The Portland daily press., 1892-06-04
FARMERS AND BAD ROADS.
The Sensible View of the Situation Taken
by a Bright Woman.

The Sensible View of the Situation Taken
by Bright Woman.
Louisa c. Scofeld, lady living in
Rochester, N. Y, has been much inter
ested in the roads improvement agita.
ton. She recently wrote to The En-.
gineering Record:
| wish to speak particularly of the
system land system it is too) of ruts
which we now have as an excuse fol
country roads,
AS to the farmer, I am sorry to say,
that every time the subject of good
paved road through the country comes
up he shouts with might and main tina.
he cannot afford it, for even now he is
almost ruined by the taxes. Let us look
more closely into the matter and see
whether we think he can afford good
paved road. On the present trails, called
by courtesy roads, the farmer hauls but
about half the load of one of our city
teamsters. Why? Because the farmer
must take his load over an uneven dirt
road, with many hollows and humps,
formed during the muddy season, which
have not yet been smoothed by working
out the road tax. But the city teamsteI
has good, even pavement, and his
team draws the heavy load easily. Then
why is it that the, say French fasner, is
gradually accommodating money, while
our poor American farmers are land
that not gradually accommodating only a
rich harvest of debts. The reason is
simply this: The French farmer places
his produce in his storehouse and waits
until the market prices are high. Then
he quietly hauls his little store to the
city and sells it at good price, and that
without killing his horses or breaking
his wagons. How different with our
poor farmerl He, too, stores his harvest,
but when his weekly newspaper tells
him there is a great demand for his pro-
duce he simply sits around the house;
or, at most, mends few straps in his
dilapidated harnesses.
An ignorant person would at once ask,
Why does he not go to market? Because
he cannot. He is as much in prison, as
regards his produce, as if he were in
Siberia. The fact is that the road pass.
ing his house is a miry lake and is abso-
lutely impossible with loaded wagon.
But to town he must go for the nee.
essaries of life, so with team of horses
harnessed to his lightest buggy he man
ages to get to town, and there leaves not
his produce but the residue Of his small
savings from a previous year. Finally,
when the roads are dry (and the market
down again) he draws his store to the
city and sells it at low price, and he
has the additional ve1ation of knowing
that a month before he could have made
much larger profit had it been possible
for him to reach the city. So he returns
to his farm and home with very small
amount Of money and smaller store OF
good nature, casting a gloom over the
whole house and refusing the least ex.
penditure. Then, for his forced econ
omy, he is styled the sstingy farmer"
Even when continued good weather
has improved the roads it is not uncom.
mon to see farmer going along with a
broken wagon or lame horse, all be,
cause he must travel over such rough
roads. 1t is not the lack of business
ability that makes the poor farmer
pooieI U.lG tue lack Oh goOu roads,
Every one knows that the dull French
peasant cannot be favorably compared
with our intelligent American farmer
but alas! the latter's intelligence has not
yet reached the height of good roads.
But surely we may hope our govern
ment will soon take up the subject ir
earnest and attend to the organizing OF
complete system of roads such as are
possessed by the countries of Europe.