The Campaign

Of the nine referenda facing Massachusetts voters today, only four--Questions 5, 6, and 7, the "labor referenda," and Question 4, the birth control measure--have provoked angry debate. Two other measures have also stirred up some controversy, but it is doubtful whether much of the citizenry even knows they are on the ballot.

One of these, Question 2, "The Good Roads Amendment," would prevent revenue from taxes on gasoline and auto registration from going to non-highway purposes. The Good Roads Committee, made up of 300 "non-political" organizations--including the Grange, the Boston Development Committee, and the Rural Letter Carriers--backs this permanent amendment. The Committee says that since 1929 more than $135,000,000, around a third of the tax intake, has been poured into projects "more politically expedient" than roads. The result has been, the group says, a deterioration of Commonwealth roads. The Committee also claims it is unfair to ask a motorist who travels 20,000 miles a year for business purposes to pay twice as much in auto taxes to non-highway projects as the motorist who only rides 10,000 miles.

Opposition comes from the Massachusetts Civic League, which refutes the referendum with two arguments. It says that the permanency of the amendment would make it impossible to use the Highway Fund for any other purpose in case of a local or national emergency. The League also objects on principle to a single purpose tax. Taxes on banks do not go solely to government banking services, the opponents say, so why should auto users get back their own taxes?

The other tricky measure is Question 8, a proposed ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbidding one man to serve more than two elected Presidential terms. Congress passed this amendment and more than 20 states have ratified it. Opponents say the amendment is a retroactive slap at F.D.R. and would hamper the electorate. Backers say it would prevent a dictatorship in this country.