Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1898-02-03

AoSSo wv.
to transport 1t thousand miles on the
railroad. The prosperity, contentment,
intelligence and happiness of the rural
population, depend largely on the con-
dition of the highways. No wonder the
value of farm land is decreasing. The
best means of benefiting the agricul-
turists is to improve his roads. The
countries of Europe, impoverished by
their standing armies and their enor-
nous debts, build thousands of miles of
road, and wisely spend millions annu-
ally in keeping them in repair. What
a transformation there would be in our
country if we had this European sys-
tenn of highways! An aroused public
opinion only can secure them.
San accidental cross-path made--no
one knows how-a century ago, widens
to wheel track, and becomes estab-
lished as country road, simply be-
cause the actual traveller has not time
to look after the condition of his high
way; the citizen who is not an actual
traveller neglects what concerns other
citizens equally with himself, and the
county officer is not spurred to his duty
of providing a suitable road by the pres
sure of a sufficiently robust public opin-
ion. As result every man, woman and
child who has occasion to pass between
one and the other of two important Sec
tions of the country is compelled to go
considerably out of his way, and toll
up and down more than one long steep
hill.
''Day after day, week after week,
month after month, summer and win
ter, year after year, decade after decade
it will soon be century after century,
the patient thousands who pass that
road submissively pay tribute Chill and
square corner taXes) to the ignorant
carelessness of their forefathers and
present county officials. Were band
OF robbers to infest that road and exact
one-tenth part of the cost that our
citizens now willingly pay for this extra
time, labor and annoyance, an cutlery
would be raised that would resound
throughout the globe.
''What is best now and hereafter for
the many must and should overthrow
the personal preference or caprice of
the individual. Other forms of improve
ment are temporary; buildings fall into
decay, harbor ard river courses are
filled up with deposits, machinery be-
comes obsolete, inventions are super
seeded by new and better ones; organi-
cations of men, whether social, educa-
tional, political or religious, are dis
rupted and scattered by the relentless
processes of time, but properly located
and constructed road will prove an ever
Frightening blessing to countless fu-
ture generations.
''Then, granting the vital and far
reaching Importance of having public
roads where they are wanted, and of the
best and most enduring character;
granting the absolute power to accom-
plish this object, in the hands of agents
chosen by the people themselves
(beither of which propositions can be
questioned)-thenw why is it that the
vast majority of our thoroughfares are
badly located and worse managed; that
country travel, instead of being accom-
plished with ease and pleasure, is usual
ly vexation to the spirit. perpetual
financial drain on our resources, and
disgrace to our boasted civilization?
There can be but one answer. While
all persons individually are well and
painfully aware of these facts, yet, the
people collectively have not been suffi-
ciently impressed with their Importance
lin short, public opinion on this ques-
tion has not been sufficiently educated"