The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-02-16
COUNTRY ROADS.
PAPER READ By Mr.. FERD. OsTKNFELDF
AT THE FARMERS INSTITUTE.

AT THE FARMERS INSTITUTE.
The necessity of good. passable high
ways is OF such importance to the vel
fare and prosperity OF country, and SO
generally admitted, that it is almost use
less for me to prove to you why this is
the case. Let US look around us, here in
our own state or in the different states
and territories of the United States, and
who can doubt, that most of these i'm
provements and advancements in agricul-
tural as well as in industrial respects, are
largely due to the opening up of good
and substantial highways into the inter
ior of the country. BY these highways
men have been enabled to explore almost
any part of this vast and SO far unknown
country and to find what they wanted to
locate and to go into any kind of busi
ness they desired, TO dispose OF the fruit
OF their labor and find themselves even in
sparsely populated localities almost in the
midst of civilization. Yes, my friends, there
is no doubt that these highways have
done more for the increase of wealth, for
the multiplication of our population, for
the elevation of our industries and the
general welfare of our country than any
other enterprise that could have been
undertaken.
Why, let me ask you, did congress in
the year 1862, give that enormous grant
to certain corporation which intended
to build highway across the continent,
highway that would connect the At
lantic with the Pacific oceans? It ad-
vanced $4,000 per mile and made pres
ent OF 10 sections of land, which even at
congress price is worth about $4,000, for
every mile of road that this corporation
was going to construct. Did congress do
it for the purpose of giving few young
adventures or daring men a chance to
so out there to explore the country and
perhaps become wealthy, or even amass
fortune? or did congress do it for the
purpose of assisting few corporations
to benefit themselves at the expense of
the nation? Certainly not. 1t would
not have been justified, nor would it have
dared to do 1t for that purpose, but con-
gresS did SO because it knew that the
whole nation,-every man, woman and
child living in this country, would be the
gamer. And other countries are pursu-
ing the same policy. England, In her
vast Indian possessions, and Russia in
her European and Asiatic domains, are
yearly spending millions upon millions
for the construction of highways into the
interior for the purpose OF getting access
to the resources of their country. Coun-
tries that are excluded from the rest Of
the world, countries that have no COM
mercial relations, or are not interested In
the improvement or development of agri-
culture, manufactures and science. are
bound to ruin, and unworthy of their
destiny.
But it is not SO much my intention to
dwell upon the advantages of good high
ways in general as to look after the sys-
tenn of building such in that part Of the
country in which we live, or in other
words, to look at the laws which are en-
acted for that purpose In the State of
Wisconsin. And let me state right here
that in my opinion, the cause for the
poor condition of our roads is not so
much the insufficiency of the money or
its equivalent "labor" which has been ex-
pended for their improvement. as to the
way in which this money or its equivalent
has been applied, and therefore the Iaw
which governs this subject.
Men, as you all know, have different
ideas upon almost every subject, and it
is the duty of the law maker to study the
general ideas of the people and their ac-
tions IN the execution of the laws and
then make such changes from time to
time as will be necessary to obtain the
object intended by its enactment.
Now let us look at. the law: It pre-
scribes that every year a tax of from / to 7
mills shall be raised in every town in the
state for the purpose of improving the
roads and bridges in certain localities,
and it is left with the town meeting to
decide whether this amount shall be
r,,,o1 -, ~
natural to expect that under this discre-
tionary law you hardly find single town
in the state that is willing to raise this
tax in cash; nor do / know that we have
right to blame the farmer for SO doing.
l don't believe that there is another set
OF men doing business in the United
States, who handle so little money dur
ing the year as the farmer does. OF course
[ am rot speaking of those few farmers
who have lived here perhaps 25 or SO
years, and who by hard constant labor
have, perhaps, become wealthy, but Of
those farmers as you find them generally
scattered all over this western country.
OF my own experience l know that when
l first commenced farming, often 6, and
s months passed in each year. during the
first or 10 years, before | could look
upon a silver coin impressed with the
goddess of liberty or before could smile
upon deprecated paper dollar that in
those times was worth perhaps % per
cent. OF the face. But there is one thing
our farmers are to be blamed for and
that Is, If they conclude to pay that in
debtedness they owe to the road in labor,
they ought to pay this labor in fnll and
here is where we are found wanting.
We don't consider this matter of much
Importance, and we never will work upon
roads as we do upon our farms, and in
younger years especially, our sense of
duty Will seldom force us to renounce
the convenience of the present time
Another defect of the law is that it is left
discretionary with the town boards to
form as many road districts in town as
they see fit, and the consequence is that
we have multitude of road districts
in the county and much more than are
needed and profitable to the respective
localities. In the small town of Mani
towoc, consisting OF about 13 sections of
land, we have II different road districts,
and # you look over Manitowoc county
you will find that there are not less than
about 300 road districts and accordingly
900 different road masters in the county.
These 200 different road masters now go
to work with exactly 300 different ideas
as to how roads should be worked, and
the present condition of the roads shows
the result. The road masters as ger.-
eral rule are changed every year, be-
cause they are not entitled to any pay
for extra work out of the town treasury,
and therefore you will find that IL some
good work would be performed by one
road master one year it certainly viii be
undone next year by his successor.
/ could name great many other de-
fects in the present laws, but time does
not allow.
Let us look at the amount OF money
that has been spent in this county since
the year 1870 for the improvement of our
and you ali, believe. viii per-
ceive the folly of cur present system.
stated before that under our present
laws it is discretionary with the town
boards to raise tax OF from l to mills