Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-04-12
FAIRHAvEN WEATHER
Recorded bp Henri Engberq
Weather Bureau Forecasts
EDUCATION AND ROADS

Before yielding up the ghost, TN
Spokane Spokesman said that TIM
movement which is becoming genera
all over the country in favor of gooc
roads should not be allowed to die ou
without accomplishing a permanent
reform. 1t is certainly the most inn
portant local matter that the American
people have to consider. Good roads
will go long way towards solving
some of the complexed economical
problems, the solution of which is be.
ing sought in quite a different direc-
ton.
The farming community for instance,
who complain of high freight rates
who talk about the low price of farm
produce, who bemoan the discomforts
and disadvantages of country life, Curl
ously enough never seem to give mo-
ment's consideration to the fact that all
these questions are largely affected by
the condition of the roads of the coun-
try.
Take for instance the education of
country children. how many farmers
ever stop to consider what effect poor
roads have on the intellectual develop
ment of their boys and girls? Yet
there can be no question but it has
a most important bearing. A
writer in the Century, dis
cussing this subject, says: ave
are spending in this country, $40, OOO,-
900 every year for the maintenance of
our common schools. Official statistics
show that an average of more than 80
per cent of the pupils are absent from
school on every school day of the year,
and that of these absentees by far the
larger portion is made up of our farm
ers' children. To every one acquainted
with the difficulties of travelling the or
binary country road, especially during
the wet weather of spring and fall, the
reason for this immense falling off in
attendance at the public schools will be
clearly traceable to the impossible con-
dition of the highway; and thousands
of farmers in all parts of the country
will testify that they frequently are
compelled by this unfortunate condi-
ton to send their children to inferior
schools, which have little to recon-
mend them, except their convenience
Of location, while better condition of
the roads would enable them to give
their children the advantage of more
thorough schooling"
The truth of this statement no one in
this section Of the country will deny. In
every town and village there are dozens
Of children who come there to spend the
winter and attend school," They
live only few miles from town; but
" the roads are so bad in winter we
never could get to school," they will
tell you if you ask them why they do
not live at home and drive to school
every day.
The money which the support of
these children costs, would build all
the roads needed, in the best possible
manner But their parents do not
think of this. If they gave the amount
of one year to the county for roads, it
would Of necessity be called "taxes,"
and that would strike terror and dis
may into the average heart 1t is not
the amount of money involved, but
the amount Of "taxes." The farmer
will spend many times as much money
on supporting his children in town that
they may attend school. He will pay
the blacksmith and wheelwright large
bills for the repair of his vehicles that
are broken down by use on the bad
roads; he will waste his time hauling
his crops to the market over bad roads;
he will complain about the low price of
wheat, never consider that good roads
to the elevator mean one or two cents
more for every bushel; he will de-
nounce the railroads for their high
freight rates, but never considers the
amount of money the bad roads cost
him; he will denounce, in short, every
body and everything but his worst
enemy, and yet one that he can con-
quer at will.
The New York Sun is seriously exer-
cised over the fear that after all its