Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-06-10
IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS
THE ADVANTAGES OF GOOD oouN.
TRY HIGHWAYS,
Making Better rhoroughfaresW Would
be of Great Advantage to Farmers
A Work of Time.

X WIDESPREAD interest in the
~ improvement of public roads in
~ America is one of the healthiest
signs of the time.
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 facii-
ties. Just in proportion as our rail
transportation is extended, the necessity
increases for improving our roadways
and every avenue leading to the railroad
station.
Every community is clamorous for
branches to some trunk line. These
communities will subscribe money and
tax themselves to death in order to bring
the railroad few miles nearer the
farm, but they will do absolutely moth
ing to bring the farm few miles nearer
the railroad.
One gaZes in wondermenta at the figures
telling Of the tonnage of our great rail-
road systems, but we seem never to ask
how this great amount of freight reaches
the railroad.
1t comes in wagons drawn by horses
over worn out streets or dirt roads. The
cost Of this first transportation is some
thing immense, but it is rarely ever gath
cred into a table of statistics. Farmers
five miles from the railroad will denouncc
the extortion Of these great corporations,
and never stop for 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 system
of country roads in a few years. A per-
feet system Is not possible in a poor coun-
try, but nothing would 80 add to the
market value of farm lands anywhere as a
thorough and systematic improvement of
the roads, bringing the farms into easy
and direct communication with the rail-
road systems of the world.
Senator Ingalls,, in recent article on
the subject of public roads, sayse Many
of the Western roads are very much like
the roof of the cabin of the Arxansaw
Traveller, which did not leak in dry
weather, aud when it rained could not
be repaired. The prairie Highways he
says, "are for nine months in the year
the best highways in the world, but for
the other three months, when the frost is
leaving the ground, during the continu.
Gus rains of spring or 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.
cerning the highways of Europe, Mr.. In.
gals says:
"The public roads of England and the
continent are the growth Of a century,
and, like those of Rome, were developed
before railways had become the principal
avenues of communication. 1t should be
remembered also that the climate and soil
are different; the supply of labor there is
greater and the rate of wages less; land
is much more valuable and population
more dense. 1t would be a mistake to
attempt to construct in this country i'm
mediately system of macadamized high
ways like those between Oxford and
Reading in England, or Bantry Bay and
Killarney Lakes in Ireland. The work
must be gradual, aud the public opinion
must be brought by degrees to this high
standard"
This Is true. The work must be
gradual. Public opinion must be brought
by degrees to this high standard. The
country that has to be improved is mar.
velous in its proportions, as well as in its
resources. II has system of rail trans
portation that is tho wonder of the world,
but it has taken more than fifty years to
build it, aud ten thousand million dol.
lars. What is needed for the construc-
tion of good country roads is cooperation,
Information and some little taxation.--
Courier Journal.