St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-12-06
The Road Question.

The demand for better roads has
spread to New York, and a State roads
improvement association has been OF
ganizcd in that State, including some OF
it's most enlightened and public spirited
citizens.
One of the leading officers of this asso-
citation takes the view that the demoral-
ization in agriculture and the increas-
ing mortgages on farms are largely dne
to the bad condition of the public roads
throughout the State, and says:
The few good roads in this State are
the railroads and the canals. Curious
as it may seem, these are so good that
they injure the farmers. Grain is car
ried over them q distance Of thousand
miles at profit for an amount but lit
tie above what it costs during large
part of the year to haul it from th0us-
ands of farms in this State to the near
est railway station. In fact during
several months of any ordinary year
the roads are not considered ct may be
saidD navigable for heavy loads. One
directly disastrous result is that OF the
mortgages on farms. 1t is generally
believed that our farmers would be
more prosperous il moro attention was
given to raising vegetables and fruit
and dairy products, but to make any
profit on fruits and vegetables, it is
necessary to haul big loads, SO as to re-
duce cost of handling, and milk and
eggs have to go to market regularly,
whether it is the good time of the year
or the bad time of the year for the roads.
With improved roads, what arc now
waste products will become an import
ant source of income, such us windfall
apples, straw, etc, while it will pay to
haul back on the farms more fertilizers.
If New York, the richset State in the
Union, is so badly off it is not to be won
dered at if the Southern States should
be backward in this matter
But the press has at last been aroused
to the necessity of better roads. and is
discussing the matter with such earnest
ness that there is every reason to hope
that something will be done. All the
New York papers are outspoken Oh this
subject The New York Tribune is very
emphatic, as follows:
Those who are familiar with the way
in which roads are commonly built and
repaired will readily perceive that the
chief obstacles to good roads are the
want of system in their construction
and the absence of qualified roadmakcrs.
The work is done, so far as it is done at
all, not by men who understand the bu
sincss, and who arc paid for doing It,,
and are kept up to a proper standard OF
efficiency, but by the farmers who dis.
charge their taxes by scraplng the
highways around their own properties
once or twice a year. Roadmaking is u
business of ITSELF and the State never
can have creditable highways until tins
kind of makeshift business is abolished,
and the work is committed to those who
arc practised in doing it, and who have
tho materials and tools suitable for
what is required of them.
The New York Post thinks that the
public is at last aroused to the impor-
lance of better roads, and says:
The articles by Mr.. r. A. Learned in
the Century Magazine last autumn, and
by Prof. N. S. Shaler, which, by a curl
Gus coincidence, appeared in Sc'1bner's
Maya sine of the same month, complete
ly covered the subject of rural road
making, ana INC necessary, pIhCtiCti
and immediate Improvements which
could be made upon the present system
even without increased expenditure.
The public mind probably is sufficiently
awake to this side of the question.
And the New York World appeals to
the country communities as follows:
Those who insist that our rural com
munities cannot afford to build and
maintain good roads are greatly mis-
taken. Every community in he coun-
try, except in the thinly settled new
States. can better afford good roads than
bad. 1t is largely question OF getting
the worth of the money that is cX-
pended.
The trouble seems to be that the
farmers do not themselves fully realize
the advantage of good roads. They
know that to build them will cost some
thing, and they do not appreciate how
good an investment roads will prove in
time, and how much they will save in
the matter of hauling, etc 1t is very
much like levee building. The first in
vestment is very heavy and expensive,
but it is one that pays for itself many