The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-11-29
NOW IS THE TIME TO DISCUSS
METHODS FOR THE IMPROVE
MENT OF HIGHWAYS


There be three things" said the
| great Lord Bacon, THAT make a nation
| happy and p~rOsperOu5-a fertile soil,
busy workshops, and easy conveyance
for men and commodities from one
place to another"
The first and second of these reQui-
| sites the great West possesses in abund-
ance, and IN abundance that, so far as
the busy work shops" are concerned,
is continually increasing. In the third
it is sadly deficient. The West aud the
South certainly do not have easy
conveyance for men and commodities
from n place to another"
They have trusted o much to their
railways, forge5ful that railways must
be but receivers of travel that comes
along innumerable lines of highways.
Many a farmer who lives three miles
from the nearest rail- way staff IN spen Is
more time and worries himself more
in reaching IL than In travelling fit Y
miles after he has reached 1T. It often
costs more to haul a load OF corn from
the farm TO the railway than to carry
it a hundred miles after it Is placed on
the cars. 1t often takes a longer time
TO go for and come back with a letter
or newspaper from the nearest post
Office than it does for the mIssive TO
come from its starting place to the
Office.
Many q pillow goes unrepaired, many
a II eded piece of arm work goes I'M
done during the long winter months
and forms a needless part of the
" worry" in getting ready for spring
time Oper atoms because of the all out
impossible roads between the farm
and the store or the shop. Country
merchants lose trade, farmers lose
money by inability to take advantage
of a temporary rise or fall in the price
of produce because Of roads upon which
nothing considerable can be hauled
during a great part of the year.
There are whole counties which rain
and frost rule with despOtic authority.
Rain converts the tracks that are dig
nItied by the name Of roads into i'm
passable swamps; frost hardens the
mud into riCges and mounds that no
horse can travel without danger of
lameness and aero s which no heavy
weight can be drawn. The loss to the
farmers and country merchants of the
South and West Is not to be counted
by hundreds of thousands, but by mil
lions yearly, and it is quite probable
that tens Of millions would be needed
to exp ess it.
1t is true that vigorous work, and
work that IL as intelligent as it is Wig
orOIs. should b done in remedy of tt e
evil condition into which we have
fallen. Every road district should have
it's society for the Improvement of
highways, every county should have
its central committee with which the
district societies can confer. and every
State should have it's yearly conven-
ton of societies. The questions of
drainage of rOadbeds. of the possibility
of finding gravel. stone or other mate
rial for construction. and of the com
parativ4 merits Of roads built by local
corporations that can levy toll, 0r by
county taxes or by State aid, should be
carefully discussed.
The interest of the public in this i'm
pOrtant matter should be stimulated
by frequent communications to the
newspapers, both those of the county
seats and those which have a circula-
ton co extensive with the domain of
the republic. During the winter Sc ls0n
farmers have much enforced idlenpss ;
they can employ a part of it to no bit
ter purpose than in striving to organize
a movement for road improvement
Chicago Inter-Ocedn