The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-11-26

TTyy snaies In Portland on the average. "
ma.ad - 1aot pure and simple. 1 inti-
m wy nothing rs to the weight of coal
H. .aWs that make normal load in
nn, did not even intimate that 5000
EEranus Was the normal load of hay In
nonn nSe. 1t Is distinctly printed "6oJo
po ssI Is frequent load" Now nor
.nnl ana frequent are no more synony
noIs Than good roads and macadamized
toads are. No wheelman claims this lat
s sor aDsurdity, aud there was no excuse
I've Ut oitlzen" to get twisted In either
gives me great pleasure to be able to
s.Iralghten him out. 1t is fact con-
mrmed by numerous experiments OF
french, English an American engin-
GERS. that it only takes one third the
power to drag given load on mac
aoam road that it does to move the
same load on "fair earth road, SO that
even his twisted Interpretation OF my
Iacts is below the truth, and not 2,500
per cent. above, as some of his others are
Ibis truth esta blishes the fact that be
can dispose of one horse of his coal teams,
draw four per cent bank interest on
That money, save dollars in feed each
week, and finally save the care. Does
,Utlzen" mean to say that there ls no
dividend in this? Now / want to assert
that there is possibility that in a very
y
The Canadaiqua roads which Cited
cost 81. so an adjacent acre. Those farms
today will cost SCI tizen" $50 an acre
more than they would when skirted with
earth roads. That means $l.20 year at
least as their value to the farm. A year
and a half of that Sl20 will wipe out
the 81. 80 with ease, and then it ia all
al vidend-and, by the way, sl:@o on
81 80 invested leaves a pretty good mar
gin for dividends anyway "Uitizen"
cares to figure it.
Now Mr.. Editor, made broad as
sertion of general truth In asserting
that "every ounce of freight
which goes over a railroad goes over the
highways" 1t is as true as all general
truths are. "Honesty Is the best poll
oy." That is a general truth. You and
disprove this. You and /, however, will
admit the general truth. "Citizen" will
not, because it is far from the literal
truth, to twist his sentence bit. He
wants city freight "reckoned OUT" Well,
l guess mott Don't make the mistake Of
thinking that the good road movement
Is going to neglect the cities. know
of a city-not Portland-that has a mile
OF two OF road upon which In COMPARE
lively few years enough money has
been spent-the vouchers prove tito
have paved that road with this best of
granite blocks, and vet that road is today
disgrace to the city. A great deal less
money than has been spent there would
have caused great JOY among wheelmen,
whether on two wheels or four. What
We want Ia fair return for the money
spent, and knowing that a com mission
will correct many of the unnecessary
evils, We simply ask for the privilege Of
paying for one. And we have faith that
1t will In conservative manner bring
to the attention Of the road members
proper methods of obtaining the best
results for the expenditures which are
made today. If on Investigation they
find we cannot afford MaoAdam roads
we'll and good, then let them do the best
they can with what they have got.
Neither can he throw out freight hauled
In winter, for that goes over the high
way just the same. 1t nay sound
strange to "Citizen, 'but can show him
places where the snow drifts In at each
and every storm in such manner that
IL costs the town money to break it out.
a hedge properly located would prevent
this and beaurify the highway. Even
IN winter we can improve the high ways.
Now what has "Oitizen" got left of
freight which does not 80 over this
highway? Simply a very, very small
q quantity that cuts no figure at all He
would have US believe that from some
unknown source-an the wings of a
dove posi- hly-vast volumes of freight
roll over private track into mill yards
and manufactures; are there manufao-
tured, reloaded onto the cars, and then
whirled away into the vast unknown
from whence they came, without ever
seeing highway Do these manufao-
tured articles get to the people without
seeing a highway? You know they
don't, | know they don't, and "Citi-
nnh No T
that my statement Is more accurate
than any single statement ''Cltizen"
makes In his arguments. | did not ex-
poet any one to infer that there was no
freight carried on our highways in
winter. / did not expect them to infer
that no freight went over city roads,
And one Of the many things which /
are thousands OF tons of freight which
are hauled on our highways without
ever seeing a railroadl Over 700 teams
GROSS Tukey's bridge daily. There are
n half dozen Ut her ways into Portland
1000 TO 5000 teams daily without doubt
That means several tons of freight in a
year, | think.
The "Citizen's' psr-fervid peroration
has 6 HarkI from the tombs doleful
sound" about it that would have
adorned heated harangue in
dog days, but "now when election echoes
have died away" it behooves every good
citizen, whether he believes in good
roads OF not, to use more white lead.
and less lamp black in that part of the
fsesco which he is painting upon the
panorama of the future as it unr9lls be-
fore him. Try a few brighter tints.
. Citizen" and in fact it were far better
to paint an irridescent dream rather
than to splash great gobs of gloom DER
the canvas 1t might make people smile
pie. but he who causes his neighbour to
smile is public benefactor, whereas he |
who reduces his fellow man to sack cloth |
and ashes is curse to the community |
and should be gathered at once to his |
fathers. l know that our farmers have |
suffered in the last few years, but SO /
have we all. The world has been out If |
Joint, but we are now facing the future,
and In the general revival Of business
which has mover yet failed to follow
hard times, I see q prosperity for our
farmer that has never been reached even
u the good old days. I see his best
dividends" coming from good roads; |
'ee his children at school each day; see
! neigh borly feeling cultivated by the
ability to get about; see free mail de-
VERY; ! see happiness written over all.
The Past is dead. Let him gather his