The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1892-05-18
Goon Times Ahead.

The widespread Interest in the
improvement of public roads in
the country is one of the health
lest signs of the time. We have
given,so much thought and mon.
ey to building our railroads, and
bringing the backwoods of the
country into direct competition
with the farms of the more cul-
tivated regions, that we have
overlooked the necessity for inn
proving local transportation
facilities. just in proportion as
our rail transportation'is extend
ed, the necessity increases for
improving our roadways and
every avenue leading to the
railroad station.
Almost every community Is
clamorous for railroads. These
communities will subscribe mon
ey and tax themselves to death
in order to bring the railroad a
few miles nearer the farm,
but they will do absolutely
nothing to bring the farm a few
miles nearer the railroad.
One gazes in wonderment at
the figures telling of the ton
mage of our great railroad sys
TENS, 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 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 extortion of these great cor
porations, 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
a system of country roads in a
few years. a perfect system is
not possible in a poor country.
but nothing would so add to the
market value of farm lands
anywhere as . thorough and
systematic improvement of the
roads. bringing the farms into
easy and direct communication
with the railroad systems Of the
world.
Senator ingalls,. in a recent
article on the subject of public
roads, says: MANY Of the
Western roads are very much
like the roof Of the Arkansaw
Traveller, which did not leak in
dry weather and when il rainsd
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 continuous
rains Of spring and autumn, OF
while the roads are frozen, moth
ing worse can be imagined"
- Such roads as these could be
easily made perfect by proper
drainage. Concerning the high "a
ways Of Europe. Mr.. Ingalls,
says: The public roads OF
England and the continent are
the growth of a century, and,
like those Of Rome, were devel-
oped before railways had become
the principal avenues Of com.
munication. 1t should be re-
membered also that the climate
and soil are different; the supply
Of labor there is greater and III,
rate Of wages less; land Is mucl
more valuable and population
more dense. Il would be- mis-
take TO attempt to construct II
this country immediately a sys
TEN Of macadamized highway
like those between Oxford am
Reading IN England, or Bantr,
Bay and Killarney Lakes in Ire
land. The work must be gradu
al, and the public opinion mus
be brought By degrees 70 thi
high standard.
This is true. The work mus
be gradual. Public opinion mus
be brC ught by degrees to thi
high standard.
- - -
From Yesterday Durham sun