Wisconsin State, Drainagc Associatiou



  sum as will be the difference in cost of making the road good
  and safe in its present undrained condition and in the drained
  condition that will follow your work.
    If the road is laid out but not built, what shoidd you assess?
  In that case, to the first element mentioned in the answer to the
  last question, should be added the full difference in first cost of
  building such road on drained and undrained land.
    How much are the benefits to the public health? Drainage
 lessens malaria and other diseases prevalent on wet areas and
 eliminates mosquitoes. Anything re erable to drainage, that
 makes the maintenance of desirable conditions in the town, city
 or village less expensive to that corporation, is a benefit, that I
 believe should be assessed as a special drainage benefit.
   How much is each worth in cash to the towns, city or village?
   Should you not assess against towns, cities and villages, bene-
 fits that they will receive by reason of the greater ease in build-
 ing and maintaining the roads that they must lay out and build
 im the near future, in the drainage areas? You are assessing
 lands in the district for future benefits.
   An examination of several maps, of large areas of well settled
 fiat lands, in the northern and central United States, satisfies
 me that the number of miles of highways average more than the
 number of miles of section line. I see no reason why the
 drained marsh lands in Wisconsin should ultimately have less
 miles of highway, to a given area, than flat lands in other states,
 and in other parts of Wisconsin. TMost of the new highway will
 have to be built within 15 years after the completion of the
 drainage. It will cost the towns, cities and villages far less to
 construct and maintain these new highways on drained than on
 undrained soil. Why should not the towns, cities and villages
 be assessed benefits for this decreased cost of future highways'
 What of the above suggested future benefits to lands and
 corporations are "speculative" and therefore not assessable and
 what part of thdem that are practically certain to occur, come
 from the drainage and are therefore assessable?
 I have not touched upon assessment of other drainage dis-
 tricts. Such assessments are rather unusual at this time, al-
though they will probably be more common as drainage goes on.



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