River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-05-30
FARM AND GARDEN.
VALUE OF GOOD ROADS.
Really Question of Farming &C n Los
Mt Profit

or at q Profit
There are few subjects more i'm
portant to the farmers of this country,
and indeed TO all men who transport
their merchandise in wagons, than the
subject of good roads. The country
may be said to be just waking up to
the value of roads over which heavy
burdens may DE moved with economic
al expenditure of force. but the intelli-
gent movement which began less than
ten years ago is gathering strength
and impetus year by year, and il is not
likely to die out SO long as single
hrst-rate road remains an object lesson
of the g. n in money of such construc-
tons To lose whose business or recrea-
ton ma les them the users of country
highways.
To the wheelmen a good deal of the
enthusiasm of road reform is to be
credited. They have worked constant
ly and enthusiastically for the enact
ment of laws facilitating road-build-
ing, for the extended use of the bicy.
Gle is impossible unless the old dirt
road-muddy in wet weather, and full
of ruts and holes, as well as a breeder
of choking dust in dry weather-is re-
placed by the Macadam or Telford way.
with its hard, well-erowned surface
and adequate drainage. But the influ-
ence of the wheelmen and the pleas
ure- drivers is not to be compared with
that which might be exerted by the
men whose business requires the trans
portation of heavy loads from their
farms and shops to the railroad sta
tions or their customers.
Col. Francis Vinton Greene has re-
Gently delivered an address on the sub
ject of good roads in the Butterfeld
Practical Course at Union college. In
the course of his remarks ne showed
that while Massachusetts annually ex-
ponds $50 a mile on roads outside of
cities. New Jersey S43 aud New York
$50, the average expenditure IN the
other states is much less. If il is only
SIS m 'le, this means a total annual
expenditure throughout the country of
$4,000, 900, and much the larger part of
this vast sum is literally thrown away
on roads that are not only the cause of
vexation aud discomfort to those who
drive over them, but that entail actual
loss upon those who are compelled to
carry their goods over them to the mar
kets or railway stations.
The enormous drain made by bad
roads on our resources was estimated
by Col. Greene, and his figures will not
be doubted by anyone who has paid
any attention to the subject. He said:
1T has been proved, not only by me-
chanical experiment but by actual test,
that the same force which draws one
ton on a muddy earth road will draw
four tons on hard Macadam road. On
the improved roads of New Jersey loads
of four to five tons are Labitually
drawn by a two-horse team. This eff
fects a saving of fully three-fourths of
the cost of hauling to the station, and
reduces the cost of road transportation
from 80 cents to III cents per ton per
mile. What this saving amounts to
may be imagined when it is known
that the New York Central railroad
carries nearly 10000, 900 tons of way
freight in year. If this is hauled on
ly two miles by road, to or from the
station, and a saving of 221S cents per
ton per mile could be effected. it would
mean total saving of So. 00o,0 900"
In other words, the question of roads
in many of our agricultural commune
ties is question of farming at loss or
at a profit And there is not COM
munity or town in the thickly settled
parts of the country that cannot pro-
vide itself with thoroughly good high
ways by anticipating its road taxes for
fifteen or twenty years. Money bor-
rowed on fifteen or twenty year bonds,
to be paid off from the annual road
taxes, would be sufficient for the work
in each locality. while the expenditure
would involve little. if any, increased
taxation. The plan that is here sug-
gestcd has been tried in towns near
New York, and it is noticeable that
every good piece of road that has been
constructed in these communities in
creases the sentiment in spending
money in this way. A good road is an
admira bic object lesson of the fact
which Col. Greene seeks to enforce. In
this state the continuity of good roads
could be secured through the county
system. If the proper spirit be aroused
In towns and villages, the problem will
be speedily and satisfactorily solved
Harper's Weekly.