The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1898-04-14

by Mr.. Francis Y. Greene, President
of the Barber Asphalt Company. AS
thorough discussion Of the expense
as we'll as the Inconvenience Of bad
highways is necessary to bring about
reform some Of his remarks ere here
reproduced:
'sIn the older and more settled por-
tions Of the country the railroads are
so numerous and the rates are so low
that they yield but small return on
the capital invested, and the construo-
tion of new railroads has ceased to he
an attractive field for investment.
The rates CT freight have been steadily
reduced, year by year, until they are
now barely one-fourth Of what they
were thirty years ago. Still the trans
portation problem can not be consid-
eredas satisfactorily solved fit costs as
much to carry q ton of wheat or pota'
toes to the railway station as it does
to carry it 400 miles over the railroad.
s'Ihe bad condition of the roads be.
gan to attract widespread attention
Something over ten years ago. Certain
elementary principles were evident at
O glance, to wit: the price of farm
products is fixed at the great cities or
oenters Of consumption and distribu-
ton, and is wholly beyond the farmers
control, and the cost Of transporta.
ton is principal factor in detarmin.
ing his profits or the possibility OF
any profit. On the railroads this has
been reduced until it varies according.
to bulk, from one cent to six mills per
ton per mile. But the average roads
are 50 bad that e two-horse team and
wagon, the value Of which is So per
day, cannot haul q ton of produce
more than ten miles and return in q
day. The cost Of road transportation
is, therefore, thirty cents per ton per
mile, or about forty times as great as
the rate on the railroad. The average
distance from the farm to the nearest
railroad station is at least ten miles,
50 that it costs,as much to get the
goods to or from the railroad station
as to carry them 400 miles on the cars.
It only needs to state these element.
ary facts to show what an enormous
drain bad roads make on our re.
sources.
SIT is evident that an Improvement
in these conditions is imperative, and
the remedy is equally evident, for it
has been proved. not only by me-
chanical experiment. butby actual test,
that the same force which draws one
ton On muddy earth road will draw
four tons on hard macadam read.
On the improved roads in New Jersey
loads Of four to five tons are habitu.
ally drawn by o two.horse team. This
effects saving Of fully three-foucths
Of the cost Of hauling to the station,
and reduces the cost Of road trans
portation from thirty cents to seven
and one-half cents per ton per mile.
What this saving amounts to may be
imagined when it is known that the
New York Central railroad alone car.
ries nearly 100000 tons Of way
freight in q year. # this is hauled
only two miles by road to or from the
station, and saving of twenty-five
and one-half cents per ton per mile
could be effected, it would mean a
total saving Of nearly $4,000, 1000.
iGGsi.:ee- ~, s eyres may seem e1aggeTated,
Int they will no longer appear so-T so-7aF:a tsas
wa realize the saving actually !ac-
l~~Se,ptzsted by the reduction in rail
road rates in the last twenty-five years.
For instance, in 1869 the average
freight rate on the New York Central
Railroad was "a cents per tca per
mile; in 1898 it was seven mills. This
saving, on the business Of 1898 is up
ward of S64,00O,000. This is the re-
suit which has been accomplished by
the application to the railroad prob
lem of the highest available talent.
During these same twenty-five years
little or no attention has been given to-
the railroad problem. The roads are
as bad now as they were in 1859, and
the cost of transportation over them
as great now as it was then. In the
next twenty-five years the results ac-
complished on the common roads ere
likely to be as remarkable as those
achieved on the railroads in the last
twenty-five years"