La Junta tribune., 1899-04-05
GOOD ROADS CRANKS.
WHAT THE WhEElMEN HAVE DONE
TO IMPROVE HIGHWAYS.
Farmers National Congress Has
Joined Forces with Bicyclers to
Secure Better Roads-will Pall To-
xether For State Aid.

Secure Better Roads-will Pail Te-
xether For State Aid.
There is no public institution more
potent in social. political and CONNER
cial well being than the public highway.
There is nothing which. by its absence.
its presence, its goodness or its badness,
may SO make or mar the community
which uses it or would like to use it as
the road by which its people may come
together for the discussion Of matters Of
public good or for that traffic in prod
ucts which stamps man as the trading
animal. Therefore the man who makes
two blades Of grass grow where but one
grew before has his counterpart as a
public benefactor in the person who
puts down a good, solid. horse saving.
wagon economi2ing roadbed where at
first only rocks and mud or dust and
sand held full sway. Roads, like people.
are prone to wear into ruts, and many
of the ruts in which the farmers half
laden wagon jolts are primarily caused
by the ruts into which the farmer has
joited his representative in legislative
assemblages. The farmer has always
wanted good roads. but he knows that
the farmer has always had to pay for
them: consequently he has generally
looked upon any movement in their di
rection as n raid upon his own pocket.
1t required, then, some new force to
join hands and voice with him both in
the demand and in the suggestion Of
ways and means.
This new force has arrived in the bi-
cycler. says the Baltimore Sun. Banded
under the banner Of the League Of
American Wheelmen. the riders of the
tireless tire have since their organiza-
tion in 1880 raised the cry of "good
roads, and have kept it up with won
drous energy. They have not only
through their engineers devised or se-
lected the best methods of making the
cheapest durable thoroughfares, but they
have conquered many obstacles that
have stood between them and other
groups Of persons who are to be bene-
fitted equally with them in securing
smooth rcads. though these very groups
hesitated to join the wheelmen's 3 move-
ment for fear it was selfish and was de-
signed to saddle the costs upon them.
The horsemen who drive fine road stock
and the farmers have been the two
classes which have required the warm
est efforts of the "good roads cranks." +"
as some Of the wheelmen are called to
wipe away suspicion. But the suspicion
has now evHporated.
The farmers national congress,
which recently held its session at Fort
Worth, Tex, has passed strong resolu-
tions in favor of the wheelmen' y way of
getting good roads. It is known as the
state aid system. and the adoption OF
these resolutions marks q signal success
for the highway improvement commit
tee Of the League Of American Wheel
men, and its chairman. Otto Dorner.
who never suffered anything to chill his
efforts to get next to the farmers with
his project. For three successive years
he has attended the farmers congress
Of some 450 delegates, representing near
" every state in the Union. and now
they see his idea clearly and like it.
The state aid system, as shown in the
resolutions. recites that the cost of con-
struction of first class roads connecting
farms with market towns is too consid.
erable to be borne by farm property
alone; that as the entire population is
benefited directly and indirectly by good
roads all property ought to contribute
through the medium Of state tax. The
Higbie-Armstrong law, by which state
aid has been introduced in New York,
Is popular. 1t provides for division Of
the cost Of road construction among the
state. the county. and the local town
ship. and. it is said. many of the towns
sod ,nJ, -
from outside sources four or five times
the sum they raise themselves, while in
the large cities which will pay most Of
the funds, the tax will not fall more
heavily than l cent per 81, 900 of the
assessed valuation. 1t is by making such
calculations that the League Of Ameri
can Wheelmen has fought its way to
the farmers sympathy.
1t is no wonder that the farmer feared
the cycler at first. The man on wheels
was at first looked upon as dude in
knee breeches out for an airing with
his best girl who demanded that others
should, without cost to him, smooth the
roads that he alone might have more
pleasure. For years the farmer drove
behind his horse with many bumpety
bump. and the horse became stalled
without ever swearing about it or writ
ing long protest to the county paper.
The coming Of the bicycle marked an
epoch Here were people who could
swear and write. pushing their vehicles
by main strength on wretched paths
when street. even 80 rough as q Bel
gian block pavement makes it, permit
ted them to glide along almost without
effort. Then the Wheelmen's league
spent vast sums Of money printing IL
lustrated roadbooks. thousands Of
which have been distributed free Of cost
and other thousands barely at cost. In
various quarters they have raised large
sums to build cycle paths between sec
tions Of country on which the cyclers