The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-01-16

The solIousng extracs IS taken from q
,.rsr rad fore the Caunecient safe
Agricultural society by Prof W =.
Brexer on The Carrying q Farm Pro
ssr,- aud puslishei 10 the annual Q
~ .,ase Boaos GOOD roads are one Of
~ ~, -ess.ufiass for high civilization
II has baen 50 10 al ages, hnso nov
There can Dc no great nation Hniess y
bas means Of intercourse between ~
,,r aud che rsry fact that railroads
now offer easy means Of travel andtssns
rortasion FOR grea. distances give a neN
Importance to the Local highways thai "
bstweea the farm ana A.gAway, or as
farm and the town
aTbe Romans built great noAds az they
extended their empire aud their domin-
ion They we're a military necessity Oo'
tl,ev had their other uses and were a
Great f.-lor in ciyiliziug the people they
coBeaerei. And when Rome fell, The
roads became poorer. and this was D 81
,ha causss Is well as one Of the effects Of
the dark ages which followed II made
the gloom deeper aud increased the dilh-
entities Of the new civilization which foi-
ioaed Nscaulv and other historians hsFe
told rs how bad the roads were IN 1rea'
britain IN the Jas. and in the previous
centuries. How that farm products had
70 be carried on the backs Of Pack-horses
except caule which migntb be driven on
foot and how SLOW travel @as generally
When the Highland Agricultural Society
came into existence in 1854, it found the
great obstacle 10 improvement on farms
fo be athe want Of meaus OF internal
c,mnunication.p The defects Of the
nublic roads then in existence operated
most prejudicially to the farmers VINO
sent their products 90 market. II lint
ted the production and prevented the re-
olsring. BIZ manure. Of the elements Of
fertility which was distracted The
turonike act went into eifeci about 100
or 17q5 but il was not until well into the
presentc century that good roads became.
c,mmon enough to allow English and
scotch agriculture TO take tie high stand
fhe middle II this century found IT, 4
prize essay. on the changes in agriculture
during the previous fifty years, publish
IN 1910. in the Frn-rs Mlgasia,, brings
thi. out most strikingly, how the i'm
proremenis in roads led to progress IN
agriculture.
Most countries OF Continental Europe
have built roads FOX military purposes,
which become great factors in the devel-
opmeutan progress in the countries IN
time or peles. Napoleon had the first
wagon road built ever the alpsth that can
n9a and armies might move the easter.
Vow that four tunnels pierce the Alps
Tor railroads, for peaceful tFaaie, the
country finds greater need than ever for
good local roads.
Military roads have been built by
every civilized nation on earth, 1 think,
and in the end the roads proved OF more
importance to the arts Of peace than they
did even to WAT. The great national
road" built by our general government
from Baltimore westward across the
mountains to Wheeling, thence to Gin
cinnaiti, and =. Loais, was 3 great aid
in building ~ the West, and was for a
long time a grea. route of.ravel and in
land traffic. - long as western out
posts were disconnected with each other
and with The outer world by roads, they
could not crow.n