100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, March 8, 1917
If Saratoga County is willing to spend more up front, they could save money on highway maintenance in the long run, the county superintendent of highways claims tonight.
Addressing the Business Men’s Association, Superintendent John E. Hodgman recommends adopting a road construction plan in which the county would pay a greater share of expenses than it currently does.
Under the present system, Saratoga County pays 35% of road-building expenses while the state picks up the rest of the tab. Under Hodgman’s proposal, the county would pay 50% of expenses, an additional $175,000, for a total of 33 miles of new road.
In return, the state would pay the entire cost of subsequent highway maintenance. “As this maintenance and repair bill is about $500 a mile, it is believed that the added cost of construction would be more than offset by the upkeep charges,” The Saratogian reports.
The current 35-65 split will last only as long as the current state highway appropriation, Hodgman warns. When that money runs out, “with the expenditure of the present State Highway fund there would be no more appropriations for some time.” HAVE A HEART In response to reports that local German-Americans are being harassed and accused of spying and sabotage, today’s Saratogian advises that “Those of us who are American-born should have a bit of sympathy for our foreignborn population at this trying time.”
The U.S. stands at the brink of war with Germany after breaking off diplomatic relations last month. President Woodrow Wilson has requested authorization from Congress to arm merchant ships against German submarines, but may act on his own executive authority after a Senate filibuster killed an authorization bill last weekend.
Many local Germans, like shopkeeper John Beyer, have supported Germany during the great European war, but have vowed to support the U.S. should their adopted country go to war with their fatherland.
“It is not strange that they have not lost all sympathy for the old home where they and their ancestors lived for centuries,” an editorial writer observes, “Undoubtedly some of them have talked too much. Possibly the deeper their interest in the conflict abroad the more heatedly and perhaps unwisely they have discussed conditions.
“But those whom we know to be citizens, whom we have long and well regarded, should not be thought of or talked of as spies of a foreign government or enemies of the United States.”
The writer concedes that there are German spies in the country, but “these neighbors of ours are not of that class…. they are Americans and they so have announced themselves.”