The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-20

deserve to be remembered. Colonel
Greene said In part:
"Considering roads. in the broadest
sense, as means Of communication ana
transport on land. and thus including
railroads common roads. and city
streets, 1t Is true now, as 1t has been TOT
three thousand years. that the degree
OF civilization to which any people nave
obtained is accurately measured ana
indicated by the condition OF their
roads. You will naturally ask how II
Is. II roads are so intimately connected
with civilization. that the United states,
which claims to be among the most CIV
tlized nations in the world. should con-
fessedly have roads 50 bad that they
are Justly described as intolerable. But
the answer Is not far to seek. The
United States have the longest ana
best roads in the world. But they are
in the formation Of railroads. and the
construction of these railroads mas ap-
sorbed 50 much energy and capitai that
there has not, until now. been time 10
construct good common roads, nor mas
the necessity for them been evident.
II is evident however that there must
he a limit to the building of railroads.
and II would seem as II that limit had
been practically reached in certain
parts of the country. 1t Is Impossible 10
have a railroad leading to every farm'
although this condition Is closely ap-
proximated In New Jersey. where. 1t is
said, there is no point In the state
which is more than seven miles from
SAL : h. tra N rnrfa ion DrSDO-
lem cannot be considered as satisfac-
torily solved II 1t costs as much to carry
a ton OF wheat or potatoes to the rail-
way station as 1t does to carry 1t 4oo
miles over the railroad. So that with
the practical completion Of the railway
system in a large section Of the country
an agitation has sprung up In favor OF
the improvement of the comon roads.
Many bad Common Roads.
eve have an enormous number of
roads, in bad order for the most part.
Gen. Roy Stone estimates the totai
length at something over l.W0,Ooo miles
These roads have grown up regardless
of system or method. and for the most
mart have been built without reference
to engineering principles. In Massa-
chusetts the road expenditures, outside
Of cities in 1893 We're 81. 1884, or $3.50
per mile; in New Jersey $77S.41O.s2, or
s43.24 per mile; in New York ABOUT
s.. 500 900, or about $50 per mile. II the
average expenditure in other states was
only SIS per mile. the total for the en-
tire country would be about $40, ,OOO, 900.
1t Is not too much to say that the
greater part Of this sum produced no
useful result, and was wasted.
1.-THE bad condition of the roads be-
gan to attract widespread attention
something over ten years ago. Certain
elementary principles were evident at
q glance, to wit: the price of farm pro-
ducts Is fixed at the great cities or GEN.
tres Of consumption and distribution,
and Is wholly beyond the farmers con-
troll and the cost Of transportation Is a
principal factor in determining his pro-
fit. or the possibility of any profit. On
the railroads this has been reduced un-
til ii varies, according to bulk, from
one cent to four mills per ton per mile.
BUT the average roads are so bad that
a two-horse team and wagon, the value
of which IL 50 per day. cannot haul
ton Of produce more than ten miles and
return in day. The cost of road trans
portation is therefore 30 cents per ton
per mile, or about forty times as great
as the rate on the railroad. The aver
age distance from the farm to the near
est railway station Is at least ten miles.
20 that It costs as much to get the
goods to or from the railroad station as
ho ro
Tho Cost Of Bad Roads.
"It only needs to state these element
ary facts to show what an enormous
drain bad roads make on our resources.
1t is evident that an improvement In
these conditions Is imperative. and the
remedy is equally evident, for At has
been proved, not only Iby mechanical
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 i'm
proved roads in New Jersey loads OF
four to five tons are halbituafly drawn
by a two-horse team. This effects
saving of fully three4fourths Of the cost
of hauling to the station, and reduces
the cost OF road transpor rtation from 30
cents to ~ cents per ton per mile.
What this saving amounts to may be
Imagined when 1t Is known that the
New York Central railroad carries
nearly 1900 900 tons Of way freight In
a year. II this Is hauled only two
miles by road to or from the station,
and a saving Of 22Ia cents per ton per
mile could be effected. 1t would mean
O total saving Of nearly $9.000.000.
"These figures may seem exaggerated,
but they will no longer appear so when
we realize the saving actually accom-
plished by the reduction In railroad
rates In the last twenty-five years. For
instance, in 1869 the average freight
rate on the New York Central railroad
was 2 4-10 cents per ton per mile: In
1893 1t was seven mills. This saving on
the business Of 1893 Is upward Of $64,-
000, 1000. This is THE result which has
been accomplished by the application to
the railroad problem Of the highest
available talent. In the next twenty
five years the results accomplished on
the common roads are likely to be as
remarkable az those achieved on the
railroads In the last twenty-five years.
Why Roads should Be Improved.
''But there fs another and hardly less
important side. and that Is the use Of
the roads for health and pleasure: and
this appeals not so much to the farmer
as to the Inhabitants Of cities. In New
York about 60 per cent. of the popula-
tion lives In cities. and in Massachusetts,
60 per cent. In proportion as the urban
population grows. and possibly in still
greater proportion. the number in
creases OF those who desire to escape
to the country for pleasure during a
part Of the year. And nearly all coun-
try pleasures and amusements are de-
pendent In a greater or less degree on
the condition of the roads.