Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-12-05
POPE ON ROADS.
COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF
GOOD COUNTRY HIGHWAYS.

The Best Road is the Cheapest-Ameri
can Roads are Notoriously the
Poorest in the World.
SYRACUSE, Nov. 28.-Col, Albert
A. Pope of Boston to-day, by request,
delivered an address on the subject
of roads before the Board # Trade.
Col. Pope said in substance:
1t has already been my privilege
to speak IN your city upon the bene-
fit of good roads to an important
branch of trade.
But there is a higher and broader
view to take Of the whole matter,
and we may well consid r the i'm
portance of good roads to us as
Americans, as men of whatever So
cial or business interes 8, as property
owners, and finally as citizens of our
respective localities.
The influence of good roads toward
the development and increase in
value of the agricultural regions will
hardly be questioned.
The advantages of improvements
are not confined to the proprletors
or to those living Immediately upon
any road, but are shared by all who
avail themselves of the increased
facilities.
Agriculture is both directly and
indirectly dependent, in agreat de-
gree, upon good roads for its success
and rewards.
Directly, as these roads carry the
production of the fields to the mar
ket, and bring to them in return
their bulky and weighty materials,
Mt a cost of labor which grows less
AZ the roads become better.
Indirectly, as the cities and towns
whose dense population and manu-
featuring industry make them the
best markets for farming produce
are enabled to grow and to extend
themselves indefinitely, by roads
alone, which supply the place Of
rivers; to the banks of which these
great towns would otherwise be
necessarily confined.
While, therefore, 1t might be an
inexcusable waste Of money to con-
struct costly road to connect two
small towns which had little inter-
course, 1t is equally wasteful, and Is
much more frequent shortsighted-
ness of economy, to leave unlmprov-
ed, and almost In a state of nature,
the communications, between a
great city and the interior from
which its daily sustenance Is drawn,
and into which it's own manufacture
ers and merchandise are conveyed.
The prosperity of any city depends
largely upon the surrounding coun.
try, and the better the road facili-
ties, the faster the country will grow
in population and the more business
the city will have in supplying their
wants.
Some of the advantages thus to be
attained have not long since been
well summed up In IA report of a
committe of the English House of
Commons;
"By the improvement of our roads
every branch of our agricultural,
commercial, and manufacturing in
dustry would he materially benefit
ted.
"Every article brought into mar
ket would he diminished in price;
and the number of horses would be
so much reduced that, by these and
other retrenchments, the expense of
millions (pounds sterlingl would be
annually saved to the public,
"The expense of repairing roads
and the wear and tear of carriages
uuN hoisSs Wouiu iV tsStlltiullN III
mlnished, and thousands Of acres,
the produce of which Is now wasted
In feeding unnecessary horses,
would be devoted to the production
Of food for man.
1t Is always economy to spend
enough to begin with to secure the
best results, and II always costs less
In the long run.
A good road should cost more to
build than poor one, but II is often
the case that poor road costs US I
much as good one would. But
even q good one Is more expensive,
II will he easier and cheaper TO keep
IN good repair, and will last many
years longer; while its advantages
and the savings TO those who daily
use II, will very much more than
them for the extra ex-
pense they have have put In the
building.
Mr., Edwin Chadwick, speaking