The Opelousas courier., 1894-08-11
WHAT GOOD ROADS MEAN.
They VIII Bring Prosperity and Solid
Land Value to Amy Locality.

3d4u NStloCD 40 LIZ Law LLdV ~ ~ t.Io
awful panic of 1878 and the four or five
succeeding years of financial depression,
real estate in Orange, N. j., hardly
dropped a point in value. Men who
know, attribute this wholly to the fact
that good roads and resulting improve
ments had so increased and "solidifed"
land values in Orange (Which was prob
ably the best paved rural district in the
United States at that time), that eve a
financial panic Of great magnitude was
powerless to shake them. Ii this reason
is the true one, it offers considerable
food for thought to those who own land
farms OF otherwise-in unimproved
localities, or who contemplate the pur-
chase of real estate.
America is a home loving country,
and it is rapidly becoming q country Of
people who own the homes they love.
1t is getting to be the chief ambition of
every young maj to live in a house built
or purchased wifi lis own money, and
on land paid for orYof his own pocket
book. The growth Of the building and
loan associations, the fact that savings
bank deposits are increasing much
faster, proportionately, than the popula-
ton, are inc]ontrovertible witnesses to
this fact. The original Yankees were
frugal to an extreme and their very fru-
gality, associated with the boundless re-
sources of a new country, paved the way
for the rapid accumulation of vast fort
I'M by their posterity. Money quickly
gained was quickly spent, until the ex-
~travagance of Americans became, and is
still, a byword in other countries.
And the Americans seldom protest.
They are accustomed to the waste of
money. Their fortunes have been too
suddenly and easily acquired for them
to understand their value. And this
wholesale waste of money is no more
common among the richer class than it
is among the people who are in moderate
circumstances. Bill Nye said in a recent
humorous article that it is safe to esti-
mate the cost of living in New York at
from $500 to $500 more than you get,
and there was more truth than humerin
his remark. Too many Americans live
beyond their means.
But 8 reaction is beginning to be felt,
and in no way is it more plainly in
Dictated than in the desire of the rising
generation to be abe to point to farms
and village and town lots with proprie-
tary fingers. The young men in every
walk of life-laborers, clerks, merchants,
farmers and workers in the professions
are beginning to lake u very active in
terest in real estate and in everything
that pertains to and influences the value
of real estate.
The remarks of Thomas Nevins, of
East Orange, N. j., on road improve
ments and land values which have al
ready been printed inthis paper, showed
that they bear a very close relation to
each other. Mr.. Nevins realized this
fact t~wenty-four years ago and he is
now a very rich man in consequence.
But he vas and is an exception. The
general public seems to be unable to
grasp the situation. Here is one ex-
ample which he gives: He bought forty
five acres Of land for 81, 800 an acre and
improved it by putting down Telford
roads at his own expense, the land,
after all improvements had been made,
costing him SO d front foot. The re-
suit was that he was able to sell his
land in a few months at a phenomenal
profit. Not a bit of it went for less than
$50 a front foot and much Of it brought
more in the open market. No "boom"
wa required to bring its value up to
$50 a front foot. Good roads were so
few and far between, that land which
fronted on them was considered cheap
at almost any price. His brother found
that the laying of Telford roads in Union
county, n. j., made a farm, which was
losing money, profitable, and increased
its value from $50 an acre to 5000 an acre.
These are facts. If improvement of
roadways will have such a decided effect
on land values in those localities. it is
certain that it will have a similar effect
in other places. No owner Of real estate
can make a more profitable investment
than by paying his road tax. providing
that road tax is levied for the urpo of
constructing or maintaining broken stone
roads. If it goes to pay men for throw
ing dirt and loose gravel on the muddy
denominations which prevail in most To-
c~alities, he cannot waste his money more
absolutely than by paying it for a tax
receipt. Payment Of road taxes in those
circumstances is literally throwing mon
ey into the street.
IF the money and the equivalent work
which will be expended by unintelligent
road commissioners and county boards
during the next twenty-five years in in
sane endeavors to make "bricks without
straw"-to construct solid and lasting
highways out of oozing mud-could be
capitalized today. Every country road
of any consequence could be macadam-
lied or telfordized and kept in perfect
order for the twenty-five years. and a
good balance would be left in the county
treasury after it had all been done. This
has been proven many times. 1t actually
costs enough more to maintain the pre-
vailing bad roads for a few years than it
would to maintain good ones for the same
length of time, to pay the cost of con-
structing the good ones. This is setting
wholly aside the increase of land values
which would be brought about by good
roads.
There is actually no question of greater
Importance before the American public
today than this one of road improve
ment. The abandoned farms Of Yer
mont and other New England states are
monuments showing what bad roads are
capable of accomplishing. There is no
way of showing what good roads can do
except building them, and before this is
done the people must be educated and