The record-union., 1895-02-07
PUBLIC HIGHWAYS AND ETHICS. /"
A Local CIergyman's Views on the
Good Roads Issue.
Rev. W. 81. Baugh Has Something to
Advance In Favor of Good
Public Highways.

ton to the RECoRD-UNIoN. Continuing,
he says:
The common highway, although con-
fined for the most part to farming popu-
lation, has nevertheless paramount I'M
portance to the people at large, in that
the common road, though unlike the
magnificent railroads and endless tele-
graphic lines, is an institution Of the
body polite, the body civic and the body
ethic.
But while it is an universal consensus
of opinion that from an industrial stand
point the value Of good roads is lncalcu-
liable, yet in this age of marvellous devel-
opment of civic progress our advantages
and profits are no longer to be measured
by mere miles and leagues, though ac-
knoWledging in these saving OF time,
tightening of labor, abridgIng OF DIS
tance and the annihilation OF space by
the steel and the rail engine, for New
York is nearer San francisco now than
she was to Philadelphia sixty years ago,
and commercial commodities, CIVIC, In
tellectual and ethical influences are eX-
changed daily.
We now travel more miles, transact
more business in a single day than was
possible for our grandtathers in month.
With all these larger possibilities OF inter-
ties for public veal or woe.
If it is claimed that under the possibili-
ties Of such tacile exchanges of civic and
social possibilities evil has equal adyan-
tsges of growth with moral IDEAS, the re-
joinder is that evil is sure to travel at any
rates and good must be compelled to
quick en- it's speed like the ostrich with
spread wings, and swiftly bear along the
messages Of wholesome public opinion.
The cartWheels OF evil travel for and are
impelled by selfish ends. and therefore
recognize no obstacles whatever, while
the emblaZoned chariots of morals are
only too prone to await the preparation of
smooth and easy ways OF getting along to
destination.
The time has come when country life
must have some Of the advantages and
comforts that have been far too rare in
rural parts as compared to the town. To
ignore or inaDpreciate the importance of
good public roads in relation to civiliZa-
uon is to discount the meritorious claims
OF the nineteenth century by the better
ways OF pagan Rome. No works among
the achievements Of the Latin people con-
tributed more TO the development of
civilization and national progress than
the magnificent military roads laid out
from one extremity to another OF the
peninsula.
THE VALUE OF THE APPIAN WAY,
Laid out and constructed by the Censor
Appius, which led across the Pontius
marshes from Rome to Capua, was at
once most keenly appreciated, and by its
inspiring example suggested a perfect
network of highways from the AdrIatic
to the Mediterranean Sea and from the
Alps to Straits of Messina. These were
via Appia, via Latina, via Tiburtina, via
Nalerla, via Salaria, via FlamInia, via
Cassia and via Aurelia, to which were at
tached twenty-five secondary roads.
i IL II
and with equal truth We may add, all
Rome leads to every road. The influence
was reciprocal. No longer were the
colonists scattered throughout Italy, like
a swarm Of bees driven from the hive,
strangers to the great metropolis, but
now, with these magnificent roads, they
were put in Immediate communication
with the imperial city, which poured into
the lap of all those colonies the fruit of
political, municipal, religious and social
development.
Had it not been for the construction of
the vast highways over all Italy at the
opportune time, Rome would have suf-
1ered municipal disintegration meath the
honeycomb OF her own political corrup-
tion and fallen with her own weight and
the civic tree that atterward blossomed
into the Hover OF civilization would have
perished on the Latin peninsula. Good
public roads saved the Imperial City from
doom.
AN ELEMENT IN CIVILIZATION.
In the great statistical congress in Paris in
September, 1850, Professor Leone Levi, of
Kings College, London, said: Nothing
could be more important as an element in
civilization and social advancement than
the facility with which the products of Ia
Dor and thought [italics mine of persons
who labor and think are transferred from
place to place."
Good roads benefit all classes and touch
all sides Of human life
The opening of the great military road
by Marshal Wade through the Scottish
Highlands did more for the civilization
OF that region than all the preceding ef-
forts OF the British monarchs. Estates
greatly increased in value as we'll as re-
turns. Former wastes now producing
large crops of cereals; splendid farm
houses and beautiful herds of cattle are
seen where once was a desert; besides,
and best of ell, 1.-The habits and morals OF
the people," says Francis Fuller Mcken-
zie, "are greatly improved"
The opening OF public road in Alsace
by Oberlin gave to the people there a
wonderful impetus to higher moral and
intellectual development. The idea of
Henry Clay in recommending the con-
struction OF the great national turnpike
from Cumberland, Md, to the Missis-
sippi was two-fold. First, to prevent the
springing up OF a great " Nestern empire
by the pouring into the valleys of the
North from the foreign immigrants
In the South; and, second, to keep
intact the moral and social complexion OF
the young American race. Hence, the
first national public highway in our own
country was conditioned in it's construc-
ton upon certain
POLITICAL AND ETHICAL RELATIONS
1t is time, however, to focus our broad
proposition, supported by historic facts
that roads are the index of civilization
and touch closely the intellectual, moral
and religious development OF the country
people.
First, roads have something to do with
creating personal self-respect Self
respect raises the tone of personal char
acter. Good roads invite nice comforta-
bic vehicles and sleek steeas. These in
turn demand better wearing apparel:
good clothes help To seii-respect But il
the farmer is forced to drive to town
through the mud, hub deep, at the rate of
one mile per hour, blue overalls aud
brown Jumper. mounted on cart or
buck board, are quite in harmony and
good enough Tor the farmer who declines
thereupon the invitation of his merchant
friend 10 his home or the club tor lunch
and loses a social feast besides.
When the country roads deteriOrata tho
Postoihce IS further removed from the
rural home, the weekly paper is stopped,
and the daily IS not even thought of for A
moment. The world Is lost or dead IN
the mud-bound rural citizen: church at
tendance drops of and public worsbin
falls into state OF deplorable indiffer-
ence.
tics covering farming districts show that
from 20 to 80 per cent OF the church-goers
live within two miles of the church
Bad roads impair the schools and ram