both the costs and the responsibility for erecting the mileposts had to be borne by the authorities of the respective towns and villages. as a result, the measures did not gain universal approval throughout the land. because the means of the towns varied considerably depending on their size and industrial structure, the financial impact on them was very variable. regardless of their size, they often had a similar number of town gates and therefore a comparable number of milestone columns to put up. frequently there were three to five gates. in 1722, the saxon "landtag" asked the prince elector to cancel the expensive project that had invoked the opposition of many town councils and landowners. many towns tried to ignore the edict or delay its implementation.