The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-10-18
HOW GOOD ROADS BENEFIT A
COMMUNITY.
Gen. Roy Stone in N. Y. World.

Gen. Roy Stone in N. Y. World.
The splendid road conditions existing
on the continent of Europe can be du'
plicated here. The question is one for
the people themselves to solve, and il
is actually being solved in the United
States to-day by the voluntary action
Of communities in various sections of
the country. For example, heard that
there were some especially good stone
roads being constructed in the State Of
New York, SO l went thclc myself, and
to make sure that | should make q
thorough test went in the midst of Il
January thaw. lgot pair of horses
and light buggy to test other roads
around the country, and l found that
with great deal Of difficulty could
drive over them. But in the section
where the farmers had been building
| the stone road found that two tons of
hay were beng hauled with two horses
on a common narrow-tircd wagon.
l said to the farmers: GLOW did you
get started in tins business of building
roads % They said: eve started it
ourselves. We thought we could do
something. as our fields are full of stone,
with stone fences along the road, 50 we
scraped together enough money to buy
a rock crushcr, hired an engine to run
it and arranged TO bring in the stones
and haul back the crushed stones.N
They have actually gone SO far rs to
petition the Legislature for the privil-
cgc of increasing their taxation beyond
what the law allowed, and the result
IS that all the farmers in that township
arc anXiously waiting for the roads to
be extended in their particular neigh
borh0ods.
| said to them: "Docsn't this pile
up your taxcs?' "Why,' one farmer
said, Gin this one week, by the advan-
tagc of having these stone roads and
getting to market with my hay, when it
sells at good price, my teams have
earned s. every day, while my neigh
bors' teams ON the other roads are
eating their heads Off. We could not
afford to have their roads; we do not
care anything about the taxatlon.'
a bright statistician, taking the rail-
road returns of freight and the amount
of it that is hauled over the public
roads, makes the needless cost Of re-
moving the farm products of the Uni
ted States to be 100000, 200 year
Prof. I.atta, of Pardue University, in
vestigatcd il from the point of view of
the farmers Of Indiana. In that State
they have some good roads, hot the
highest class of roads, but about TO-
900 miles of very good gravel roads.
He found from The reports Of the
farmers themselves that the difference
between good and bad roads was rs
cents an acre annually on their farms.
| took broader view of it and sent
out letters to the 10000 farmers in the
United States who had been selected
as the best representative men to gath
cr statistics for the department of ag-
nculturc. Taking the proper cost to
be the present cost to the farmers in the
good roads district of New Jersey where
there are actually as good roads as are
found i'll any part of Europe, I found
the cost Of hauling over the ordinary
| roads Of the country is just about three
| times rs much as the cost of hauling
over stone roads. Where n load is
three tons on good roads it is one ton
on the average farm roads. The av-
cragc cost of hauling a ton mile
throughout the United State is 25 cent.
In the New England States il ~ 81
cents, they being more hilly and hay.
ing generally worse roads. The cost
in New Jersey was from seven to tel
cents.
The actual cost of moving product.
is not the only loss from bad road
by any means. Farmers lose by no
being able to get to market when tn,
market is good, by the waste of pre-
duets thai cannot be mark cted at all or
account of bad roads, by not being ell
courngcd to cultivate things that re.
quirc u speedy market, and in great
many other ways. The actual money
loss to the farmers of the United States
by tho bad roads of the country is not
less than onc.quartcr Of the total home
value of all their products. The total
home value of the annual products of
the farms Of the United States is about
50 800 900 and the loss by bad
roads Is about 5000 600 900, 80 that the
farmers lose, or they would lose if they
could stand all that loss Themselves
onc.quartcr of the value of all their
products by the extra cost of getting
them to market.
One reason why the boards of trade
dllu IhC DOtlCB Ill UIc
| United States ale getting interested in
good roads is tho fact that the whole
business of the country is suffering for
the want of them. Take the State of
New York, where agriculture ought to
be more prosperous than in any other
State in the Union. The great cities
and towns of the State would make a
home market for more than its farmers
can produce, but for the wait of good
roads, reliable al. the year round, the
New York farmers have no command
of their own markets, and the produce
dealers, even in the interior cities and
towns, have no certainty of a regular
supply from the surrounding farms and
are therefore obliged to have recourse
toother States and Canada for thc,r sup
plies. The farmer, when he Is able tC
get TO Market generally fin ds il forc