The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1891-03-06
VOL. XXXVI-NO. 10.

miles of shore-line and net work of common
roads footing up over 400 miles.
Thus for each square mile you have about
Oh miles of railway, 02 miles of waterway
and 0.S miles of roadway, to say nothing OIL
the numerous by-ways, which l have no
means of estimating.
The population of the county by the last
census was 28,993, or 900 per square mile, al.
most one person to each acre.
The assessed value is 100000, $40 per
acre, or $27 ,0S3 per square mile, and the rate
of tax 80 C ents on each 800, which would
give revenue of $4,000, not a very large
amount, it is true, yet sufficient to keep in re-
pair 900 miles of well built roads, or nearly
three times the estimated mileage of the coun-
tty.
| Your good fortune lies in the fact that the
county has so extensive a water frontage,
| which can be made Of great value since it puts
you into communication with the rest of the
world by the cheapest known mode of COR
veyance. ..fH p. t--~ f." '-'.f q @'''a'H
That you may fully appreciate this, let US
look at the figures which measure the cost of
movement by the various system of trans
portation.
Taking the ton-mile as the unit we find
that under the best conditions the rate by
wagon ON common roads is now $780, about
10 cents; by cars, on standard gauge rail-
road, it is about one-half cent by boats, on
a canal of about feet depth, about one-third
of a cent; on ships, navigating rivers or lakes
and having draught, of Is feet, about
one-quarter of a cent, and by ships on the
ocean only about one-eighth of a cent.
These figures may be taken as the measure of
the cost of, overcoming the resistances TO
movement nd'show at once the great supe-
riOritu IF ho otortu ryoll
as of all waterways, over land transporta-
ton, and the immense importance of ship
ping by water where it is practicable. More
over it is urged that the farther inland the
point OF trans-shipment is placed, the better,
since the freight will be saved SO much mile
age by rail.
Thus for, over century Philadelphia held
the commercial supremacy of this country,
but on the completion of the waterway to the
great lakes, in 1925, it yielded TO New York.
Baltimore is also an instance of the rapid
growth of city, based upon commerce. and
yet she is farther from the sea than Philadel-
phia.
THE ECONOMY OF GOOD ROADS.
With suitable improvements, Havre de
Grace could be made an important ship
ping point for domestic and foreign markets.
and great impetus could be given the varied
industries and resources OF this county. You
are accessible by water from the principal
wheat market of the eastern seaboard, and
should therefore be able to compete success
fully with the less fortunate districts having
no water communications, but, if you can
develop home market, for your products at
paying rates, you may thus save large part
of the cost of transportation, commissions,
storage and waste on perishable freights.-
This gives rise to the question as to how
such home consumption may be secured, and
although am not very familiar with the re-
sources CT this section of Maryland, believe
from my general knowledge of the topogra-
ply that there should be sufficient water
power available to operate number of mills,
or, that failing, that coal could be delivered
along the canal at prices low enough to en-
courage large manufacturing population,
and thus by increasing the number of
consumers a local demand would be Gre
ated for agricultural products and the cost
of manufactured articles would also be re-
duced to the residents of the county.
To bring these elements into close relation
ship and still further reduce the cost of both,
there should be system of hard and smooth
surfaced roads ofcash gradients, traversing the
county, which could be travell ed at all sea-
sons of the year. This would maintain great
er uniformity in prices and larger profits, as
buG WdSG6 anu WcdT IOT CdITldSt WOulu Dc
less. Such an increase of population must
come through immigration, and for this pur-
pose special inducements should be offered to
manufacturers 10 establish plants along the
water courses.
THE COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF HAVRE DE
GRACE.
The economy of reducing the resistance is
still further shown by the following extracts.
The first is from Poor's Manual for 1889, and
reads as follows:
"Over ordinary earth roads wheat will bear
transportation for distance ofonly $50 miles,
when its value is $3.50 per bushel at the
market. Indian corn will bear transporta-
ton only 1876 miles when its value is rs cents
per bushel. When grown at greater distances
from market, these products, without rail-
roads, have no commercial or exportable
value. The railroads, by transporting at one
twentieth the cost over earth roads, will give
marketable value to wheat grown 5000
miles inland and to Indian corn grown 2, 500
miles inland"
The actual limits are, however, much less
than the distances mentioned in the foregoing
extract, since portion of the value is con-
sumed in the cost of production, and it is
merely the difference between this cost and
the market value which would determine the
limit of the market range. By converting
farm products into others of greater value,
or which cost less for transportation, profit
may be realized where otherwise there would
only be loss as, for example, when hay is
converted into beef or dairy products, but it
will often be difficult matter to determine
when such transmission will pay, and if all
farmers were TO resort to it the result would
be glut of similar products; which would
lower the price below profitable limit. The
best solution of this question is, undoubtedly,
to reduce the cost OF movement by improving
the roads and thus enable all kinds of pro-
duce to be delivered at the stations in every
kind of weather.
The other extracts which have to submit,
as TO the economy of good roads, are from
the report of the Committee on Roads OF the
Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania,
as follows:
ga contractor who could have hauled
thirty-five tons of hay seven miles in three
days, at q cost of $50, on macadam road,
found that on the mud roads of Philadelphia
county, it actually took him two weeks, cost
5000, and nearly killed his horses. Instead,
therefore, of costing him twenty cents per
ton-mile, the actual cost was eighty-two
cents, being a tax of sixiy-two cents per ton
per mile, to say nothing of the injury to the
road, wagon, harness and team.
The writer remarks that the cost of move
ment for this short distance "was more than
the product was worth, and put stop to the
business" This instance exemplifies
general law in regard to increasing facilities
of transportation by reducing the resistance
and cost.
The same committee estimates the economy
of good roads as follows: In Pennsylvania,
the estimated number of horses, January,
1888, was 94,297, and the average price was
$1O5.46. The average life was twelve years,
and if, by better roads, but one more year
were added to his life, it would effect say
ing of $49, 776.S7; Tor, otherwise, the value of
the horses being $685., S74. the legal interest
on this sum for one year is $685., 1929 A. and
one-twelfth of this principal, or 1929, 614.63,
is the annual LOSE. Prolonging his life one
year would save the interest on this amount,
or $40, 776S7.) A similar computation for
the saving upon mules, putting their life at
90 years, gives $3,39144. The interest ON
this total, amounts to So, $4,000, which. added
to the principal, gives total of $50 S5S40
The census of 1880 gave the farm products
of Pennsylvania as 6.50Qe0G tons, half of
which is consumed on the farms, the balance
is hauled an average of FIVE miles to market.