The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1898-12-17
FARMER RAND PLANTER.
HOW TO SECURE coon ROADS.
a Leading Railroad Onicer Suggests thai
They Be Built by tho National
Goycrnmont

ern Farm Magazine, of Baltimore, for
November, an interview on good roads
in whish he takes radical position
likely to attract very general discus
sion and to arouse widespread inter-
est among all classes, and especially
among farmers. Col. Killebrew says:
'The power given In the constitu-
ton to build post roads and post af-
fees may be construed 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 sys-
tenn of bodybuilding. The advantages
Of good roads would be of such ines
Unable value to the people at large,
and especially to the great agricultu-
raj inte~ests-the fountain of our ma
tional wealth-that the subject de-
mands the favorable consideration of
the whole country. The benefits re-
sulting from the adoption by the gov
eminent of some general plan for
building and improving roads would
in every respect be beneficial to the
| people and to the country. 1t would
furnish employment to all the idle la
Dor of ttle country, and this labor
would MOI be in competition with the
labor nov, employed in Industrial and
agricultural pursuits. In fact, it would
relieve the congestion in the labor
| market for some years to come and
create work that would be felt in
every avenue of business. While en-
ployed in making better roads this la
Dor would benefit every class in every
community without injuring any.
1.-THE building of good roads would
relieve the congestion of population in
cities by making life in the country
more pleasant and attractive. The
greatest drawback to country life is
the inability to move with ease from
point to point, owing to the muddy
roads, which are sometimes impassa-
bic for five or six months in the year,
making such a life confined and bar
rem of all social enjoyment, placing |
the country people in many sections at
such great disadvantage that ambi-
ton is crushed, energiesare weakened,
increasing rather than diminishing
at least in some districts. This state
of things, for which the people of the
country districts are not responsible,
drives thousands to the cities, where
they often suffer privation and power
ty, which lead them into temptation
and frequently into crime.
'Good roads, wherever built, would
increase the value of property through
out the country. They would make the
markets more accessible and in every
way add to the profit 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 pensions, say $50, 900, for the
building and improvement of the
roads of the country. This would give,
in round numbers, So per capita for
the entire population of the United
States. A county covering, say, 500
square miles, with a population $4,000.
would receive annually for the build
Ing of roads $4,000. This continued !
for ten years would grade, macadam- !
lie and gravel every road in an aver
age county of this area.
who would begrudge the expendi- I
lure after such roads had been built? I
Who would not say that the expendi- c
lure was wise one, elevating in its in l
1uence and adding immensely to the 9
tangible wealth of the country? We !
ire now paying more than this amount L
IN the expenditure of the Spanish war. c
g their single person who would not t
'eceive benefit from good roads far S
greater in amount than he now pays e
n war taxes? Put it in another way: n
s there a single person now using the I
highways OF the country, or whose v
BUSINESS is in any way affected by the s.
raffic on the highways of the country h
and this touches every man and wom- p
n in the United States), who would "
ct be willing to pay as much for good g
Dads as he now pays for the war with p
pain? n
The revenue bill passed by the last
esslon OF congress in order to raise
unds for carrying on the war prom
'es to yield much larger income n
han will be needed for war expenses. b
roadly stated, it may be said that 7,
ne people of the country do not feel ~
aese war taxes, and if this bill should
e continued in effect and the surplus -,
svenue to the extent of, say, $3.50, 0oo,- 81
10 q year, be voted to the improve n
tent OF roads throughout the coun- =,
y, the agricultural interests of every ~
'ction would be revolutionized, farm :
Re would become popular, and a vast :.
pward movement would be given to -