The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-05
RAPID TRANSIT IN THE COUNTRY.
1t Would Have as Good an Effect There
as IL Has in thu City.

1t Would Have as Good an Effect There
as 1t Has in the City.
Rapid tranG::s has long been considered
a necessity for cities. City people hail
with delight every saving of minute In
either the transportation of their proper
ty or of themselves. Houses and land
near rapid transit lines are worth double
the me that those situated far from
them W bring. Not so much as the
wasting of second will be tolerated IN
the town.
Why should there be such vast dlf-
ference between the town and the SUD-
nrbs? Is the time of a clerk worth more
per watch tick than the time OF
| farmer?
The idea that it is so is absurd. Yetthe
clerk husbands his time with the great
est care, while the farmer wastes his
with the most complete Indifference
Hours every day he throws away with
no benefit to him or any one else. lie IS
content to jog along through must and
dust, quagmires and ruts, so slowly that
his hours for work and recreation are
materially curtailed. He reads in the
papers about rapid transit for the cities,
but he doesn't realize THAT what is so
very good for the towns must be good
also for the country. The idea of rapid
transit for the country never occurs to
him. ''Going" always has been bad
most of the time on the roads around
his home, and he doesn't stop to think
that it ever can be better. 1t never will
be If he doesn't help better it..
Ii rapid transit is desirable in the city,
why isn't it also desirable in the coun-
try? If rapid transit enables city sellers
to make more money on their sales be-
cause they can get them to market sooner
and cheaper thereby, why shouldn't it
do the same for the country sellers? Ii
rapid transit adds thousands to the value
of city property, why shouldn't it have
similar effect on country acres?
There is no reason whatever why all
these results should not as surely come
among tho farms as they do among the
factories.
But how can the country have rapid
transit? you ask. Surely elevated rail
roads and electric cars and cable sys-
TENS and street car lines would not be
practicable in the country. No, nor
would they meet the necessities OF the
case if they could be built and main
tanned. What are required and what
are perfectly feasible are hard, smooth,
broken stone wagon roads. Moreover,
such roads would mean not only
rapid transit, but cheap transit; not only
cheap transit, but comfortable transit
They would cost, considerable money,
but they would not cost as much money
as the vile, mud stuck roadways that
now keep the country from progress and
keep it in poverty. The question of high
way Improvement has as serious bear
ing on the future Of American agricul-
ture as has the question of free trade or
protection, free coinage or restricted
coinage. There are many thoughtful
men, in fact, who consider road improve
ment the most important issue that now
confronts the farmer.
A few very simple calculations will
show wherein the Importance of road
improvement lies. 1t is easy to see how
the farmer might save vast amount OF
time every year if he and his men were
not delayed by being forced to drive
slowly over bad roads. It is equally
easy to see that if roads were smooth
and hard he would be obliged to do less
teaming to accomplish the same results
he could get his produce to market in
half the number of loads, because he
could haul twice as much in each load.
To carry this line of reasoning little
farther it becomes evident that if the
farmers teaming were reduced one-half
he would need less horses than he re-
quires now, and would be enabled to
save not only the purchase price of the
superhuous animals, but the cost OF feed
ing them and of hiring men to care for
them and drive them.
In this connection Isaac B. Potter, in
his Gospel Of Good Roads, figured
that the farmers Of the United States
have upon their farms draft animals
horses, mules and communicating 3d.
393,8S8. He says: Making the most
liberal allowance in favor of the farmer
and granting the necessity for the lib
eral use of horse power in the mainte-
nance of agricultural traffic, it is easily
certain that the farmers of this country
are keeping at least 100000 horses
more than would be necessary to do all
the hauling between farm and market
if only the principal roads were brought
to good condition. If you assume that
each of these horses is fed the ordinary
army ration of hay and oats, it requires
$4,000 tons of hay or fodder and 100000
bushels of oats per day to feed these ua-
necessary animals, which themselves
have money value of $14,000,000. The
value of hay and oats fed to these horses
per day is about 100000 (valuing hay
at ten dollars per ton and oats at twen-
ty-three cents per buSlleD, or something
like $114, 100000 year"
There, without taking into considera-
ton the unnecessary wear and tear on
wagons, harnesses and animals which is
entailed by bad roads, is useless ex-
penditure of $114,O0o,0OO a year, aside
IL