The record-union., 1892-11-18
A NEW PHASE OF THE ROAD
QUESTION.

In the discussion of the improved
roadway" question, now agitating most
of the States, there has been lost sight of
one important factor. We believe the
absolute necessity for general road i'm
provement exists; that it will prove a
great saving to the farmer; will render
rural life more desirable; will cheaper
production, and greatly conserve the
Interests of producers and consumers
alike.
But is it not possible that electricity
will do for us a great deal that will
Eender such extensive good road build
ing as is now contemplated unnecessary?
When we consider what has been ac-
complished in the past twenty years, we
cannot tip-tilt our noses at fanciful spec
nlations as to what electricity may do for
US in the next ten or even five years.
Nelson Black, in the Engineering Mago-
zine, indulges in these speculations to
some extent.
The road wagons and the short lived top
buggies and carriages of the farmer cost him
n very pretty penny in the course of a = ear or
Term OF years. and they represent a service
which The electric railroad can largely abOl-
1sh, But against this saving must Of course
be set the cost of the railroads, the electric
power-stations, the rent of electric wagons
and operating expenses. " hat would be the
amount? An accurate estimate cannot OF
course be made, because conditions differ so
widely in different sections of the country
but as close a ejaculation us We can make IN
advance, founded on the cost of the electric
railroads already IN operation, warrants Us
in saying that probably so per cent. OF the
rOadWays in the United States could be
equipped with the necessary track, poles and
wires at a cost of $500 per mile. In a district
ten miles Square-the surface that could be
served from n single central pOwer-station-
there would be, in the larger part of the
Union, about 100 miles of railway. Then the
total cost of track for a district ten miles
square would be S35O,000. This represents a
capitalization OF only 50 to the acre and an
annual interest charge of only thirty cents
per acre. With q central poWer-station large
enough to operate all the wagons or cars that
would be called into use at one time in the
district, the capitalization need not be more
than SO per acre This would mean an an
nual interest charge of $50 for each hundred
acres of land. 1t must be conceded that this
does not seem like very heavy tax when we
consider the nature OF the service rendered
available the great saving in the cost and
maintenance of horses and wagons. the enor-
nous economy of time ard the Greatly en-
hanced value of improved farm-ands ii the
interest charge amounted to 500 per wear
and the farmers We're themselves chiefly the
EAOChnOluSTS Oh Tue GICCATlc companies. IL
would still represent an economy.
This certainly presents new and most
interesting phase of the road question.
IF the electrical roads can be built.
equipped from the bed up for So, 800 a
mile, and good roadway will cost prop
erly underlaid, surfaced, drained and
graded the sum of s., 600 mile, then the
nse of the electrical road will be as the
fare for use, or the interest upon the cap
italization, is against the cost and support
of horses and vehicles, and the loss in
time, in serving the farmer from the point
at which he first reaches the road to the
market town.
But as against the electrical road, and
in favor of the improved roadway, is the
fact that the farmer must have horses for
use on the farm, and vehicles with which
to reach the electrical road, and that in
the dull farm season the horses are not
infrequently used for other purposes, as
wood-gathering, improvement-making
road construction, etc. Then there enters
into the problem of the use of the cleo
trical roads the other question of double
handling of products and supplies, un-
less inventive genius can so devise that
the farmers produce wagon can be so
constructed as at stations to be run upon
a turn-table and transferred to the cleo
trical rails to be hauled by a motor, and
this is by no means a difficult problem.
But suppose that question to be settled
in favor of the electrical road; then when
the transferred wagon reaches the market
station, the producer must have means of
distribution and delivery, and how is
that to be accomplished? True, where
he sells to the dealer the latter will re-
ceive the goods at the station, and mer-
chants will deliver supplies there. But
there are so per cent. of the producers
who deliver in detail and eliminate the
middleman entirely. How are these to
handle the question of distribution?