The suburban citizen., 1901-01-05

God Roads R6tss
Better tTlrhmnr. nealrnd.


H HE desire for better American
highways has expressed itself
more or less vigorously for
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 formedc sub.
ordinate organization, however, did the
work assume a definite, national char
acter, and even th>1 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.
ony of better highways. Then good
road organizations began to appear
here and there without particular ref
NANAANN W NANANA AlN tA VI AAlN
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 sin.
gle organization, capable, II 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 q force is
available for the reform. It doubtless
represents several million people dl-
rectly and many other millions indi-
rectly. The wheelmen are not so Dumer-
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 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 Ii
lapdated turnpike. When the railroad
was perfected and the stage coach was
| abandoned in the main the thought Of
the people was turned for time from
the subject Of roads. 1t was necessary
only to get goods to the railroad sta
ton to insure n 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 oTganiza-
ton is to accelerate the 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 certury this fundamen-
tai work Of providing decent pathways
Of internal commerce. Washington
Star.