Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-11-18
Spirit Of the Dress.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS.
Says an exchange:

Says an exchange:
The city depends on the country; the farm
ers welfare is the public welfare; money In
his pocket makes the farmer prosperous
good roads aid to accumulate coin.
OF no other state in the union are the
above statements truer than of Vermont
Essentially an agricultural state, lis
prosperity In general is dependent upor
the prosperity of the farmers, and the
converse is equally true: whatever
tends to the depression or lessons the
remuneration of the farmers depresses
and decreases the income of all Its
people.
The impregnable position taken by
Governor Smith in his inaugural address
upon the subject of state supervision
of the highways leading from the smaller
towns and villages of the state to rail
roads or to the larger communities has
awakened a very wide spread interest
upon the subject of good roads. Thus
far in the session of the legislature the
project of state supervision of our roads,
or some of them, has not been formulated
into any definite plan, but there can be
no doubt some measure or measures
will be introduced having this object in
view which will receive the thoughtful
consideration the importance of the sub
ject demands.
Statistics are available from manifold
sources and in manifold directions prov
ing conclusively that no other one cause
contributes so much to the prosperity or
the lack of prosperity of the agricultural
industry of a state or a community as
fha Of Re iuh
additional hour lost, every additional
dollar expended in marketing the pro-
ducts of the farm or in Transporting the
supplies for home consumption is per-
manent loss to the producer or the con-
sumer, for which loss there is no COM
pensation whatever in any conceivable
direction.
Generally speaking, the season of bad
or impossible highways comes at the
very time when the farmer can best af-
ford to transport his products to market,
when the farm cannot be worked to the
best advantage. The inevitable result
is, the farmer must carry his wares to
market at the very time his services are
most needed for the planting or harvest
ing his crops He therefore loses at
both ends. He loses valuable time i'm
he working of his farm and he is out of
pocket through the increased cost of
carrying his goods to market. SO, too,
in a season of scarcity of any of the
farm products at the larger markets and
resultant higher prices, the farmer is
frequently unable to avail of the benfit
because he cannot get his wares to
s11arlyat Ovor in,poccob 1a rOo6s
If there is anything to be said in favor
of the system now in vogue in this state
the advocates of its continuance have
yet to advance it. The experience of
many years has amply demonstrated the
fact; except in isolated cases Vermont
possesses very few highways built ac-
cording to the present enlightened
methods of road construction. The il
lustration of the practical operation of
the present system of state aid presented
by Governor Smith in his inaugural
shows beyond all question that good
highways in the smaller communities are
an impossibility under that system. A
state contribution of a little over So a
mile is of no practicable value whatever
in the building of good highways.
On the other hand, experience has
demonstrated with equal certainty that
the building of good roads through the
intelligent supervision of competent road
builders rebounds to the immediate and
permanent benefit of all classes and con-
ditiOns of society, lessons the cost of
marketing products, of transporting
supplies for home consumption, puts
money into the pockets of the farmers
which flows out into every channel of
business activity, adds comforts and
luxuries to the home, in short, like
Portals charity, besses everybody st.
Adams Messenger.
ONE MEANS TO A GREATER VERMONT.
ga greater Vermont" is the commend
able and inspiriting motto of Gov.
Smiths administration, and we believe
that it voices the sentiment of the legis-
lature as well as large majority of our
people. There are comparatively few
ways, however, in which we can promote
the growth and material development of
our state. We can attract summer visit
Ors and thus promote the spreading
abroad of knowledge of the resources
and hpautips of Vermont but IL Is rpallv