Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-31
SOLID ROADS WANTED
A Summary Of the Sentiment
Among the Farmers in
Western Pennsylvania.
THE DISPATCH EXPEDITION
Had Three Important Results, One of
Which is Given Below.
FINANCIAL WAYS AND MEANS
Is Question the Changers Wish to be
Enlightened Upon Early.
THE DISPATCH EXPEDITION
FINANCIAL WAYS AND MEANS
WILL OBJECT TO PAYING ALL TIE TAX

WILL OBJECT TO PAYING ALL TIE TAX
The expedition recently sent out by The
DISPATCH over the country roads had
three important results. In the first place,
the wretched condition of public highways
in the interior counties was fully exposed.
MY letters from day to day informed the
public of the hardships and periIs expert
erced in traversing the country roads in an
ordinary farm wagon. This was manifestly
the best way to demonstrate what trials the
farmer meets with. Second, concensus OF
opinion among the farmers Of Western
Pennsylvania on the proposed improvement
of highways in this State was secured.
Third, notes of six weeks uninterrupted
riding upon these roads contain many hints
and suggestions of value to road builders.
An experimental study of country roads
more than anything else is calculated to
show exactly what is needed.
A SUMMARY OF OPINIONS.
The sentiment among Western Pennsyl-
vania farmers may be summed up as fol-
lows:
First-The majority are in favor of some per-
manent improvement in rural roads.
Second-An agree that the only way to make
roads solid and permanent is to macadamize
them.
Third-The farmers are conservative about
beginning any general improvement Of this
character until the question of cost, and fnan-
cIal ways and means, is first settled.
FOurth-The general feeling Is that it would
be unjust to make each county bear the ex-
penses Of matchmaking principal highways,
because, aside from the fact that such roads
are an internal connection between several
counties, the cost of transporting limestone
throughout districts where it is not found
would be enormous, and in some instances it is
claimed would bankrupt counties.
Fifth-The State should inaugurate the i'm
provemeht, and have general charge of it;
providing an army of Office holders will not be
created, to whom from 80 to so per cent of the
appropriations for the Improvements of roads
would be paid in salaries.
THE WEAR ON WAGONS.
1t would be strange, indeed, if the farmers
did not want some improvement in the
roads. Talk to any of them, and they will
admit that the wear and tear on their wagons
and horses this winter and spring has been
frightful. As if to bear cut this statement,
more than one blacksmith and wagon re-
pairer told me in the course of my journey
that never before did they experience such
busy season as this. 1 remember that in
coming down this side of Laurel Hill we
lost bolt from our brake rod. Stopping at
the first village, McLaughlinstown,w ,wefound
nothing but grocery store. "But we keep
wagon bolts," the proprietor said. ''It is
such common thing for wagons to be shaken
almost to pieces coming down the washed
out road OF that mountain that we always
have good safe for bolts" So it is with
wagon makers all over Western Pennsyl-
vania to-day. Something of the same kind
OF prosperity exists among them all. They
would just as soon the roads would not be
fixed up.
DOUBLE TEAMING EVERYWHERE.
We became SO accustomed to seeing four
horses attached to one wagon that our little
team of two horses looked lonesome to u.s.
For farmer in many parts of this State to
go to mill with only two horses this spring
was utterly impracticable. He had to stop
plowing Tor a dav and hitch on the other
team also. If he had only two horses he
had either to hire two more from his neigh
Dor or stay at home. Hard work depreciates
horse stock. 1t costs more to feed them,
and in spite of that they wear out sooner on
bad roads.
Besides this, all the commercial interests
on which the farmer relies suffer. If he is
drawing royalty on oil produced or about
TO be bored for on his premises, operations
in winter are rendered too slow to pay.
This year the roads were so bad that in
some OF the fields work had to be suspended
altogether. Throughout the State rig
building and drilling have been retarded in
all oil territories. Lumber has to be
hauled, engines have to be changed from
place to place, etc. I recall one instance of
where to transport an engine, worth proba-
bly, 500, it cost SIS to pay for the hire of
Glx-horse team, and then the whole thing
stuck in the mud and had to be abandoned.
A FoRCIBLE CONVICTION.
The cutting, dressing and shipping of
lumber, too, contribute to the income of
the farmer. Less than one-half the amount
OF lumber went 20 the railroads this year
than is usual, and that little bit cost twice
as much to haul than it would have cost in
some States for thesam distance on account
of better roads. This all tends to restrict
interior traffic to six or seven months in a
YEAR whereas if it could be distributed
equally throughout the year it would be
more convenient and profitable.
Year after wear the farmer pays or works
out his road taxes, and year after year he
sees the roads bad again. Finally the con-
viction has forced itself upon him that he is
throwing away his money, to say nothing
of the loss of time and money he has ex-
perienced in getting to market with his
products or in bringing his fertilizer and
materials home from town. 1 did hnd
few old fogies who said, "Oh, we always ex-
pect the roads to be bad in winter, but
every spring the sun dries them up again,
and we have good roads all summer, and
that without any increase in taxes"
STONE ROADS PREFERRED.
But from the southern border to the shore
of Lake Erie, and from the Ohio line to the
top OF the Allegheny mountain, found the
vast majority OF the farmers heartily in
favor of some permanent improvement in
country roads.
They all say that the only way to get good
roads is to macadamize them. Stone is the
only thing that offers solidity and perman-
ency. A lair proportion of those inter
viewed favor gravel, but the majority want
to get as far away from dirt roads as possi- |
bic So pronounced is this feeling. that. |
after riding over the stoniest, roughest and |
most uneven road that we struck on the |
eastern side of Chestnut Ridge 10 Indiana |
county, farmer, asking me bow liked il.
said that the men thereabouts preferred that |
rough road to the dirt roads. He said that |
when a wagon, heavily loaded with grain.
mt for the mill nv dapof f.a. n