Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1895-01-09
THE ROAD LESSON.
1t Should Be Taught in Every Farm Home
of the Country.

of the Country.
1t has been truly said that the com
mon highways of a country are at
once the means and the measure of its
civilization. This being the fact, it is
astonishing that the United States has
in it the worst system of common
roads of any country enjoying stable
government. By those who have
thought upon this important subject
it has long been conceded that the
wretched country roads in the United
States entail upon the industries of
the people the most serious tax with
which they are burdened. Indeed, if
there were any method by which the
weight of this burden could be com
puted l am persuaded that it would be
found to be greater than all the taxes
levied by national, state, city and
county laws combined. And yet the
lawmakers in this country, as gen
eral thing, treat this great question as
one only Of slight importance-a ques-
tion that each neighborhood should
solve for itself, or permit to go I'M
solved. As long as this indisposition
on the part of the lawmakers lasts the
road question is likely in its larger as
poets to remain unsClVed.
But in the meantime much may be
done by forces hitherto not enlisted
in the ranks of the road improvers to
ameliorate the sad conditions now eX-
listing, for any marked improvement
in the roads of a neigh borhood teaches
the people thereof lessons that mere
arguments never could. l allude to
the wives and the daughters of the
farmers of the United States. If they
will cast the weight of their influence
with the men who are earnestly labor
ing to improve the condition of the
highways. then great advance will
have been made in the good cause.
Bad roads contribute more than any
other thing to this feeling of dissatis
faction among the young people; the
departure of the young people makes
farm life more tiresome and less
CHEEKY than it was before. 1t seems
inexpl.cable that American law
makers, when these facts have been
pointed out to them over and over
again, should still persist in regarding
the road problem as unimportant.
But they do so regard it, and it is nee
essary, before any progress can be
made toward better things, to recog-
nize that they do. When we have
reached this stage we are at the point
where women individually and col
lectively, that is, each woman acting
on her own account and all women
working in cooperation, can effective
ly assist in the solution of one of the
very gravest public problems that
confront the American people. The
men of the present and the men of the
near future must be educated to know
how grievously they are burdened and
hampcred by the sorry roads which
connect village with village and farm
with farm. If the women of America
will take up this work of education
the lessons will be surely and profit
ably learned, and we will not much
longer be ashamed to have our coun-
try roads compared with those of
other countries. And there could be
no better time than this for the women
of America to begin their intervention
in this matter. The home is where
the best lessons are learned Let the
road lesson be taken up at once
Landscape Architect