Southern good roads . imestment and not a loss and the di-rect returns to the farnuM will bi many times the increase in farm \-alues as the result if road im-provement is so great that the tax rate is frequeiitlNlower than before the issuance of bonds. To substan-tiate this point, I give you the following exam]:)lesquoted from the experiences of two Xe^\? Jersey coun-ties : Essex county, though only )- miles si|uare. hasbuilt more than 200 miles of fine Telf ird and macadamroads. Essex couiit>- has borrowed ;(lO at 4 percent on 5-20 bonds and co\-cred the county with a Iom-ple
Southern good roads . imestment and not a loss and the di-rect returns to the farnuM will bi many times the increase in farm \-alues as the result if road im-provement is so great that the tax rate is frequeiitlNlower than before the issuance of bonds. To substan-tiate this point, I give you the following exam]:)lesquoted from the experiences of two Xe^\? Jersey coun-ties : Essex county, though only )- miles si|uare. hasbuilt more than 200 miles of fine Telf ird and macadamroads. Essex couiit>- has borrowed ;(lO at 4 percent on 5-20 bonds and co\-cred the county with a Iom-plete system of Telford and maiadam roads. Withthe interest of the lionds added to the annual tax levy,the rate of taxation is lo\\cr than before the buildingof the roads, aiul the value of the property along theroads has increased .fO per cent to oO ]ier cent. Union countw Xew Jerse.^. spent over .^( onmacadam roads about ISO:,. Tle^ ojipositiiui claimedthat the connt\ would be ruined and farms sold to fiay. 8 SOUTHERN GOOD ROADS November, 1911 taxes; that farmers and real estate owners wovikl bedriven into bankruptcy; that the whole project wasunsound or crazy. On the other hand, the value of property has great-ly enhanced—increased valuation being so great thatthe tax rate in the country districts is nuich less thanin adjoining counties where good roads were not roads mean smaller farms, more people and lesstaxes. Let us see if we can determine from information ob-tainable and open to you all, what effect the buildingof good roads may have. In the Census Reports of1900 it was stated that there were 17,000 abandonedfarms in the state of Ncav York, and some of themwere situated in the celebrated Mohawk Valley. Fixthese dates clearly in your mind. 1900 is the (ensusReport referred to. New Yurk adopted its first state-aid law in 1S9S and when the census of 1900 was tal\-cn. the building of the state-aid roads had just law authorizing the issuance n
Size: 874px × 2859px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorvarnerhe, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1910
