Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-01-24
COST OF BAD ROADS.
ENORMOUS SUM ANNUALLY LOST
MARKETING CROPS.


Yearly by the Construction of
stone Highways.
TT must be plain to any one who
gives the matter thought that we SUI
fer enormous losses each year as the
result Of bad roads" says Otto Dorner,
! chairman of the l.. 4. W. highway i'm
provement committee. But what do
these losses really amount to, and how
much would he saved if we had uni
| tormIy good roads? We may say that
! it doesn't cost the farmer anything to
| market his crops, because he does all
! the hquling himself. True, but isn't
his time worth something? Suppose
! that in place Of every ton Of wheat or
hay or potatoes loaded on his wagon
he was able, as result of good roads,
| to load up two tons and to market the
! entire crop of his farm with just half
| the labor and in just half the time
/ which is required at present wouldn't
| the amount Of time he could save be
worth something, and wouldn't it be
| worth saving? Labor is the farmers
ually seeking to make as productive
| as possible.
| IF there is a method Of accomplish
| ing twice as much as heretofore with
q given amount of effort, 1t is to his
! interest to discover and adopt it. Econ
omy of labor means additional acres
which he can find time to make pro-
] tD
value of labor is to inquire what it
would cost if it had to be purchased.
| 1t has been found that if the farmers
of the United States had to pay some
one else for marketing their crops it
would cost them on an average 20
cents every time a ton was hauled a
mile nearer to market. In other words,
it costs p cents per ton per mile.
say on an average, for it costs consid-
erably less in many localities. Yet it
costs sufficiently more IN many others
! to make the average as large as stated.
/ Taking an average of the number OF
miles they are travelled, 1t costs on an
average S3.02 per ton to bring them
from the farm to the railroad station n.
eastern states, but in the Pacific coast
and mountain states it runs up as high
as S5.12. This, of course, is for the
/ value Of the farmers time and that Of
/ his team and wagon, or what he would
have to pay some one else, at fair
price to do his hauling for him.
How was all this found out? 1t is
the result of careful inquiries made by
the United States department of ag-
riculture and of estimates received
from farmers in 1900 different coun-
ties throughout the United States in
reply to 10000 requests for such in
formation. These inquiries were made
/ for the simple purpose of getting at
the facts in the matter, so that farmers
might know what could be saved by
the building of good roads and might
better be able to determine how much
they could afford to spend for building
them.
Further inquiries We're made into
the cost of hauling crops in the good
roads districts of Europe. These were
made through the United States con-
les. who were instructed to find out
the exact facts In the matter. 1t was
| found as a result of their investiga-
tions that the average cost Of market
ing a ton Of farm produce In Europe
was only 6-1O cents per mile as
against % cents in the United States.
1T appears, then, as the result Of
careful investigation, that it costs us
in the United States just about three
times as much to market our farm
crops as 1t does in European coun-
| tries. where good roads have been
built. Farmers there are able to make
their loads three times as great as
ours. owing to better roads.
But we are not obliged to go to Eu-
rope for illustrations as to good roads,
for we have, fortunately, few locali-
ties in our own country which furnish
such examples. Mecklenburg county,
n. c., not long ago began the conStruc-
ton of a system of macadam roads.
! It was customary there to load up two
| bales of cotton on a wagon to be hauled
| by n mule team. The mules could draw
l
er. After rain, when the roads were
soft, the load was too much for even
! pair of tough mules. After the coun-
| ty had begun to build roads this load
was doubled several times, and it was
found that the same two mules were
able to haul as much as l. bales, or six
tons in place of their former load,
Z Ill, -, civ fnYN
And more-the improved roads made
it possible to haul this load in wet and
dry weather alike, for, being properly
built of stone, they were fit for use
Immediately after a heavy rain.
"The office of road inquiry in the de-
partmcnt of agriculture has estimated
that over $GO0,00O000 might be saved
annually in the United States by the
| construction of good roads. The sta
tistics of the department of agricul-
ture show the total amount Of all kinds
of grain raised in the United States.
| The amount consumed on the farms
was estimated as being offset by Il
large amount of other articles hauled
| by farmers on the public roads. By re-
ducing this all to tons and using their
| inquiries into the cost of hauling one
ton as a basis it was found that the to-
tai cost of haulage amounted to $946,-
Ill, go and that two-thirds Of this
enormous amount might be saved each
year.
This estimate TALES with a similar
estimate of tn hIliing done on our
country roads which was made by Mr..
John NJ Slahl. the secretary Of the
Farmers National congress. lie b. }ed
his figures upon the statistics of rail
road and river transportation covering
farm prodUcIs."
The Lay of the CocOanut.
The wearisome monotony * the school
room is sometimes enlirsned 1y the COM
teal notions evolved fro;n childish brains.
A schoolmistress tells the following from
her experience:
| "T'hp scholars | had were most of them