. It ac centuates personal bitterness. It entails great expense upon the candidates. The Democracy of Catawba couhty recognizing the evils and burdens of a second primary, nasset the State an example by adopting the Wisconsin prefer er tal primary. We believe that che resolution in favor of the a doption of this plan offered at the recent meeting of the State Democratic Executive Commit tee by Hon. E. L. Travis, and supported by Hon. E. J. Justice, was defeated because it was to most of the men present "some thing new under the sun," and had not been studied, considered and digested by the people of the State. It is a fair presumtion that in a second primary the men who supported the candidates still m the race, will stick to their first ove. The result of the second primary will be determined by the second choice of the men whose first choice is no longer in the race. Therefore, the object of the second primary is to as certain the second choice of the men whose first choice has been eliminated on account of being the lowest man in the first pri mary. The Wisconsin plan as certains this second choice .in the first primary, ascertains it with fairness and. accuracy and without bitterness and expense. To illustrate: In a county pri mary there are three thousand votes cast. There are four can didates for the nomination for sheriff. % The count shows that the candidates received fiirst choice votes as follows: A 1,200 8 800 C 600 D 400 Total 3,000 No candidate has received a majority. Dis dropped out. An examination of the ballots cast for him shows that these men voted their second choice as fol lows: A 200 B 100 C 100 Total 400 We add these votes to the first choice votes of A B ahd C, giving A 1,400 B 900 C 700 Total 3,000 Still no one has a majority. Now C must be dropped out and the ballots cast for him as first choice show that these men voted their second choice as fol lows; A 200 R 300 D 100 Total 600 D being eliminated, the votes cast for him are discarded, but we add to the votes of A and B the number of votes they receiv ed as the second choice of the men whose first choice was C, giving A 1,600 B 1,200 Total 2,800 A having a majority of the to tal vote of 3,000, is declared the nominee of the party It will be observed that no man's votes are taken away from him as long as he is in the race. The men whose first choice has lost out are al lowed to vote their second choice, and this is exactly what happens in a second primary. When once we eliminate the personal equation and consider the plan in terms of A, B, C and D, the reason m favor of the pre ferential primary are so convinc ing that they must secure its ul timate adoption. *'Dr. Thomas' Eclectic"OT 4* the best remedy for that often fatal dis ease, croup, It has been used with success in our family fo* eight years.*' Mrs. L. Whiteacre, Buffalo, N. Y. Democrat Polices for Cataw j ba County. There are two place 3 on the State Corporation Commission to be filled by the Raieigh conven tion. And the people should be alive to their interests and name the members instead of the Rail roads. Heretofore they have been stated months before by the railroads and the "Bosses." Here is the rub "the milk in the cocoanut" in our political af fairs. It is up to you. You pay no attention to your pre cinct meetings and allow a few to say the party in Catawba county and other counties stands,! for this man as for that policy and confident of yowflk inaction a few have assumed to take con trol. Democrats of Catawba you as good citizens and loyal Demo crats must attend your precinct meetings and vote your convic tious there. Then you will not be disappointed in the nomina tion and parties declarations, and be compelled to stultify yourself on account of party loyalty in voting for men who are against yonr views. You can ask your candidate a thousand questions. I am not criticising candidates, but am comparing methods for results. We must have parties but the views of the democrats constitu ting the party will not be effec tive unless you attend the pri maries en masse on May 18. and instruct your delegates to write in your county platform what you want. I have convictions on education. Have you? Then in structfor 6 months school as a means to that end. Declare for placing your county officers on a fair salary basis. The sooner the better as the salaries and the county grow, the policy will be bitterly assailed bv the officials as well as their friends. Ledell county is paying some of her officials more fees than the governor's salary amounts to and the fight is on there. Guilford county made a saving of $35,000 by pushing its officers on a salary basis in the line of fees. The chairman of your county boaid should have a salary and a good one Catawba county preemientiy deserves recognizing by the state in legislation tending to develop agriculture, dairying and stock raising and that we may be alert to our interests. We should favor a county commissioner of agriculture in our platform. South Carolina recently by leg islature, and nearly every other state in the union, compells the railroads to accept milage books on the trains. Tne railroads now have ticket collectors and conductors, and certainly to demand the regula tion would be reasonable to the roads and fair to the public. We should stand for good roads until the utmost limits of the country are served. Standing for this is the sincer est evidence that we are in ear nest and alive to all those other issues. A good road is a edu cator. It encourages schools churches and homes. It enhan ces all values and a new spirit of progress among all the people is the result wherever tried. Write these five issues in your county platform and send to Ral eigh only men who you know to be in accord with these policies and will act independent of any assumed control or faction. Men whose individual successs or selfish intereste will never be of less consequence then vour wel fare or your instructions. Don't get the foolish idea into ycur heads that you can obtain these reforms outside side of the democratic party. A. republican would stand no show at Raleigh. You would be check mated at every move. This is a demo cratic year, and the progressives are looking for democracy in the nation. Make the fight within the party for the purpose of us ing the power by the people to whom it rightfully belongs. All democrats and all you Ca tawba men who were wrocked in democratic cradles and favor the ideas or any part of them pro mulged above are seriously urged to write the editor of this paper at once what reforms you stand for and your views as to them and the ability of candidates and democratic policies. A full expression of democratic senti ments will mean 500 democratic majority in November for Cataw ba county. The way to get a victory is to get it. Now let every member of the party do his duty and express his views by postal card, if no more to the Democrat. You have never spoken. What is your senti ment? Help write the platform. E. L. SHUFORD. Hickory, N. C, April 8,1912, j Mews 15 - - Reported by Our Corps of Correspondents Catawba Items. Catawba, N. C., Apr. 9.—Miss Edith Arey spent her Easter vacation in Elmwood and Salis bury with relatives. Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Pitts spent the week-end in Salisbury and Spencer. Mr. William Moore of States ville and Miss Ethel Moore of Alanta, Ga., are guests at the home of Mr. A. C. Moore. Mr. Claudie Smith of Greens boro was among the Easter visi tors. Mr. Wili Robinson and chil dren of Spencer returned to their home Sunday after spend ing a few day with Mrs. Sam Abernethy, Miss Mary Lowrance accom pained by Miss Janie Carpenter of Davenport College spent Eas ter with Mr. and Mrs. J. W, Lowrance. Mrs. F. A. Sherrill of Moores ville returned to her home Mon day night, after spending Easter with relatives. Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Walker spent Sunday ir Conover with Mr. and Mrs. Min'oh. Mrs. Miles Clodfeller of Moor esville is the guest of her sisters Mr 3. G. F. Gilleland and Mrs. John Yount. Misses Vera Setzer and Ivey Linebarger of Dallas were guests of Mrs. L. L. Mingus last week. Mrs. Blair Lowrance of Ben oit, Miss, arrived here Sunday night to visit her parents Mr. and Mrs. J. TJ. Long. Mrs. R. M. Abernethy of Mooresville spent last week with her sister Mrs. A. H. McNeil. Catawba College Notes. Miss Cecilia Davish, a teacher in Lancaster, Pa., visited Mrs. J. H. Buchheit at the college last week. On Saturday night Mr. M. Locke McCorkJe, of the Senior class, entertained his classmates at the home of his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. George McCorkle. Everything that fan cy could imagine had been pro vided for the inner man. After a meal most delightful,both from the social and gustatory stand points, the guests assembled in the parlor for a very pleasant hour at games and music. All went away feeling tnat they had been with the best of hosts. Prof. W. R. Weaver made a most interesting and helpful ad dress before the Y. M. and Y,W. C. A. last Sunday afternoon on the subject of "Work." Miss Margaret Bost, of Hicko ry, and Misses Holtzendorf and Barringer, both of them teach ers at CJaremont College, were visitors at the college last week. Miss Sloop, of Harrisburg, vis tea Miss Boystian at the college during the Easter vacation. The Dr. Clapp and also the Peace Contest preliminaries will be held in the college auditorium onJFriday night, April 12, at 8 j o'clock; the Idahian declaimer's contest will be held on the follow ing night, April 13, at the same hour. The public is cordially in vited to both of these contests. Quite a number of students went home for the Easter va cation, but those who stayed at the college had a very pleasant time as they were given many more privileges than they usually enjoy. The Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo will hold a concatena tion at the lodge room of the I. 0. 0. F. next Friday night, after which they will have a banquet at the Hotel Huffry. There will be quite a number of members present from Ashe ville, Lenoir, Statesville, Greens boro and other parts of the state. Almost A Miracle One of the most startling changes ever seen in any man, according to W. B, Holsclaw, Clarendon, Tex., was effected years ago in his brother. "He had such a dreadful cough," he [writes, "that all our family thought he was going into consumption, but he began to us* Dr.: King's New Discovery, and was completely cured by ten bottles. Now he is sound and well and weighs 218 • pounds. For many years our family has used this wonderful remedy for coughs, and colds with excellent results." It's ; quick, safe, reliable? jrnd guaranteed. Price 50c ars Trial bottle free at C. M. Shuford, ' Moser & LuU, Grimes Drug Co, Democrat and Press, Consolidated 1905 Newton Notes Newton, N. C., Apr. 10. -Eas ter passed off very quietly. Some little drinking among the toys. There were special Easter ser vices at most ail the churches Sunday morning and night. Mr. Harry Abernethy, of Statesville, spent Easter with his cousin, Glenn McCall. Mr. Lock Kale spent Sunday at Barber Junction. Mr. I. A. Abernethy, who is putting up a sawmill at Mt.Creek, spent Saturday and Sunday with his parents. Mr. Lesly Keever, of Ashe ville, spent Easter with his father, Mr. L, A. Keever. I 7 Rev. M. A. Abernethy and his little grand-daughter, Marie Mc- Call, will leave today for Raleigh to spend several days, and will stop over at Greensboro, to visit Rev. E. W. Fox and family. Mr. Abernethy goes to Raleigh to represent the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association of Ca tawba and Burke counties. Married at the residence of Rev. M. A. Abernethy Friday, sth, Mr. Ernest Hefner and Miss Susan Travis, both of Catawba, Mrs. Catharine Wilkinson and daughter. Miss Eva, spent Easter with Mrs. Wilkinson's father, Mr. T. F. Drum near Catawba. Rev. M. A. Abernethy carried the inmates at the County Home a nice treat Sunday, which was very much enjoyed by them, . More New Farmer Telephones for Hickory. In the last two weeks there have been three new fanner telephone lines organize 1 and being buiit into Hicko ry. One has already been completed and is called the South-east Hickory Telephone Line has the following sub scribers: J. T. Cline, Lonnie Cline, Geo. W. Bolick, O. B. Cline, Pinkney Cline, Wm. Smyre, and Jno. Hull. This line is finished and is now enjoy ing telephone service and transacting business over their line. Another line which is nearly finished which is called the Dutch Telephone Line has sixteen farmer subscribers whose names will appear later. The third line is a telephone line which goes into the neighborhood of the South mountains and this line is also on the verge of completion. The subscribers on this line are the Wright Brothers, Geo. W. Hilderbran, Mr. Young, Mr. Johnson and others The Hickory Telephone Exchange now lias connection with over 150 tel ephones m the farmer or rural districts. It has almost gotten to the point where one can talk to every neighborhood in and around Hickory over the tele phone. There are more telephones now con nected to Hickory through her ex change than all the rest of the country put together. This surely speaks well for the progress of Hickory and her rural districts. We believe that in the near future every farmer will see the necessity of having a telephone and there will be one in every farmer's house. The farmer has already seen the ad vantages and necessity of the telephone and there will be one in every farm er's house. The farmer has already seen the ad vantages and necessity of the tele phone and we believe he will see the necessity of good roads and come to Hickory on the lifteenth day of this month and cast his ballot for same. Hickorv aud Hickory township is in the front and is bound to stay in the front. Auction Sale of Half of Bridge water. Col. M. E. Thornton is prepared to have an aution sale in about a month of part or nearly half of the town of Bridgewater, in Burke County. It is being laid off into a town in lots and he or Mr. Buchannan will sell them abont the latter part of May. Bridgewater is on the first maps made of North Caro lina; so its strange that just now in 1912 it should be laid off for a town. It is the best town site in Western, N. C., and already has a large business. The original grant from the State and one Deed of conveyance is all the titles that have been made to the en tire property. The deed was to John Rutherford. Mrs. Thornton is John Rutherford Jr's. widow. Due adver-1 tisement of the sale of this highly val- j uable property will be made. It may j be a two or three day sale. Unless , some one meantime should not buy it at a price and have the sale them* selves. A Good Doctor of South Carolina said: ' 1 have used Dr. King's Remedies a great deal in my practice and find that they give perfect satisfaction on both myself and patients. I heartily reccommend them. W. R. Clyburd, M. D.' f And they still grow in favor because they cure. Guaranteed by all medi cine dealers. Build /Ell the Foids AtOnce * Progressive fonnties Do Hot Fear Merest When They Get the Benefits of Borroved Money To the editor of tlie Democrat; The writer had the pleasure of listening to the good roads talk by Mr. W. A. Seif on Saturday, and was particularly impressed with his illustrations of. two home-builders. One of these in vested his yearly savings ($100) and built the foundation of his house the first year. The second year another $lOO was added, and so on until the end of the sixth year, when he put the fin ishing touches to his house by adding the roof. The ravages of time, however, had in the mean time played havoc with the foun dation, the roof iell in, and the man's vision of a home was v recked. The other home build er, profiting by his knowledge of the fact that every business man finds it profitable to borrow money to advance his interests, sought the Building and Loan Association for aid, built his home at once, and he and his family enjoyed the privileges of that home from the start. The happy illustration an swers so well the arguments of some ultra-conservative people who are opposing the bond issue for roatl improvements, that I thought it might be worth while to give the above brief outline tor the benefit of you readers who were rot fortunate enough to hear Mr. Self's speech. Our conservative friends who argue this way say thev can build 6 miles of road every year at a cost of $4,800, and have $1,200 left to keep up repairs on the other 74 miles of road in Hickory Township. By this means they calculate to build 60 miles of road in ten years with out having to pay any interest on borrowed money, I do not fancy there are many men who would like to have the responsibility of selecting any six miles of road on which to spend $4,800, while the rest of the roads, about 74 miles, had to get along with $1,200. What a howl would go up from the rest of the township. On the other hand with a bond issue of $50,- 000, every taxpayer would re alize that an immediate or con tinuous improvement of 60 miles or more of Hickory township roads would mean that his home would be reached very shortly by a good road. Again, the cost of equipment (estimated at $1,500) has not been reckoned with by our neigh bors who argue this way. Instead of a continuous use of the ma chinery purchased for making roads, they would be in use but a few months each year. Gov. Turner, in his speech at Hickory on the night of April 1, said that the progressive cities, townships and counties, like pro gressive business men, were all borrowers, and that if a commun ity wanted to lose its young men and young women all it had to do was to remain a non-borrowing, back-numder district. The pro gressive young people are bound to seek the progressive sections through the law of affinity. Interest on borrowed money is only an impginary bugaboo, if you stop to consider that you are receiving the benefits of that borrowed money right along and, as in the plan proposed for this bond issue, provision has been made for meeting the interest and principle without adding one cent to the amount of taxes you are already paying. As an illustrarion of this benefit we will suppose that there are 200,000 trips made ovtr Hickory roads every year, which is a con servative estimate. Our interest will not be $3,000 per year, as we will issue bonds only as we need the money, but for convenience we will say it would be $3,000. That would make a cost of 11-2 cents per trip. Of this amount the property owners of the in corporated towns in the town ship will pay more that 11-4 cents, while the farmers will pay less than 1-4 a cent. Surely that is a paying investment for the farmer. A. K. JOY, Secretary, Let us design your advertising: literature. We can furnish any kind of engraving, half-tone or electrotype at a moderate cost. Then we can print it artistically in any color desired. Try our color-work. The Democrat Print ing Dept. i| K • ■ ' n f $)

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