The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-07
THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY GOOD
 ROADS TRAIN.

ROADS TRAIN.
 Another memorable week has passed, which in the future will chronicle new industrial life for Alabama. The State Good Roads Convention which has been in session for three days has adjourned. representative officers have been elected and the delegates are now travelling back to their homes in all the counties of the State The ladies and most influential citizens have attended this convention and witnessed the Good Roads demon stration by the experts and latest inn proved machinery, and have pronounced it most important epoch in the life and industrial development of the South. It would be impossible to congregate more than 600 delegates from all sections of the State into the capital building, where the laws regulating the affairs of the State are enacted biennially for any occasion except the Good Roads movement, where entire harmony could prevail Not a | discordant note, not criticism, not an | adverse report, no clash of officials or | individuals, and the full adoption of all | resolutions offered has been the rule Of | this convention. Some of the most bril- 1 liant men of the State have ascended the rostrum and spoken of the glories and benefits that must result from the im- provement of the common roads. The | liberal managers of the Western of Ala bama Railway brought more than three hundred students with the faculty from the State A, and M. College at Auburn free. As these young men congregate at that institution from all counties In the State, and as they telegraphed their parents to meet them here, such step will naturally deepen the interest and scatter the good seed in all sections of the State. The convention has been one of harmony and good cheer.
 The boys, under the guidance of the venerable Dr. Broun. president of the institution, so ably assisted by his facul- ty, seemed glad to visit the capital and learn something of the new way to deal | with one of the greatest problems Of the age "a betterment of the common roads. !" | Governor Jelks's speech, as well as all | others, was superbly fitted for the oc- | casion. large number of the members | of the legislature were present, and all who spoke put themselves on record to | enact legislation in the next General As- | sembly that will help on the movement for good roads to the State. "The hand | writing is on the wall" With the dis trict organization which has been formed l in Jefferson County, including thirty 1 counties, and the district association form-
  | ties, backed up by the State organiza- tion which includes officers selected from | each county in the State, and with the determined spirit of some of the most | representative men selected as officers, | the Good Roads movement has been | auspiciously launched, and within brief period no doubt large number of coun- ties will join the procession of improved | road building.
 Il dS wit all influences attending it, is certainly leav- | ing a wonderful impression upon the | minds of all classes of people. From the l highest officials of the State and nation | to the hard toilers that plod away day | by day on the farms realize that no | people in the State or nation can be isolated practically from civilization four l or five months in the year without l jeopardizing the best social and commer- | cial interests of the State Panaceas of all kinds offered by many creeds and l political factions. have been handed out | as remedies to correct existing evils. | Populistic problems, the worship of si- | yer and gold calves, high and low tariff | agitators, rag money and green backs, | labor organizations and single tax | theories and many other isms have been
 agitated among the people as the only | remedies to heal and make we'll the | diseased body polite. It seems now that
 other ideas aer shaping themselves. and | graspng the minds and hearts of the
 people. The greatest of all these prob lems is the improvement of the 3,50O,00O
 miles of roads. The extension and pro-
 lection of railroad interests, wise and
 liberal policy for the improvement of
 the great rivers and harbors of the
 nation. the construction of a canal to con
 meet the Atlantic and Pacific Oceanns,
 either at Panama, Nicaragua or Darien,
 the improvement by State legislative
 bodies of the smaller streams. connecting
 as feeders to the leading water courses,
 the irrigation of about seventy millions 1 acres of arid lands, dwarfed by the | parched sands and whitening sum- the
 protection of the fast disappearing wood-
 lands or forests, and the connection of | the western coast cities with the Ha-
 waiian Islands, the Philippine possessio $
 and the Asiatic shores-these with kin
 dred subjects are the problems that are
 now taking hold of the people. and which | will make the present century the
 greatest of all industrial ages.
 The Good Roads train will leave for
 the city of Atlanta on Sunday and have | a day of rest, and a chance for its
 laborers to receive the divine fiuence
 from the various churches The train
 with its twelve cars of modern machinery
 that act like human beings, under skilled engineering management VIII De Teduy
 next Monday morning at o'clock to be-
 gin work in the new field. These les
 sons in modern road building amaze the
 mind of the average onlooker. It shows
 what modern thought and genius can dc | with modern implements. The good old days were all right in their time. but a new and riper age is born. Our thoughts | and bodies move with the touch of cleo | tricity. We accomplish in an hour what once consumed a month. The OK team, | the horse and the mule, for which we have had so much reverence, are giving l way to the modern engines of progress. l The railways, electric car lines, and swift ocean grey hounds travel with the speed
 of the wind, and as these things are at | hand 1t has become necessary for the | urban, suburban and rural population to
 better prepare for the changed condi-
 tions. As population increases the land | must be made to increase to the fullest
 extent its productivity. The best and
 most modern means of transportation
 must be adopted. not only for the cities
 and towns, but for the remotest sections
 and counties of the State. The Good
 Roads train is throwing out these sug-
 gestions, It's work is crystalizing in the | conventions. Its influence is not only
 starting trains of thought, but laying the ! foundation for other trains. One of these
 will carry the representatives of the | people to the capital of the State.
 Another train will carry the higher rep
 reesntatives of the people to the capital
 of the nation. In the various legislative
 halls these influences will be crystalized | into legislatiOn and in inc future Otber