Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-11-25
TO GET GOOD ROADS.
PROPOSAL THAT THE GOVERNMENT
BUILD THEM.

railroad Man suggests That the Bureau OF
Postoffices and Post Roads uas the
Power-War Revenue Bill to he Con-
tinued to Furnish Funds.
Colonel j. B. Killebrew, a leading |
railroad man of Nashville, in an inter-
view on good roads in the Southern |
Farm Magazine of Baltimore, takes the
radical position that they should be
built by the national government. He
saws:
1.-THE power given in the cOstItution |
to build post roads and postoffices may
be constructed so as to include all roads
made for carrying mails, and that under
this provision it would be proper for the
national government to undertake very
comprehensive system of road building.
The advantages of good roads would be
of such inestimable value to the people
at large, and especially to the great
agricultural interests-the foundation
of our national wealth-that the sub
ject demands the favorable consideration
of the whole country. The benefits re-
sulting from the adoption by the gov.
eminent of some general plan for build
luS anu lhlplONiuG lOhuS NOulu III tN-
cry respect be beneficial to the people
and to the country. 1t would furnish
employment TO all the idle labor of the
country, and this labor would not be in
competition with the labor now employ
ed in industrial and agricultural pur-
suits. In fact. it would relieve the con-
gestion in the labor market for some
years to come and create work that
would be felt in every avenue of bust
ness. While employed in making better
roads, this labor would benefit every
class in every community without in
juring any.
"The building of good roads would
relieve the congestion of population in
cities by making life in the country
more pleasant and attractive. The great
est drawback to country life is the in
ability to move with ease from point to
point, owing to the muddy roads, which
are sometimes impossible for five or six
months in the year, making such a life
confined and barren of all social enjoy
ment, placing the country people in
many sections at such a great disad-
vantage that ambition is crushed, ener-
gies are weakened, industry paralyzed
and ignorance is increasing rather than
diminishing--at least in some districts.
This state of things, for which the peo-
pie of the country districts are not re-
spOnsible, drives thousands to the cities,
where they often suffer privation and
poverty, which lead them into tempta-
ton and frequently into crime.
increase the value of property through
out the country. They would make the
markets more accessible and in every
way add to the profits as well as to
the enjoyment of country life, and thus
to the moral and material advancement
of the nation.
'Suppose the general government
should appropriate every year an amount
equal to that now expended for pen
sions, say, Sl50.000,000, for the build
ing and Improvement of the roads of
the country. This would give, in round
numbers, 81 per capita for the entire
population of the United States. A
country covering, say, 800 square miles,
with population of $4,000, would re-
ceive annually for the building of roads
$4,000. This continued for ten years
would grade, macadamize and gravel
every road in an average county of this
area. Who would begrudge the expendi-
ture after such roads had been built
! Who would not say that the expenditure
was wise one, elevating in its inhu-
ence and adding immensely to the tan
gible wealth of the country? We are
now paying more than this amount on
the expenditures of the Spanish war. Is
there a single person who would not re-
ceive a benefit from good roads far
greater in amount than he now pays in
war taxes? Put it in another way. Is
there single person now using the
highways of the country or whose bust
ness is in any way affected by the traffic
on the highways of the country (and
this touches the business interests of ev.
cry man and woman in the United
States) who would not be willing to pay
as much for good roads as he now pays
for the war with Spain:
"The revenue bill passed by the last
session of congress in order to raise
funds for carrying on the war promises
to yield a much larger income than will
be needed for war expenses. Broadly
stated, it may be said that the people OF
the country do not feel these war taxes
and If this bill should be continued In
effect and the surplus revenue to the ex-
tent of, say, Sl50,000,000 a year, be
voted to the Improvement of the roads
throughout the country, the agricultural
interests of every section would be revO-
lutionized, farm life would become
popular, and vast upward movement
would be given to every phase and fea
ture of the business, social and educa-
tiOnal life of America"
1t is the systematic, persistent effor
pays in advertising as in everything else
A ten-dollar ad that is effective is les:
expensive than one-dollar ad that il