The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1893-04-18
Public Roads.

fiiie e'oafler-stourRdt is a subject of
vital importance to every citizen of
West Virginia. 1t is a question
that should be agitated by the pub
lie and when the next legislature is
elected should become an import
ant issue in every county in the
State, that law may be passed en-
bodying in the main the views as
here given. What the writer says
OF Kentucky is equally true of our
own State, and when you read Just
substitute the word West Virginia
where the word kentucky appears
and you will have read a splendid
article which just describes our con-
ditlon. Here it is:
The capital and energies of the
people have been so enlisted in ex-
tending the railroad system that
they have neglected the roads lead
ing to the stations.
1t costs farmers more to get their
crops to the railroad station than it
does to move them one thousand
miles after they are on the railroads.
If we could secure throughout the
country good roads we should give
double value to the existing rail
road system. If the leaders of the
Democratic party in this State are
wise enough to devise bill under
which the counties can utilize the
eonvicts for road building we can
add in ten years one hundred mill
ion of dollars to the value of our
taxable property.
1t ought not to be difficult to per-
feet law under which the counties
in turn could lease several hundred
convicts, simply on an agreement
to pay the cost of maintaining and
guarding them. This labor, instead
of competing with free labor, would
give new impulse to all the in
dustries of the State; it would ere
ate a new demand for the products
of all labor; it would increase the
productive capacity, and, therefore,
the eOnsumptive capacity of every
free laborer. 1t would give addi-
tional value to all cur farm lands
and farm crops, and would do more
than anything else to break down
the isolation of farm life.
Every class in the community,
and every individual of every class
are interested in securing, and Sc
curing now, law that will give us
in the near future good roads all
over the State of Kentucky. We
have neglected the matter too long.
Bad roads costs us millions of doll
ars annually, and the roads in Ken
lucky will continue to be bad until
there is some systematic effort made
TO improve them.
They have good roads in Europe.
especially in England and France,
and they can haul on any of these
roads from three to five times what
the American hauls. We have been
voting millions of dollars in sub
seriptions and bonds to build rail
roads; we no sooner get a trunk
line than the people are eager to
build branches to bring various com
munities into close connection with
the transportation system.
The best branches a railroad can
have are good county roads. Let
the railroad capitalists attend to
the extension of the railroad system
and let the people of every county
unite in securing connection with
every railroad by means of good
county roads.
Good county roads would not on
" bring the farmers into closer con-
nection with the railroads, and in
this way give additional value to
their crops, but they would be a
great advantage to the school sys-
tenn; travelling would be much less
difficult and much less costly than
it is now, and communication be-
tween neighbors would be easier.-l
Distance is measured by time; we
are just as far 4way from the station,
the church, or the school house as
it takes us to get there; not five
miles or ten, but thirty minutes or
sixty minutes.
The people of Kentucky are
awake now and they will not be
satisfied until they have a system
that will give them good roads
throughout the State, not simply in
localities, but good roads from one
end of the State to the other. 1t
ought to be possible to drive from
the eastern to the western borders
of Kentucky on highways as good
nc any found in EurODe