The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-20
GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT
Started by Major Anderson at
the Farmers Institute.

session out at Mission Center this week
Major 7. ]. Anderson today started a
good roads movement, urging the farm
ers to organize for the purpose of Sc
curing good roads in the country dis
tricts.
Major Anderson was down on the
programme for an address on '"The I'm
portance of Organization and he
made good roads speech of it. He
3 said:
Our great ancestor, Noah, a good
many years ago, furnished notable
example OF organization when he mar
shaled the animals two by two and
marched them systema ticaIly into the
biggest boat Of which we have any
record. It took the closest kind of
organization to care for the vast herd
that inhabited the ark for forty days
ana forty nights 1t took very careful
organization to get the animals out of
the ark without trouble after their long
confinement. Observing parties since
the days of Noah have prof1ted by his
example, and as a rule success in any
enterprise has only been attained by
intelligent effort, close application and
thorough organization.
1t is greatly to be regretted that or
ganizatiOns are not always formed for
doing good. Memorable examples in
this line are the numerous trusts or
SaniZed in restraint of trade to regu-
late the output of a hundred and one
industries, control prices and increase
the cost OF the product to the consumer
generally. regret to say that up to
this time no general organization
against the trusts have been formed
and instead Of a united effort on the
part of the general government and the
state authorities to crush these trust
ful' combinations, there seems to be a
! disposition on the part of the state au-
thOritieS to throw the responsibility on
the general government, and the attor-
ney general of the United States says
the states must deal with the octopus,
and there you are. Politics aside, an
! organization could be put up in ninety
days that would everlastingly crush
the life out of the trusts.
"A general may accomplish much by
strategy and the exercise of all the
arts of war, but the foundation stone
of his entire military structure is or
ganizatiOn, and so it is in every walk
and calling of life. Once in awhile fool
luck will strike some fellow who picks
grapes from fence posts and currieS his
j horses with rail, but as a rule the
farmer who has his work organized,
and his good wife who has her house
( hold affairs SyStematiZed, are the peO-
! pie who get there 365 days in the year
and ride to town on Saturday and to
+ church on Sunday, if the roads are
+ good, behind one of COburn's teams of
/ useful trOtters.'
ANY ordinary observer can ride
! through an agricultural community
4 and pick out the farmer who possesses
I the happy combination of muscle and
/ head for organization. You can all
/ point out some farmer acquaintance
who puts in more hours hard work
/ than any man in the neighborhood and
! yet is always behind with his work and
! never succeeds. Why? He lacks sys-
tenn and has no faculty for organiza-
ton.
you can't set hen or raise litter
| of pigs without organization and the
| old Plymouth Rock hen that looks after
| her brood and protects them, and the
| Berkshire or Poland China that cares
| for her progeny can give cards and
spades to many people in the matter OF
! organization and then beat them out.
/ And this leads me to say that you have
| an organization right here in North
| Mission that is worth a hundred times
| what it costs in effort and work and
! money to maintain it. Oak Grange is
/ known all over Kansas and the fairs
and Institutes and meetings held here
are talked about IN all the surrounding
! country, and it all comes from Organi-
/ zatiOn. Kansas is an intelligent COM
| munity, as the statistics will prove, but
/ an organization like this in every town
! ship in Kansas would increase the in
| telligence of the state a hundred fold
/ These reflections lead me to suggest
| that there is an elegant opportunity
! right now in Shawnee county for an
| organization in behalf of good roads.
| Our worthy county commissioner will
! tell you this afternoon about good roads
/ and the cost of construction and his fig
/ ures will astOnish many who have not
! given the subject careful attention We
! all recognize the Importance and even
necessity for good roads. If the prOpo-
! sitiOn to build good roads all over this
| country at a reasonable cost to the tax
J
| the people it would carry by an over
| Whelming majority.
/ Then why ask why is it that we do
/ not have what everybody wants The
| question is easily answered. We lack
/ organization and systematic effort. We
should first determine what kind of
] good roads we want to build and when
/ that is done take advantage of the law
! now on the statute books under which
/ we can proceed, and believe that the
/ county commissioners are ready and
/ IN aaf h11f TO IrT1GE
/ that they will have the backing of the
J taxpayers, and that can only be secured
I through organization. In the fall of '98
! the Commercial club of Topeka began
/ the agitation for more paving in the
I city. The matter was followed system
atically and as a result fifty-Ore blocks
I of VitTified brick paving have been con-
! tracted for this year When completed
the city paving will reach out in your
I direction as far as WaShburn college,
and by one year from today you ought
to have a good macadamized road to
+ Mission Center want to suggest that
+ your Oak Grange take the Initiative
and ask every township in the county
/ to organize as you have done and then
1 let every one of these township organ
+ izations send delegates to a general
/ good roads convention to be held in To-
! peI1a early next spring. Let that con-
/ vention decide upon what they want
and then go to work with the county
! commissioners and the township Off
/ GERS and secure their cooperation and
make a beginning.
| when you have once demonstrated
that good roads can be built for rea-
! sonable amount, the good roads move
ment will grow amazingly
I am quite sure that the Commercial
1 club viii cooperate in every way posi-
+ BILE and give the county commissioners
/ their undivided support in leVying a
4 tax TO begin work.
/ Let US organize and have some good
/ roads"
A Rush of Bonds.