Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1892-04-08
"A CHAPTER ON ROADS.

In 1890 Minnesota had 394 ,783
horses within her borders, valued at
&31, ,OW, 600. Every one Of these horses
was forced to do more work than it
should because the roads over which
it travelled were not good. roads. It
is, perhaps, hard for.the average man
to see it, but the direct loss to the
farmers from bad roads is double
that Of all taxes combined. The
country roads Of Minnesota, built by
the farmer, worked" by the farmer
and kept in a condition which makes
them q check to the the prosperity OF
farm and town, are a disgrace to the
state. The Minnesota public road is
the most expensive Of all our institu-
lions, and most Of the money and la
hor bestowed on their care is SO care
|lessly spent and SO sloyenly applied
EaE Y, praeticall stlafrossa awas &
is noteworthy that those localities
which have good roads either got
them by Natures good Offices or owing
to the educative effect of some small
strip OF properly made highway
which CREASED tho wheels so we'll that
the ,neighborhood insisted on getting
more of tie some kind. Another
noteworthy fact is that most Of the
efforts made toward highway i'm
provements is made not by those
most deeply interested-the farmers
but by professional and business men
and, above all, by the bicyle riders,
whose ''League of American Wheel
men" is bending its entire energy to-
ward spreading information about
good roads, and bad ones, and the ef-
fects of each on the country's pros
perity. The league, for instance,
publishes monthly entitled "Good
Roads, and gets out many pamph-
lets bearing on the same subject:
Bicycle manufactures and dealers are
rlso interesting themselves in the
same subject. A large eastern 'cycle
firm offers 100 wheels as prizes for
the best 100 essays on roads and road
making. In our own state the Har-
ry Svonsgaard Bicycle company Of
Fergus Falls, Minn., witch is the
largest maker and importer of wheels
in the northwest, is offering prizes for
the best desert ptions of the worst and
the best roads in Minnesota, outside
the cities. Are there any roads that
may be included in either class in
this neighborhood? If so some of our
farmer boys-or older ones, for> that
matter-may like to compete for
some of those prizes. Appropos Of
this subject, here are some road facts
which may serve TO open the eyes Of
readers:
Including labor it costs 25c per
day to keep a horse; for every idle
day caused. by impassable roads,
every ten Thousand: horses have cost
their owners $2,5OO. To that amount
should be added every item of dam
age to horses, wagons and harnesses
caused by attempts to haul loads
over bad roads.
The European horse hauls twice
as much as an American horse. simp-
ly, because the roads are much bet
ter. Yet in France seventy out of
the eighty-seven departments or pro-
vinces have an average population
less than the Middle states of this
country. Many of these departments
in France are less populous than the
thickly settled counties of Minnesota,
but the uniform excellence of the
roads is everywhere maintained.
On every mile Of dirt road sixteen
feet wide within the settled parts Of
the United States there falls each
year nearly nine thousand tons of
water. What becomes Of it? Most
ly, it stays where it falls till it evap-
crates, making mussiness and mud,
followed by dust.
Our system of country roadmaking
is all wrong. No annual working
out'' of taxes will ever make even
decent roads.
Good roads increase land value by
bringing good market nearer.
Good roads increase population
within the area covered by them.
They may be compared with the rail-
roads in the development they bring
about.
"Think on these things. nv breth-