The Crosbyton Review. (Crosbyton, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 10, 1910 Page: 1 of 12

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A Newspaper For Tha Whol> Peopli Of Tht South Plains Of Tom.
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VOL 2.
CROSBYTON, CROSBY COUNTY, TEXAS, THURSDAY, MARCH 10,1910.
Owners, Attention
fferr Is The Way To Have Good
Roads In Crosby County
(Thip article appeared last Oct. 7th, in
the Review, only a rew^flHy^ 'affcer the
Bond issue in the county had been de-
feated. Its facts based on figures, and
is so plain that any one can follow it
and figure fo£^pursel£.)
Let's have just a word or two
on this bondielection question
and see what there is in it, so if
it ever comes up again we can
more infcellegently act, and if the
bonds are really, what we want
we can lay aside that mode of
builing roads and construct them
on some other -plan.
In the first place the voters
must not loose sight of the facts
that we do want roads and lots
of them. The law. says we must
have one first-class road at least
running north and south, and
east and west from the county
seat to the county lines to con-
nect with the county road3 from
neigeboring county seats. These
we must have if we wish to con-
form to our state laws—which
by-the-way, are simply made for
our own good. Now as ta other
roads we can have as many or as
few as the people think they need;
and we can have them Un poor
condition or we can have them in
good condition; that too, as the
people think they ought, to have
to keep<peace with the growth of
the plains counties. WE DO
NEND ROADS—there is no
question as to that by anybody
that stops to consider the matter
at all; and more than that, WE
NEED GOOD ROADS; and we
need them now, Roads that will
attract the attention of the peo-
ple coming this way; roads that
will be talked about in other com-
munities and written of in the
paper of this State and other
states. It was only last Satur-
day—the very day the bond is-
sue was defeated in this coun-
ty—that The Kansas City Times
had an article stating that a par-
ty of progressive Missourians
were Moing to take a tripto Texas
. to study the method's of building
roads in this great State. It is,
of course, appearent that these
men will not come to Crosby Co.
for we have nothing to offer
them iq that line that would be
of aqy advantage to them.
But would it not be a feather in
our caps if we had such good
roads that these men would come
to this connfv to see them and
to study our method of buildiug
and our plan of furnishing the
money with which to construct
them? We ought to get together
in some way and build . such
roads, so that they will Compare
favorably with the other im-
provements that are going on in
this couny* *nd also with the
high charter of llie people that
are slowly moving here. If we
do mrtdo this the higher grade of
people* lbose whom we desire
the most/ will be attracted by
the better conditions^ of
I
State Normal, Canyon City, Texas. Watch The Great Plains Of Texas.
the ones that will be benefited
by these newcomers, because each
new arival asapermanant settler
enhanacs just that much the val-
ue of land in this county.
Now, taking it as a settled
fact that we do want good roads,
the next question is, what is the
best way to build them? We can
build roads either by individual
enterprise, or by the force labor
ot the citizens, or by levying a
direct tax for the purpose, or by
issuing bonds. The first, that of
buildii;g road by individual en-
terprise cannorbe" depended upon
although coniderable work of that
kind has been done in this coun-
ty. But, as it is merely volun-
tary, we cannot tell when it will
be taken up or when it may be
stopped. And, of course, it is
not,fair to ask any individual to
build our roads for us at his own
expense, although individual as-
sistance is always welcome. The
secod, by forced labor, this al-
ways was and always will be a
ve^y unsatisfactory way to ac-
complished the building of roads.
The third, by direct taxation.
Let us look into that. The com-
missioners have the right under
the law to leave a tax qf 15c on
each $100 value of real estate.
tf a man owns 40 acres of land
at $20 an acre, under the tax it
would cost him $1.20 a year. If
ha owns 80 acres at that val-
uation, it would cost him $2.40 a
vear, if he owned 160 acres,
$4.80 a year and so on.
This, together with the numer-
ous other taxes he has to meet
every year i n the shape of
special, school and general taxes,
runs his assessments pretty high;
and this would only bring $4,242,
figured on the present land valu-
ation of $2,828,056. If we raised
$5,000 by the special levy it would
cost the 40 acre owner $1.50 a
year, the 80 acre owner $3.00,
and so on. This mode of raising
a sum sufficient to work the
roads properly is objectionable
for two reasons, first, as set out
above, it makes burdensome tax;
and second, it would not he avail-
able', even if acted upon at the
earliest opportuity, until Febru-
ary 1911. The order cannot be
made by the Commissioners
u n't 11 the next t?eb ruary
term, and the tax cannot be col-
lected until one year from that
time. In the meantime we have
no roads. -
Now, let "us see what it would
be under the bond system. This
mode of raising funds for roads
had been proven to be the most
economical, quickest way to build
good roads—hence the law. Un-
der that law we can issue bonds
for say $5,000, or whatever we
think is necessary to put our
roads in good shape, and we can
get the money now—all of it—
and put it right into the roads
without waiting a year or more
to levy a burdensome tax. The j teiest on that $1.50 in ^0 years
better conditions,, of our
neighboring-countiea and M^ii^|^^ ^pffe into ^reTuIIy by the
get as far as our county in
^ reach Tor new homes, a* the
- * road conditions of each county
; * are discussed all Sfferthe plains.
Those that are here now and are
legislature at
was under consideration a
years ago. and a thorough com
oarative study of all syptems of
raising funds wasjjiade at that
found that this
moment these bonds are issued
the money markets of the United
States begin to bid for them, and
the person, firm, or corporation
that makes the lowest bid. that
is. demands the lowest interest
from us, gets these bonds, and
they are made to run not le^s
than twenty years. Now, what
is the result of this? We, the
present land owners, do not have
to pay all this back$: alone. As
these roads benefit the people
coming in. they will have to pay
their share of it, and as more peo-
ple come in and the lands rise in
value, we will all be required to
pay a little less., each year, so
that our assessment gradually
drops instead of rises. Now,
what do we have to pay? First
on an issue of $5,000, at the
highest rate, which is fixed by
the law at 5£ per cent, per an-
num. our interest would amount
sum of $1.20 to raise $4,242; the
interest he loses on the direct
payments of that sum, figured
on a basis of 2Q. years at 5 per
cent, without compounding.it
is just $1.20. On the basis of
raising $5,000 (or as much as the
bond issue would amount to) it
would cost him $150 to be paid
right out, and a loss of $1,50 In-
to $275 a year. In addition to
the interest We would have to
provide for a sinking fund to
take care of the principal when
it would mature; this sinking
fund would amount to $150 a
year, which in twenty years at
compound interest would pay off
the entire $5,000. That maTceslT
total of $425 each year to be paid
on a real estate valuation of
$2,828,056, which is the 1909 val-
uation, that would be a tax on
each $100 of valuation of the in-
significant sum of ONE AND
ONE-HALF CENTS A YEAR.
This would cost the ower of the
40 acres above referred to, 12
cents yearly; the owner of 80
acaes, 24 cents, and the owner of
160 acres, 48 cents. And more-
over we would have the money
to use right now, and the work
would be done by our home peo-
ple who need this work right
now, and the money would be
spent right here in this commun-
ity, and thus the people here
would derive a-benefit from it in.
a dozen different ways. " These
bonds could 1n all probability be|it unaYiTmously
sold for about 4 per cent, and
figuring on the same bases would
cost just that much less. Some
people argue against this mode
of raising money lor the roads
at 5 percent, aggregating $3 00.
On the other hand, under the
bond system, by paying out 12c
a year for twenty years he
would pay out all togetner $2.40,
and the interest he would lose on
this sum, would be offset by the
interest he would gain by not
having to pay it all at once, and
he would be 60c better off at the
end of 20 years. This, mind you,
is not counting compound inter-
est. On a single 40 acre tract
this does not amount to much,
but taking ft over the entire
county it reaches a high figure
and is worth saving. And we
must also bear in mind that as
real estate valuations increase
the lower will be our assessment
on the $100 valuation. If in ten
years our real estate valuation is
$5,000,000, which it easily will be
our assessment per $100 valua-
tion will be only about one cent
This bond system has been al-
itiust be paid for the use of it ) up very much Improver
r.,; i sell friend Wa
the direct tax the owner of 40
acres must pay ail 'a* giiee the
most universally adopted and
has been proven to be the most
economic, quickest, cheapest and
most satisfactory way to do this
work. It is no longer an experi-
ment; it is a safe business prop-
osition. Haskell County has just
voted $25,000 bonds for road pur-
poses, which shows what they
think about it in that part of the
country.
Our county, as well as other
institutions or individuals, has
the right to buy these bonds, anc
has now in its treasury $17,712
available for that purpose. This
sum is not bringing the county as
much interest as it could derive
from our bonds, and it could eas
ily afford to take them up at fit
lower rate of interest than any
other institution would, and here
again save us money all around
We are convinced that the is-
suing of bonds nJs the cheapest
and best way to build our much
needed roads, and should this
method be again placed before
the people,they should vote for
Great Authors
Books as Educators
I
By J. W. BURTON
Concluding Article on "Les Miserable^
The story of... thel_ unfortunate
man who is the hero of~this nov-
el might have l eaded with the
ast article, but Victor Hugo had ;
a greater purpose in View than
simply to relate the reformation
of one poor individual and then
eaye him as though the world
lad no further terrors for him.
He wanted to emphasize th4 fact
that it is a great deal more diffi-
cult to stay reformed than it is
to be reformed; so the most in-
teresting chapter of Jean's- life
is now before us. Here we find
this man so sorely tempted and
at conflict with himself at times
that it is hard to conceive of a
man withstanding trials and
temptations with which he was
confronted and still maintain the
high ideals that the character of
the bishop hud so indelibly fixed
upon his mind. Jean, being hu-
man, at times wavered, but
those silver candle sticks and the
vision of the=" celestial face be-
hind them impelled him to walk
the straight and narrow path.
We left Jean praying before
the door of the bishop's little
house. No more is heard of him
for about ten years, when we
find him rich and influential, at
the head of a great factory in a
small town built byv himself, of
which he is now mayor. Time
has worked great changes in him.
He has grown^older and his hair
is snow white, but he is erect
and vigorous. He has educated
himself, and his face has assumed
a tranquil expression of goodness.
On account of the stealing of the
piece of money from the little
boy he has changed hianamfljifc.
i>
5« *
■t
Mr f-
k:.f r I
cause he knows he would be ar-
rested again if he continued to
use it. He had discovered a pro-
cess for making jet and had built
a great factory, which employed
hundreds of hands, and which
had made him rich. Like the
old bishop, he took pleasure in
giving to the poor, and thousands
of dollars were spent that way
every year. Anyone that needed
work could get it at his town
whether he really needed the
workmen or not. That was one
of his ways of doing good, by
giving people a chance to earn
an honest living without being^
the objects of charity, which al-
ways takes away one's self-
respect.
The police system of France is
generally considered the best in
the world. Men are there bom
and brought up in that profes-
sion and make it a life long study.
Thei? detectives are shrewder;
their system of identification bet-
ter, and their mode'of detection
of crime and tracing of criminals,
not equaled 'anywhere 'in the .'-111
j4.,
■' HP™
wor d. As a matter of fact near-
ly all the great cities
Our esteemed contemporary, methods of paris in t]
the Emma News, comes out
i
this week in a new dress, it is
a neat five-column folio, the type
on account, of tile Interest that -being new and the general mak&
ffiefrTbtFrtfttle boy wa3 robbed
ieyTthe police soon /
thar: tha
it was
time.
■■■■MB***
continued stream of proserity. *
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