The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-11-27
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An Awakening In the South.

~ NE Of the most forclble eyl-
dences of the prosperity Of
the South, and an assurance
that that portion of the coun-
try has been brought to a realizing
sense of some of it's needs. is the en-
thusiasm manifested over the subject
Of improved highways. 1t will be
hard to find one point on which the
South has recently experienced
greater awakening. Last June, when
the good roads train under the initia-
tive of the Illinois Central Railroad
made q trip, starting at New Orleans
as the southern end of the line, it left
behind it a trail Of leagues and asso.
Citations, State and local, devoted to
improving the highways Of half a
dozen States. The recent convention
at Buffalo, which attracted delegates
from all over the Union, and even
across the Atlantic, had an equally
good result, although in different
way. Now comes the announcement
that the Southern Railway Company
has inaugurated great movement in
its desire to improve the road sys'
TENS converging to it's tracks. The
company is to run 4 good roads spe'
cial. fully equipped, along Its lines,
stopping at various points to build
half mile or a mile of good road, and
show the people what can be done
and how to do it.
This initiative should receive cordial
cooperation. Rivers. the natural, and
railroads, the artificial. highways, are
Of little use if the people only a short
distance away from their lines are un'
able to reach them. In many ways
the people of the South have been held
back for want of decent transportation
facilities by the ordinary highway.
In the rules governing the new rural
mail delivery system one of the re-
uuirements is the ability to travel
twenty-five miles q day, and the I'M
possibility of doing this has in many
cases delayed the extension Of the sys.
tenn. This is equally true OF. business
opportunities of all kinds. more espe-
cially the disposing of produce on
rising market. 1t has been estimated
by a man fully acquainted with mar
ket conditions in the South and South
west that opportunities for more than
a million dollars increase in profits
have been lost to farmers in the last
two years through inability to get to
market quickly at critical time.
And this not alone Of the South anu
the Southwest. Right here In New
York State farmers have been kept
away from profitable markets by roads
which were bogs or quagmires instead
of paths fit for 4 man to ride over or
horse to travel in. But New York
has seen the light, and to-day the lmr
provement of the highways Is ques-
ton which is seldom allowed to drop
out of sight. It is an omen OF good
for the Southland that the people are
demanding Of their legislators more
and more attention to the highways,
and that the cold business part of the
proposition is seen in its right light.
Road building, although Of national
Importance is q local work, and must
be carried on under local conditions.
It is in this regard that the good roads
trains are doing we'll. They strike all
sorts of soil and all kinds Of difficult
ties, and show the people how to I'M
prove their travel facilities at the least
possible expense. in the shortest posi-
bic time and with the smallest amount
Of trouble.
That the railroads have an eye to
the main chance in developing the
lands along their lines in no way de-
tracts from the ultimate benefit OF
their work to the farmer in the imme-
diate neighborhood, as we'll as to the
dweller in the city which the farmer
wishes to reach with what he has to
sell.-New York Tribune.