The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1896-03-12
GOOD ROADS.
What They Would Save the Farmer in
Conrae of Time

The Secretary of the National Farm
ers Congress estimates that we trans
port over our country roads, every year
something like 500,000,000 tons of farm
produce. He figures out that it costs,
on the average, So per ton to bring it
to the railroad stations from the farm,
averaging the distances travelled by
farmers with their crops. He saysthat
the total cost of hauling these farm
products exceeds q thousand million
dollars, and that the unnecessary ex-
pense resulting from the poor condition
of the country roads is something over
six hundred million dollars. In other
words, that if our roads were what they
might be made, the farmers of the
United States would save 5000, 100000
every year.
And yet there are farmers left in all
parts of the country who oppose the
movement for good roads! They are
only to be compared with people who
cannot see the use of coming in when it
rains Surely if there is any one who
is to be benefited by the improvement
of our country roads, it is the farmers.
Six hundred million dollars more in
their pockets every year is we'll worth
the investment Of what it requires to
properly grade, surface and gravel the
roads, what it COSTS to dig down the
hills and fill up the holloWs. The work
could be done several times over, in the
very best Of style, and still leave it
highly profitable, when we consider the
immensely Of the annual mud tax which
unfavorable weather imposes on the
farming classes. The trouble with
those who are Directing to road i'm
provements. is often that they are too
short-sighted to see their own advan
tage. They forget that every trip to
town with q load of crops means an eX-
penditnre Of time and effort, wear and
tear on wagon and harness, all Of which
means dollars and cents to them in an
indirect way. The amount of crops a
mali can raise, the size of the farm he
can work, depends necessarily upon the
time he can spend at his farm, and if
the total amount Of unnecessary time
consumed in = going to town" be COM
puted, it will readily amount to suf-
ficient number Of days to work num-
Der of acres more.
Good roads not only mean larger
loads, they mean faster trips They
mean that where it required four horses
to draw given load, while the
road was poor, only two horses
are necessary after it is properly i'm
proved; that the wagon and the buggy
will last twice as long, because Of less
hard usage on gravel hills and stony
roads. They mean that the distance
to the next house is decreased by half,
because it takes only half as long as
before to reach it with the buggy.
They mean that the farmer can see his
neighbOrs oftener, and come into closer
touch with the world, doing much to-
ward his higher civilization. They
mean that his children can get to
school more easily, and will have to
miss school less often on account OF
muddy roads; they mean that shower
Of rain will not keep the farmers home
on election day, when it is their duty
to go to the polls and vote. That
it will become possible to deliver
mail throughout the country districts,
instead of requiring people in the
country to go to town to get it. They
mean greater conveniences of many
kinds, and many benefits following
better means of communication with
the world in general.
1t is a pleasure to see that the
friends of the good roads movement are
multiplying every year; that the farm
ers Institutes are taking up the matter
of good roads; that the agricultural So
cieties are discussing means of improv-
ing country roads; that the successful
and progressive farmers are taking up
the agitation for better highways and
convincing their neighbors upOl( the
subject; that road machinery is being
purchased in larger quantities every
year; that the number of town meetings
which vote to retain the old system of
" working out" the road taxes is grow
ing smaller continually, and that the
old pillow and shovel method of road
building is rapidly being crowded back
into the pages of history. The farmers
of this country are realizing that better
roads mean everything to them, and it.
safe to say that we are upon the verge
of general effort to place the roads of
the United States upon proper foot
ing. The matter of roads is one Of
those in which we are far behind, how
ever great our progress in other direc-
lions may haveybeen, and it is a source
of wonder to every European who visits
the United States, that we have been
content to leave our roads in such a
Wretched state.
The Modern Way
4 r Il