Arizona republican., 1898-02-21

it must have been in the early days of the present century. As we contemplate the marvellous results directly attributable to the railroad, we are at loss to under stand how it was ever possible to be without what we now consider to be the greatest requisite to our con- fort and prosperity. If the slight di- gression will be pardoned, it may not be out of place to suggest that few generations hence when good, solid | roads are common to every section of the land, our progenitors will be amazed to understand how it was pos sible for their ancestors Lo plod along through dust and mud.
 Civilization is a tyrant. No sooner do we make distinct advance in any particular branch of progress than it's insidious influence brings us face to face with the fact that some other branch is suffering by comparison. As an complication of the truth of this statement it is only necessary to point to the fact that as soon as the rail- ways in this country reached sur passing state of development, our common roads began to suffer by con- parison. We have the finest system of railways in the world, but our public highways-the arteries of the nation are inferior to those of any other civilized country.
 Strange as it may appear, the most l potent factor which has operated against the impr of the public highways in the past has been the railroad. In the early days of the 1 present century, when the primitive stage-coach was almost the sole means of transportation, good public | highways in all the more thickly set tied portions of the country were by no means a remote possibility; but when Fulton solved the problem of steam-driven boats, and few years later, when Cooper built the first American locomotive, the immediate need for better transportation facili- ties was supposed to have been met, and the question of improving the public roads was indefinitely relegated to the rear, only to come to the front half century later when the move ment in railroad construction had somewhat spent it's force
 To mention a reform is usually to invite opposition. Improvement is undoubtedly the order of the age, yet in every community there are to be found timid and unprogressive people who openly and secretly oppose any 1 measures which have for their object the changing of existing cond .tions. You will remember that NOah's boat building operations found little favor with the people of that age, and this same spirit of opposition to anything which has for it's object the changing of old ideas or customs, seems to have been deeply imbedded in the human l breast since that time. What a vail 1 of disapproval went up all over the land when the first moving machine
 was introduced; our fathers predicted 1 that 'the tarnal thing would not work; that it was dangerous and would
 cut the legs of the horses and the
 arms off the drivers But subss-
 quent events proved that they were net correct, and the moving machine came to stay, and the American far ,ner today would not know how to dis pense with it.
 The disapprobation which was openly expressed when the locomotive was first introduced is not yet a mat 1 ter of ancient history. Our not re- mote ancestors expressed themselves
 in no uncertain language as to the ] foOlhardiness of any one who would 1 risk his life in such contraption. Those progressive spirits, to whose zeal and untiring efforts, were due the
 means of adapting the locomotive to
 practical use, were the subject of
 much censure, not to say reviling
 It is related of one old backwoodsman that when the screech of the locomo- tive first struck his ears he indignantly
 exclaimed that if one of these fast
 goin' feliers were put into a cannon
 and shot from New Orleans to New York in exactly four seconds, he
 would jump up and cuss because the
 powder was bad, and the time had
 been so slow
 Do we need good roads? This uues- tion is best answered by another one. Do we need railroads? Do we need
 steamships? Do we need any of the
 facilities for transportation which have contributed so largely to our commercial greatness as a nation |? | We need good roads more than we
 need anything in the category of our
 internal improvements at this time
 We need good reads more than we do
 river and harbor improvements;
 more than we do coast defenses. Just
 now the project of building a great |
 land lake system with the Atlantic
 ocean, and thus open up a direct Flu
 ropean market for the products of the
 west and central direct between Chi
 cago and Liverpool is being discussed;
 such canal would cost millions of dollars; 1t would undoubtedly be of
 prodigious advantage to the west and
 central west, but valuable at is would
 be, the same amount of money judi ciously spent in the improvement of
 the public highways of this country
 would be of ipcalculable greater ad- vantage
 What would be the immediate effect
 of good roads in every part of the
 country? The first result would be to
 increase the wealth of this great na-
 ton to an extent which cannot easily
 be estimated. Did you ever stop to
 consider what wealth really is? It is