St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-06-11
Public Roads.
Louisville COurier.JOurnaI

We have given so much thought and
money to building our great railroads
and bringing the distant lands OF the
/ West into direct competition with the
! farms OF the more cultivated regions
! that we have overlooked the necessity
for improving local transportation IA
cilties. just in proportion as our rail
/ transportation is extended, the DecCssi-
! ty increases for improving our r0adways
aud every avenue leading to the rail
road station.
Every community is clamorous fol
branches to some trunk line. These
! communities will subscribe money and
tax themselves to death in order to
bring the railroad I. few miles nearer
The farm, but they will do absolutely
nothing to bring the farm Il few miles
nearer the railroad.
One gazcs in wondcrment at the fig
ures telling of the tonnage of our great
railroad systems, but we seem never to
ask how this great amount of freight
reaches the railroad.
1t comes in wagons drawn by horses
over WORKOUT streets or dirt roads.
The cost Of this first transportation is
something immense, but it is rarely ever
gathered into a table of statistics.
| Farmers five miles from the railroad
will denOunce the extOrtlOn OF these
great corporations, and never stop for a
moment to think that they are robbing
themselves much more seriously by
their neglect of the country roads than
it is possible for the railroads to rob
them.
1t is not possible to construct sys-
TEN of country roads in a few years. A
perfect system is not possible iu a poor
country, but nothing would so add to
the market value OF farm lands any
where as thorough and systematic i'm
provemcut of the roads, bringing the
farms into easy and direct cOmmunica-
ton with the railroad system Of the
world.
Senator Ingalls,, in a recent article on
the subject of good roads, says: Many
Of the Western roads are very much like
the roof of the cabin Of the Arkansaw
Traveller, which did not leak in dry
be repaired. The prairie highways" he
says, "are for nine months in the year
the best highways 10 the world, but for
the other three months, when the frost
is leaving the ground, during the cou-
tinuous rains Of spring and autumn, or
while the roads are frozen, nothing
worse can be imagined
Such roads as these could be easily
made perfect by proper drainage. Con-
corning the highways of Europe. Mr..
1Dgalls says:
The public roads of England and
the continent are the growth of u CEN
fury, and, like those of Rome, were de-
veluped before railways had become the
principal avenues of communication. 1t
should be remembered also that the eli
mate and soil are different; the supply
of labor there is greater aud the rate of
wages less; land is much more valua-
bic and population more dense. 1t
would be a mistake to attempt to con-
stluct in this country Immediately
system of macadamized highways like
those between Oxford and Reading in
England, or Bantry Bay and Killarney
Lakes iu Ireland. The work must be
gradual, and the public opinion must he
brought by degrees to this high stand
ard"
This is true. The work must be grad
ua]. Public opinion must be brought
by degrees to this high standard. The
country that has to he improved is mar
Vicious Ill its proportions, as well as
in it's resources. 1t has system of rail
transportation that is the wonder of the
world, but it has taken more than fifty
years to build it, and ten thousand mil
lion dollars. What is needed for the
construction of good country roads is
cooperation, information and some lit
tie taxation.
At the tenth annual convention of the
W. {. J.. L recently held at Monroe,
Mrs Addie hIcGrath Lee delivered tue
address Of welcome on behalf of the
press. Mrs. Lee spoke as follows:
AS Il representative Of the great army
whose munitions consist of pen and
ink bottle, beg to add /; staUza to the
glorious llossannas OF welcnmc to the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
that ascends from hundreds Of hearts
and homes in this fair little city upon
the silvery Ouchita.
1t is pleasure to greet this illustri-
GUS body OF women, on behalf of the
press, because the plcss association of
Louisiana has always honored women
by entrusting them to high positions,
and by allowing them voice in its coun-
ellis.
These tributes paid The newspaper
women by their brothers and c0-labOr-
ers in editorial fields, do not emanatc SO
much from an appreciation of personal
charms and individual attractions, as
from u recognition Of the entire sex. |
When one woman is honored all women
are honored.
The press must necessarily form the |
Of the hosts that would march |
on, for its power is nngaes- |
toned and invincible, and prejudice and |
wrong fall before its solid columns as |
the walls of Jericho fell at the sound of |
the trumpet of Joshua.
But | am not here to emphasize the |
power Of the press, nor to eulOgize that |
nor can |, in a spirit of |
prophecy, fOretell a glorious day when
the entire press OF the State will iOjn
their forces with you against the evils
you combat, but | can assure YOU a
,ause advocated SO ably 10y women, par
.icularly when it touches the hearth
stones and homes OF cur nation will not
De without champions in the Louisiana
,ress.
The newspaper women of the State
ire almost unanimously iu sympathy
with your temperance work, aud many
II them are actively enlisted under your
White banncr-anlaM giving their best
:tforts OF brain aud heart to the cause
lpOn whose standard is inscribed the
fraugiit with intense signifi-
'ance of all humanity: "For God, and
ZONE and native land"
Miss Susie l.. Lyons of New Orleans
esponded in behalf of the State Union.
;he said: Your welcome comes to us as
lotes Of sweet music aud ut once some
hord in unison with what we hear is
ouclied within us and our hearts reply,
nay your eyes not only mark our COM
ng but grow brighter that we have
oiUe. 1t is you, sho said, speaking to
he young women, who set the tone Of
ocIety. The young men say they reach
ust as Elgll rs you hold the standard.
The German Empire includes Prussia,
llsace and L0rrain, Bavaria, Saxony,