The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-11
NEED or GOOD ROADS.
They Are the Glass Most Interested in
tho Highway Reform Movement.

They Are the Glass Most Interested in
tho Highway Reform Movement.
The Buffalo Express, after commend
ing the good work done by the bicyclists
in starting the road reform agitation
says:
But this matter of good roads should
not be left to bicycle riders, who of
course are somewhat interested. 1t
sbould be a farmers movement for
sbev are the class most interested. IF
thew nroduce crops, those crops must be
sent TO market from the farms. Manu-
facturers, merchants and mechanics
can and do, congregate about the rail
road stations Or points of water trans
portation, and to them the matter of
roads is secondary Consideration.
Only very small proportion of farm
ers are or can be located close to ship
ping points, and nearly all have to haul
their crops to greater or less distances
in order to reach their markets. The
cost of hauling is great as a rule, and
principally so because at the seasons of
the year when marketable crops are
ready for sale the roads are seldom in
good condition A French or English
farmer will haul load of two tons or
more with a single span of horses six to
twelve miles to the nearest market town
and think nothing OF it.
|. A western New York farmer thinks
his team is remarkably good one if he
,,.+x h11cl e Il
one load to a market four miles away
and get back in half day. A year ago
last fall he did well if he hauled twenty
bushels at load, or less than one-third
the load which French or English
farmer would take. Bicycles cannot be
ridden over roads when the mud is deep,
but there are fifty farmers interested in
the roads Of the state to one bicycle
rider.
The great difficulty in dealing with
this question is how to make better roads
at reasonable cost to all interested.
Under our present tax laws the farmers
now pay altogether too great proper
ton of the taxes An additional tax
large enough to amount to anything in
making better roads would fall most
heavily upon land owners, and although
the benefit would be greatest to them
the extra burden would be beyond pres
ent resources. Farmers naturally OBJ
ject under the circumstances to any
thing of which the entire cost or nearly
so will fall on their shoulders. They
feel that the merchants, tradesmen and
J.>,.c EkoI Nv
good roads as the farmers themselves,
because the handling, moving and mar
keting of the farmers crops furnishes
them the means of subsistence.
But if the roads are to be improved by
the state, as Governor Hill suggested, or
by the national government, as is planned
by the westerners, who are circulating
petitions for law appropriating $780,
000,000to be divided among the states pro
rata with the road mileage in the states,
nearly all the money must come out Of
the farmers pockets, and hence they OBJ
ject to government roads.
The question Of good roads is not alone
matter of good grades, or proper COW
ering or surface material, or good
lOuIO1UlDA IuCSO QGUlallo % OS5oCdUlcll,
but SO is skilled supervision. The ''path-
master" provision of our present law is
prime cause of poor roads, and until
skilled supervision is provided for, there
is no use in making good piece of road.
The new pathmaster the next year would
tear it up to make it over according to
his notion, not his knowledge, for he
has none, or he would let it go because
it is now good, and devote his work to
some other part of the district, letting
the rains and wheels make sad inroads
into what might be kept a good road
with small but timely repairs. The gist
of the matter is that both the tax laws
and the road laws need great amend
'ment before we may expect to see good
roads, even though the wheelmen do
their level best.