The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-10-16
GOOD ROADS FOR MISSOURI.


and public improvements will be held
at the Masonic hall. in st. Louis, on
November p and *. A call for this
state convention is being prepared by
the officers elected to the charities and
correction and good roads convention,
held at Memorial hall, st. Louis, De-
cember 81 and - of last year. Circu-
lars are being issued, and THE States
Duty" and other literature is being
sent into all sections of the state, urg-
ing the necessity for the judges of
county courts, the mayors of cities.
and the commercial bodies to name
delegates to this important meeting.
1t is proposed that each county judge
shall name two delegates from a
ty, and hat every city and Incorporate
ed town and also every commercial
body shall send representatives. w. ii.
Moore, president of the charities and
correction and good roads convention
of las: year; E. c. ROwse, the secre-
tary, and President Jesse of the state
university at Columbia, who is one OF
the vice-presidents, and many other
prominent citizens of Missouri, are
taking an active interest in the ar
engagements for the coming convention.
The chief object in calling this con-
vention more than IA year before the
Fortieth general assembly of Missouri
will convene is to arrange in advance
for the enactment of feasible road
Legislation" said President Moore.
when the people of Missouri under
stand how road construction is
progressing in a systematic and prac-
tical way i'll other states it will be an
incentive for them t. adopt similar
plans for the building of good roads
and the promotion of public improve
ments. Conventions crystalline public
sentiments. This state has rs much
road legislation on its statute books
as any state in the Union. perhaps,
but the fact that good roads
are not being built in Missouri
is proof hat active and consistent
Legislation should be enacted. Mis-
sour spends 81, 000, 600 a year on her
common roads, but last year S632, 900
of that sum went into the pockets of
road overseers. The common roads
AA' DNSA hSSACNbCi IL Ihlo oIiIC. IA
has been truthfully said, the price of
farm products is fixed at the great
cities or centers of consumption and
distribution, and is wholly beyond the
farmers control. and the cost of trans
portation is a principal factor in deter
mining his profits or the possibility of
any profit. On the railroads the cost
OF transportation varies, according to
bulk, and runs from 6 mills to l cent per
ton per mile. But the average common
roads are SO bad that, in compare
lively good weather, u two-horse team
and wagon, the value of whose service
is So per day, can not haul a ton of
produce more than ten miles and re-
turn in a day. The cost of road trans.
portation on that basis, therefore, is 30
cents per tor per mile, or about forty
times as great rs the rate on the rail
road. Say hat the average distance
from the farm to the nearest railway
station is ten miles, and that means
that it costs US much to get the goods
to or from the railroad station as to
carry them 400 miles on the cars. But
there is a long season every year wheL
the roads in ONE sections of Missouri
are simply impossible. One big whole
sale house in St. Louis lost S240, 600
in trade last March on count of the
bad roads in Missouri. In many places
it was an impossibility to go a mile
away from the railroad. Gen. Roy
Stone, who has charge OF the road de-
partment established by congress in
1898, and who worked under the direc-
ton of the secretary of agriculture,
says that MiSsouri's annual loss by REL
son of defective roads is not less than
SIS, 900, 600.
such an appalling financial drain
on the of this state should be
speedily checked. Every farmer can
readily see how he will reap immediate
and direct benefit from good roads. 1t
has been estimated that 4 macadam
road is feet wide alongside a farm
adds s. in value to each acre of land.
Some sections of this state can fur.
nish its w supply of rock for
constructing roads at a very moderate
cost. Good roads over all the state
could be built on a plan whereby
the cost of construction could be
paid in installments when the general
taxes are paid. and the burden would
be felt lightly. To the contrary, it
would be no burden, for the farmer
would be benefited many times over
the amount of his road taxes, owing to
the enhancement of the value Of his
land and the increased facilities OF
reaching the market with his
products. Then. too, with good
roads, the market would not be
glutted SO often as it is
now, because the farmers products
could be transported to the railroads
the whole year round. While the rail-
roads would ave money in the long
run, as they would be freed largely
from the rush at certain seasons,
they would handle moro freight
steadily the whole year through,
and their rolling stock could be dimin-
ished. 1t ought to be made possible to
skirt this state with good roads within
ten years, and it would add untold
millions to the value of farming lands,
and at the same time furnish employ
ment for the surplus labor that is nov
idle"
POINTED PARAGRAPHS.