Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1918 — ROAD LEGISLATION [ARTICLE]

ROAD LEGISLATION

The Indications are that the next session of the general assembly will enact some important highway legislation. Advocates of good roads have been given to understand that they can have about anything they want as long as itheir desires are based on sound public .policy and as long as the sought-for legislation is found to be rational, economical and needed. The Interests (working for good roads in Indiana have begun to think about what they want. The old state highway commission law was declared void by a circuit judge, and an appeal was taken to the supreme court, which has not acted, although the case has been pending for months. It seems taken for granted now that a new law will be passed, because the old law will not be upheld. The advocates of a permanent system of highways in Indiaun should lose no time in working out their program, and agreeing on legislation that will be of benefit to the people. The road work should be divoorced from politics because the partisan manner in which existing laws have been enforced has been unsatisfactory. Contractors have (played (politics and have received favors in return. Township and county officials in many instances have been unworthy of the highway jobs they held, but they kept their places through political pull. Indiana will not have satisfactory roads until a system is evolved whereby only good work will be accepted, and roads once accepted are kept in constant repair. Eliminating the middle men in the business of building highways will finally bring the matter to where it should have 'been years ago. Then the taxpayer, who foots the bills, will get some value for the money he spends.— Indianapolis News.