Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1897-12-29
Civilization and Prosperity Demand
Good Roads.

Inc Improvement or the public high
ways of our country is great econom-
&c question. It is a question of vital
Importance 20 the prosperity of our
country. We have the worst roads of
any great nation in the world, and yet
with all our wealth, which is estimated
by English authorities to be So, 72O,-
OO0,0 900 more than that of Great Brit
ain, we go on from year to year wad-
ing through the s1ush and the mud.
Our looses from bad roads alone reach
annually far up into the millions. 1t
is not question of interest to the
agricultural classes alone. It is of
interest to all the people of the coun-
try. 1t is conceded that whatever aug
ments the prosperity of the agricu1-
tura1 classes adds to the general pros
perity of the entire country. When
the farmer is prosperous ali are pros
porous. When he is depressed the en-
tire country feels the weight of his
misfortune. Then if by making the
pubic highways better we can add to
the prosperity of the entire people it is
a question which should be brought
prominently before the notice of the
people.
1t is owing much to the rapid means
of transit of the present age that civ
ilization has spread her wings over
the especially the Western
n L.
fore the days of rapid transit the COM
mercial interests of the country were
very meagerly developed. communi-
cation was slow and tedious, as we'll as
expensive. Now with our present
means of lightning communication we
have reached high degree of civiliza-
ton and this country is the envy
with the exception of our bad roads
of the entire world.
Twenty-Five years ago the first rail-
road in Japan was completed. The
completion of this road was made the
occasion of imposing pageantries. The
Mikado, coming forth from his guard
ed seC1usion for the first time in the
history of Japan, rejoiced with his
people. From that hour the progress
of Japan has been looked upon with
wonder and admiration by the power
full nations of earth. It is rapidly
growing and there are more than 22oO
miles of railroad on that island today.
The japanese have been electrified by
one touch of modern civilization, and
the good effects of it have awakened
the dormant intelligence of those peo-
pie and they may, in truth, today be
styled the yankees of the Orient"
But look at China; the country that
has revolted every effort of modern
civilization. She is still resisting
every effort of foreigners to establish
any modern improvements within her
borders. Her road beds are worn so
deep that forseman's head is below
the surface when he is riding on the
dirt road. In wet weather they become
canals. The ruts in the paved roads
are worn SO deep into the stone that it
is almost impossible to travel over
them. When about thirty years ago
same enterprising English capitalists
sought to enlist the sympathy of the
Chinese in railroads and built small
affair in the vicinity of Shanghai, the
| Chinese dignitaries were invited to
ride on the road which they did, with
the exception of the Emperor, and ap-
peared'so highly pleased with it that
they purchased it from the builders
and that same night destroyed every
foot of it. This is one reason why
China is far behind Japan today.
Thus rapid transit and civilization
appear to go hand in hand. Good
roads are one means of rapid transit
| not, of course, in the same sense or
class as the railroads, but they have
an important place in the economy of
our civilization. They will add ma
terially to the wealth of the agricul-
tural classes of our people. They will
save time and expense; facilitate com
merce, afford opportunities to take ad-
vantage of the most desirable market;
save the wear and tear of the farmers
wagons and harness. They will en-
nance the value of his lands. They
will prove of inestimeb1e value to our
whole people. The wheelmen are to
a man in favor of good roads and bet
ter streets and willingly submit to a
tax to build them
1t will cost enormous sums of money
to build good roads all over the coun-
try. And that will call for labor to do
the work and the thousands of our
citizens who have been invo1untarily
idle would be offered an opportunity
to make an honest dollar. Even the
"tramps," who never worked and who
never want to work, could be wrung
into service and their depredations
upon honest working people checked.
If the question is agitated and the
people educated to the necessity of
having improved highways it will not
De many years before every state in
the Union will have radically inn
proved roads. Our civilization and
prosperity demand that we should
have them. When the people say so
they will be built. Good roads orpan-