The Opelousas courier., 1895-12-14
FARM AND GARDEN.
THE CROP MOVEMENT.
Good Roads Would Distribute 1t Equal.
TI.couphnnt thu 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, anew the SUD-
iect of good roads as an auxiliary to
3 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 necessl-
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-
sibIe for them to work. The fields are
in no condition for cultivation and the
roads are, in a majority of cases, Inn
passable, so that in the course of the
year the farmer is subjected to many
hours OF enforced idlenesS. The com
non carrier is also similarly affected
principally, however, as a 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
creating Il demand for cars that can
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 grain standing all day
and oftentimes at night, because of h
lack of transportation facilities to
carry off the accumulation with
which the various warehouses arc
already filled. Indeed, instances have
been known where wagons were thu
obliged to wait three or four days
before they could be unloaded. The
remedy for much of this congcs-
ton is to be found in tho con-
]struction OF good roads of such Il
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 a 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 a regulation. If to
the free transportation Of material
could be added the employment OF
criminals upon the roads, instead OF
using them in competition with tho
artisans outside of our penitentiaries,
an additional benefit would result. II
is, of course, admitted that the adop-
ton of this plan would increase the *
pense of the maintenance of the vari-
Il institutions of correction and pun
ishment throughout the United States.
but that would cheerfully be met by
the property owners, in view of the
larger advantages growing out of
road improvement. 1t would also do
away with the competition between
criminal and other labor, a competi-
ton that is now in some quarters
severely felt and bitterly assailed. !
This question is one which should be,
generally taken up by the local paperA
of each ce5rmunity. 1t is believed that
railway managers are sufficiently adj
vised of the advantage of such a move
ment to willingly cooperate with the
local authorities wherever any we'll
directed effort is made. The work will
necessarily make slow progress, and it
therefore cannot be too early com
menced,