The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-02-28
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IMPROVEMENT.
COOP RoAbs CRUSADE.

Facts and Figures Collected by the
League of American Wheelmen.
The racing man and his many
troubles have been attracting SO much
attention of late there is a tendency to
forget the League of American Wheel
men has anything more serious to
occupy its time. The fact remains that
racing and the matters pertaining
thereto are but a side issue and have
little or nothing to do with the actual
business of the league. The league.
which was formed in 1850, had been in
existence but a short time when 1t was
discovered the roads of this country
were vastly inferior to those of other
countries. In view of the fact that
bicycle riding was poor sport on any
but the best of roads the league took
up the matter of arousing interest in
the question. Starting with purely
selfish motive the subject has grown
till now the league is pledged to all of
its vast membership to continue the
agitation till success shall crown the
efforts to secure favorable legislative
action on the question.
In order that the movement might
prove success the farmer had to be
interested, as he it was the princi pal
burden of the improvement would fall
upon. At the outset the wheelmen
were unfortunate enough to incur the
dislike and antagonism of the rural
element through the fact that the
courts had to be resorted to in order to
decide that the wheel was a vehicle
and entitled to share of the road.
The farmer contended that the bicycles
scared their horses, and as a result
they were greatly opposed to allowing
the rights of the road to the advocates
of the new method of transportation.
The matter was fully settled in the
courts, and in a number of instances
the misguided farmer was compelled
to pay for the machine that his wrath
had impelled him to drive over. This
state of affairs naturally led the
farmer to believe the wheelman his
natural enemy, with the result the
good roads agitation met with scant
courtesy.
That good roads are for the benefit
of the farmers as much or even more
than any other class, was a fact that
had then to be demonstrated to the
satisfaction of the tiller of the soil.
Progress in this line has been slow. but
at last matters appear to be progress
ing nicely, and the chances are the
near future will see a great movement
in favor of road improvement. The
poor condition of American roads
arises from a number of causes. The
country is newer and less densely pop
ulated than the farming districts OF
Europe. AS result, each of the rural
residents is responsible for a greater
amount OF roadway than is his foreign
cousin. Another and potent factor In
the present state of affairs lies not in
the total neglect OF the highways, but
because a great deal of labor that is
now put on the roads is not applied in
q mannerScalculated to produce the
best results. Every community has
laws requiring q certain amount OF
labor to be expended on the roads each
year. This labor seems to consist in
scraping the mud from the sides of the
road and piling it as high as possible in
the center, thus forcing the teams to
drive in the ditch to either side till
the road Is gradually beaten down to
the center again. We're the same
amount of labor expended each year
in building gravel roads the result
would be miles and miles of valuable
turnpike in the course of few years.
There is no manner in which money
can be applied for improvement on
farming property that will pay larger