The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-10-24
FARM AND GARDEN.
THE CROP MOVEMENT.
Good Roads Would Distribute 1t Equally
Throughout the Year.

Good Roads Would Distribute 1t Equally
Throughout the Year.
With the approach of another crop
handling season and the heavy move
ment of tonnage incident to the large
prospective yield, comes anew the sub
ject of good roads as an auxiliary to
more equal distribution of movement
throughout the year, says the Railway
Review. Under present conditions
producers and carriers alike suffer
from the congestion which is necessi-
tated at certain seasons of the year by
the demands of farm work on the
one hand and the impossible roads on
the other. Farmers, perhaps more than
any other industrial class, have their
hours of labor regulated by the
weather. During rains or immediate
| ly thereafter-providing the rains be
| long continued-it is practically impos-
sible for them to work. The fields are
in no condition for cultivation and the
! roads are, in a majority of cases, i'm
passable, so that in the course of the
! year the farmer is subjected to many
/ hours of enforced idleness. The COM
! DlOu CARRIER Is dlSO SUMMARY dhCCOSh
principally, however, as result of the
! effect of the wet weather on the farmer
rather than upon himself. During the
period of dry weather, when crop
work is imperative, and roads are
good, agricultural products are rushed
to the initial markets with the utmost
dispatch, filling the warehouses and
fo,
not readily be supplied, if at all. 1t
is no uncommon sight to see at many of
the western shipping points numerous
wagon loads of gxain standing all day
and oftentimes at night, because of the
lack of transportation facilities to
carry off the accumulation with
which the various warehouses are
already filled. Indeed, instances have
been known where wagons were thus
Obliged to wait three or four days
before they could be unloaded. The
remedy for much of this conges-
ton is to be found in the con-
struction of good roads of such II
character as not to be easily affected
by the weather. Some railroad com
panies, approaching the value of such
construction, have offered to haul the
necessary material from the quarries
or other sources of supply, to the vari'
Gus distributing points at extremely
low rates, and in some cases without
charged. 1t is probable that the adop-
ton of rule of free carriage within
reasonable limits by all roads would
prove a profitable undertaking. The
advantage of a regularly distributed
delivery throughout the year would
largely offset the extra expense in
CURED by such regulation. If tt
:, the free transportation of materia
could be added the employment Of
criminals upon the roads, instead Of
using them in competition with the
artisans outside of our penitentiaries
an additional benefit would result. L
is, of course, admitted that the adop
ton of this plan would increase the eX
: pense of the maintenance of the vari
: Gus institutions of correction and pun
ishment throughout the United States
3 but that would cheerfully be met by
? the property owners, in view of thu
= larger advantages growing out o
road improvement. 1t would also d.
r away with the competition between
: criminal and other labor, competi
= ton that is now in some quarter
9 severely felt and bitterly assailed
2 This question is one which should b.
t generally taken up by the local paper
of each community. 1t is believed tina
}. railway managers are sufficiently ad
;, vised of the advantage of such Love
ment to willingly cooperate with tn
local authorities wherever any well
directed effort is made. The work viii
necessarily make slow progress, and
therefore cannot be too early com
menced.