The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-17

folks that are on the bicycles do. but
they always leave these things to men al
aifairs to do. It Is a matter OF business
and we know that the business will be
better managed by men OF affairs tina,
take 1t UP. The men we have here aver
age from 40 to Is years old. Sometimes a
young person cUnies in, but II Ia left 10
them. ! am not discouraged at the small
attendance. One OF the largest orgsniya-
lions in the country, the League OF Amer
lean Wheelinen, which has over 100000
members. was started by two individuals.
We are here to discuss the question that
Is occupying the attention OF the busines,
men OF the country. Sometimes these
business men are discouraged because the
farmers do not come into It more rapidly.
The farmers are waiting to see what the
business men ale DONG before they will
commit themselves. II Is the business
men who have TO take It up. because
It is business proposition Everybody
wants good roads. IL they only could raise
the money to do II with Now the bust
ness men have to work out the financial
! problem. When II comes down TO that a
! few men have 10 do that everywhere. The
very excellent man that you have selected
! president was the first TO sail upon me
and saw that he had his heart in this
matter. He not only talked with his
| mouth. but with his eyes and his whole
body. That is the kind OF man yon
want, 1t will be go because you have
the right men at the head
! ! come here as the representative Of the
agricultural department. This matter
! was assigned to that department because
the agrit rltural business was supposed
| to be the most interested in the matter
of roads. But the movement. that is in
| National way, by the business men OF
the country. II 1t had been left to the
farmers, IL would not have been as far
advanced as it Is. 1t is matter that
must be attended to. 1t has been at
tended to in other countries. Are we a
Nation that is going to be as progressive
as other nations? Agriculture was once an
important thing in this country. 1t was
more important than anything else, hence
both cabinet officer and a department
of agriculture. But at that time this
country produced as much as could be
used in the country by people living
among us. The idea was that IL we could
produce enough to live in the country we
did not care for the foreign country and
we could get along ourselves, but in the
development of things, with the war. aud
will allude to the civil war as an i'm
portant epoch in the history of our coun-
try, things changed very rapidly and in
ventive genius in the country turned Us
attention to the invention of all kinds
of machinery and the improvements con-
tinued rapidly. know one time / was
superintendent of factory where ma
chinery had to be thrown out and con-
signed to the scrap pile and new put in.
but it was to get the production with the
least possible cost. And so the coun-
try looked to the agricultural inter-
ests. We developed the West and raising
wheat became the great industry. 1t
came long. every FIVE years a big crop on
ha nj pf en-
raised that it became great industry by
the application of machinery. Now, look
at the price today 1t could not be raised
by the farmer at that price, but we were
raising more than We consumed and we
branched out. We are not afraiI now.
The business men of the country see that
we have reached that point when we are
Nation that is recognized all over the
world where our products are going, Since
then we have become an exporter OF
cereals to a wonderful extent, and ii you
will take up the agricultural papers you
will see the extent we are increasing our
business of exporting products We come
in contact with countries that have many
advantages over u.s. In the matter OF
labor they have it much cheaper. They
have this advantage of a good roads sys-
tenn The chamber of commerce OF New
York, comprised of the business men OF
New York, in their memorial to congress
stated that this country is put to a
great disadvantage when compared with
other countries by reason of the enormous
cost of the primary haul of the agricultu-
raj products of the country and for the
of the commercial and man
ufacturing products. Congress asked its
consuls to see the systems Of roads ana
their method and they have made report
that has been distributed throughout the
and has excited great deal OF
interest wherever it was sent. 1t shoWeu
that one horse could do there as mucn
as four here. that in the movement OF
agricultural products it only cost IL
to cents-an average say of cents NOW
Elk Governor McCleary introduced a reso-
ution following up that memorial and
asking that $4,000 be appropriated TO /
ascertain the facts of the condition OF |
the roads of this country. 1t was merely /
4 simple resolution appropriatng $780,
900 to carry on this investigation, me |
National League of Good Roads in ST. |
Louis was then in existence and this |
matter was placed in their charge-Gov-
ernor Stone being the president of that |
organization, he WAS made the head Of this |
department, to see what were our condi- /
tons If they were as reported by the
business men of New York. The informa- /
ton was secured after a great deal OF time |
and trouble in about the same manner as
IN estimate of a crop Is made, by sending |
queries to correspondents all over the |
If the statements made are not |
facts, it is the fault of the farmer, be-
cause 1t was from him that the Informal
ton was secured. Now 1t was these peo- /
pie who needed the facts and they are
supposed to be the intelligent mon of tho
We wanted TO know what is the
primary haul. The primary haul is the
haul from the farm to the place OF ship
nent. whether that be n railroad station,
steamboat landing. or canal, or whatever
T. is IT. does not include the haul BY
steam power or any power outside that |
of animal power. That is the primary haul
of farm prducts. 1t is the haul also to
be taken into consideration when You take
your manufactured products and CONNER
rial articles. The averages we have were
by thousands of men who were
engaged in this work, and are not the
result OF one mans thought, one mans
opinion or one mans estimate. The
thoughts, opinions and estimates of hum
dreds of thousands of people in the United
States we're grouped together. First taken
as States and then formed In groups of
States as done in q general way. and then
gut together we have the averages we
The average animal haul In this
we find 70 be twelve miles. InJ
4, .e f,anr In ba Nsst,