The suburban citizen., 1901-01-05

GOOD Roads R5tss
Better ttlrhwnrs ne.lred.

AAAHANAyo
"Y HE desire for better American
highways has expressed itself
more or less vigorously for
9 many years. A general sen.
tlment that the roads should be ma.
terially improved has long prevailed
In the North and East and In some OF
the States, as in New Jersey, there has
been a continuous and In some degree
successful effort on the part of assO
Citations and officials to bring the farm.
ers to an understanding Of the value
Of good roads Not until the League
Of American Wheelmen formed~ sub
ordinate organization, however, did the
work assume a definite, national char.
acter, and even TIN cycling interests
were exclusively represented by this
movement. A little later the Depart.
ment of Agriculture undertook sys-
tematically the education OF the farm
ers into full appreciation Of the econ.
omy of better highways. Then good
road organizations began to appear
here and there without particular ref
erence to either the agricultural or the
cycling interests, and the movement
received an additional impetus when
the automobile began to be adopted
for general use. Now for the first time
all these factors for road improve
ment have been assembled into a sir.
gle organization, capable, If rightly
directed, of concentrating the senti-
ment in favor OF this reform and pro-
ducing practical results. 1t was formed
at Chicago under the name of the Ma
tlonal Good Roads Association, and It
is designed to represent the various
national, industrial, transportation,
wheelmen and automobile associations
of the country, which are working to
the end of better roads.
This list indicates what force Is
available for the reform. 1t doubtless
represents several million people dl-
rectly and many other millions ind-
rectly. The wheelmen are not so numer-
Gus as formerly, perhaps, and it may
be that the automobilists have not yet
grown sufficiently in numbers to make
good the deficiency due to the falling
off in the wheels popularity. But the
two factors are earnest and will In
the aggregate increase in the near
future. Meanwhile the farmers have
attained to a better understanding Of
their own interests than ever before
and are rapidly learning the value of
a smooth, har1 highway and Of broad
tires. State laws are being enacted,
and although Federal laws may be I'M
possible Of adequate enforcement even
if passed, the national influence is be-
ing increasingly eXerted toward the
attainment Of a system Of highways in
all parts OF the country which will
bear comparison with those Of Europe.
II is easy to understand why tho
good roads movement has been so slow
in this country. Only n few score Of
years ago much of the land was in
wilderness, many Of the cities were on
the frontier and the farms were mere
clearlngs in the forest. Even later
came the period when the railroads
were a novelty, competing with stage
coaches, rumbling and laboring
through the mire Of the pioneers ai-
lapidated turnpike. When The railroad
was perfected and the stage coach was
abandoned in the main the thought of
the people was turned for a time from
the subject of roads, 1t was necessary
only to get goods to the railroad sta
tion to insure a speedier journey than
ever before. 1t required another evo-
luton to point the moral that there
was perhaps even greater economy in
the perfection of the comparatively
short haul from the farm to the rail-
road. The Civil War did much to re-
tard appreciation Of this truth, and
meanwhile the farmer became accus-
toned to his surroundings and was
slow to adopt new methods.
The function Of this new Organiza-
tion is to accelerate thu sentiment
which has been produced out Of these
untoward conditions. With all our
mechanical advancement during the
century now closing there remains for
the twentieth century this fundamen-
tai work of providing decent pathways
Of internal commerce. Washington
Star.
A Century Behind the Times
Aroused by his discovery Of the
gVtF