Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1900-08-18

to raise the value of farm lands and to
facilitate in rural districts school at
tendance, social Intercourse and a more
frequent mail service we must improve
our highways.
Good roads are effective promoters
of prosperity and civilization. AS in
classic Greece the first pathways led to
temples of worship, 50 in modern times
the best highways lead to the spiritual
advancement of mankind. The cereal
harvests of the United States now far
exceed the demands of home conSump-
ton. The chcapncsS of the grain raised
by the low priced labor of foreign lands
restricts the sale of our surplus. If
there We're good roads through this
country, the cheaper conveyances of
produce from farm to rail or river
would lift II burden of hundreds of mil
lions from the shoulders of American
agriculture, increase the prosperity of
every industry and enlarge our mari
time commerce by exports.
But the reconstruction of our road
ways would cost Il vast sum. To de-
wise an effective scheme to raise the
necessary funds is Il problem which it
has puzzled iinancierS to solve. But
the director of the office of road i'll
quiry has proposed the establishment
of postal savings banks and the invest
mcnt of. their deposits in county bonds
issued for the sole purpose of road
making. Its financial merits commend
this plan to the favorable conSidera
tion of congress.
There is no internal Improvement
which would so materially benefit the
United States as the construction of
good roads. Well built highways would
lessen the labor of men and animals
in transferring products from the
places of growth or manufacture to
railroad or steamboat, save time and
6OO,OOO,O OOO of unnecessary cost on pri-
mary transportation, facilitate domes-
tic interchanges and extend our for
eign commerce. These are advantages
of national and transcendcnt impor-
tance which can only be secured by
an immense outlay of money. The
funds deposited in our postal savings
banks could be appropriated to no bet
ter use than rebuilding our roads.
One of the objections to the proposed
reform is that the government could
not find enough securities in which to
invest its postal deposits. But the i'm
provcmcnt of our roads would absorb
all the savings which the poStotficcs
received. 1t has been suggested by
the chief of the office of road inquiry
that the government should invest the
funds derived from that source in
county bonds pledged to defray the
costs of roadbuilding. The security
would he ample. Based upon low
valuation of real estate, the bonds
would be entirely good at the date of
issue, and they would become more
and more valuable as the reconstruc-
tiOn of the roads raised the price of the
adjacent lands.
The average appreciation of real es-
tate in the neighborhood of improved
highways has been estimated at from
50 to SO an acre, according to the Situ-
alton and distance from market. Such
securities would effectively guarantee
the government against loss.
The first and greatest beneliciaricS of
these government loans would be the
farmers. Money usually gravitatcs to
the financial ccnters and does not free
ly return to the circumference. But in
this instance the millions would be eX-
pended in the country on improvements
which primarily must benefit the plant
ers. The outlay of so much money
among the farmers would descrvedly
better the condition of the chief factors
of our national wealth. The capital
spent upon the highways and made
more effective by their Improvement
would circulate in pauselcss round
through all the countless avenues of
business and stimulate every industry
to greater activity. TO secure these
great benefits no new assessments need
to be levied. The taxes now raised for
road repairs are sufficient to pay tie
interest on the proposed bonds. The
payment Of the principal will he left to
succeeding generation, but postcrity
will be so enriched by the reconstruc-
tiOn of the highways that il can wei!
afford to meet the obligation.