The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-07-04

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THE FlNANC GAL SIDE.
1sconom,ca, Phases Invol.ed ins tho Sub
/ s3a$ ject OF Good Roads & Il n
y This subject 81 good roads ID wolves
several questions. The principal ones
are these: How much is the benefit
derived from good roads, Who gets
the benefit? How much does it cost?
Who pays for It? Who ought to pay
for it? ssss ,j3 u, 4; Z 81
Gen. Stone, Of the federal, depart
ment Of agriculture, has found three
independent estimates which place the
yearly loss to farmers in the United
States from bad roads at about $780,
900, 900, equivalent to 81, an acre annu-
ally. Capitalized at five per cent, this
amount, if saved, would increase the
value of farm land so an acre, or to-
alincrease Of sSl2, 900, 900, 600. AS the
total value Of oil farms is about $780,
OO0, 900, 900 this would be an increase ,of
fifty per cent in their value. AS the
total annual value Of. farm products is
only So, 600, 900, 900, onc-fourth of its
value is lost through bad roads. 4
Comparisons have also been made
with foreign countries. x The English
horse does twice the work OF the
American horse, the French horse
three times the work; not because
they. are better horses, but because
they travel better roads. Mr.. Wollen,
estimates the annual cost of maintain
ing horse at 800. If only one-fourth
of the horses in Indiana could be-
spared, instead of one-half or two
thirds as in England or France, the
annual saving in horse maintenance
for this state alone would be $50, Ooo,-
600. Prot: Ely holds that poor roads
cost the farmer SIS per horse. = Z.
These estimates are none too high
The gain from good roads when onoe
they are completed will make the most
cautious statistics seem fabulous. But
there are two or three special points TO
be considered. The tremendous fall in
prices of. farm products in recent years
is q heavy drawback to ROAD Improve.
ment Farm products have tallc'' IA
prices even more than the roads ll@tt
benefited the farmer. In 1882, accord
ing to the reports of the secretary OF
agriculture, the average value OF the
corn product in the United States was
SILL "a per acre; in 1898 it was 1921 per
acre, q fall of 81 per cent. Oats fell
from S1148 per acre in 1882. to Sc. IS
per acre in 1893, 40 per cent; wheat
yielded ST. per acre in, 1882, only $6:l6
in 1898, fall of nearly so pei; cent.
But the cost of production, according
to the estimates of 900 farmers is
$11.69 per acre-$12.39 in Indiana.
nearly double the price received for
the product. Horses, which in 1882
averaged $5l q head, are only $4s in
1894, asfall Of 81 per cent in 81 years.
With horses SO cheap and grain still
cheaper to feed them. it is not likely
that farmers can spend much money in
building roads ) to economic horse
flesh. 49, +. z. s.s,.,. 4 : = &
AS q result of this universal fall In
products, the values Of farm lands have
fallen corrcspondingly. Consequently
a large part of the stone and gravel
roads which have been built during
the last fifteen years have not served
to raise the value Of AUDITING farm
property, as should be expected from
the estimates have quoted, but have
merely protected it from the universal
fall OF oil such property. In many
cases even the benefited farm lands
have actually fallen in value, notwith.
standing the advent of the hard road.
Closely connected with this is anoth'
er point to be noted, namely, that It
takes several years for farmers to real
ize the increased value which good
roads bring. In order to take advan-
tage of good roads the farmer must
adopt more intensive method or Gull
tivation. Must introduce crops for
which there is market demand, must
invest in more machinery and imple-
ments. ALI of this requires time, and
meanwhile the farmer is compelled to
nav his assessments in cash derived
from the sales of deprecated products.
E 1 do not intend, however, to hold
that farmers are not benefited
bv good roads. Indeed, they are high
" benefited relatively if. their farm
values remain even stationary and do
not decline, since there Is almost no mar
Eet at all ,soaoatlays tor farms so'thout sucA
roads. What j maintain is this, that
farmers unuer the present fall in
prices$of farm products and farm lands:
cannot afford to bear all the expense Of
building the county roads, as they
have done il the past. If we are to
have good roads the cities must help
the farmers. 80 2ssis. = $3.50 .S zzsSs
Il The objection is made that cities
have their own heavy expenses for
building and maintaining their streets,
to which the farmers do not contribute,
and, therefore, the farmers should not
ask them for help in construc citing their
country roads. The answer is that
only the main gravel and macadam
roads are contemplated under the New
Jersey and similar laws, which might
properly be called county or state
roads, and that # cities have streets to
maintain, farmers have township and
cross roads to maintain, to make con-
nections with the pixies. The town
sl,ins Of Indiana tax their property