The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-10-24
How Good Roads Benefit a Community,

The splendid road conditions exist
ing on the continent Of Europe can be
duplicated here. The question is enc
for tue people themselves TO solTs,
and it is actually being solved in the
United States to-day by the voluntary
action of communities In various sea-
tions Of the country. For example. I
heard that there were soma especially
good stone roads being constructed in
the State Of New York, so L went there
myself, and to make sure that I should
make thorough teat [ went in che
midst of January thaw. i I go. o pair
Of horses and ! light buggy to test
other roads around the country, and
found that with greas deal Of Diff
Guilty could drive over them. But
in the section where the farmers had
been building the stone road I found
that two tons Of hay were being hauled
with two horses on a common narrow
tired wagon.
said to the farmers: Chow did
YOU get started in this business Of
building roads?" They said: "We
started it ourselves. We thought we
could do something, as our fields are
full Of stone, with stone fences along
the road, so We scraped together
enough money to buy rock crusher,
hired an engine to run it and arranged
to bring in the stones and haul back
the crushed stones" They have ac-
tually gone so far as to petition the
Legislature sor the r-i Glsge oe ineFeas-
ing their taxation boyond what the
law allowed, and the result is that all
the farmers in that Township are anx-
iously waiting for the rods to be ex-
tended in their particular neighbor-
hoods.
said to them: "Doesa't this pile
up your taxes?" why" one farmer
said, sin this one week, by the adgan-
tage of having these stone roads and
getting to market with my hay, when
it sells at good price, NJ .sams 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 taxation"
A bright statistioian, taking the
railroad returns Of freight and the
amount of it that is hauled over the
public roads, makes the needless cost
of removing the farm products of the
United States to be $500, 900, 900 q
year. Prof. Latta, of Pardue Univer-
sity, Investigated it from the point Of
view Of the farmers Of Indiana. In
that State they have some good roads,
not the highest class of roads, but
about 10000 miles Of very good gravel
roads. He found from tho reports of
the farmers Themselves that the differ
ence between good and bad roads was
70 cents an acre annually on their
farms.
took a broader view Of it and sent
out letters to the 10, GOO farmers in the
United States who had been selected
as the best representative men to gath.
er statistics for the department Of ag-
riculture. 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 in any part Of Europe, I found
the cost Of hauling over the ordinary
roads Of the country is just about three
times as much ss she COS. of hauling
over stone roads. Where O load is
three tons on good roads it is one ton
on the average farm roads. The aver
age cost of hauling q ton mile
throughout the United State is q
cents. In the New England States i,
is 32 cents, they being more hilly and
having generally worse roads. Th,
cost in New jersey was from seven t
ten cents.
The actual cost Of moving products
is not the only loss from bad roads BY
any means. Farmers lose by not be
ing able to get to market when tn,
market is good, By the waste Of pro
ducts that cannot De marketed at ali
on account Of bad roads, by not being
encouraged to cultivate things that re
-auire a speedy market, and in grea
many other ways. The actual money
loss to the farmers of the United
States by the bad roads OF the country
is not less than one. quarter Of th,
total t5, home value Of all their products
The total home value Of the annua
products;of the farms OF the United
States is about $4,000, 100000 and. thu