New-York tribune., 1901-06-09
HARD ROADS.
THEIR INFLUENCE UPON coI-vrpv
LIFE AND FARM PROPERTY

q
sociology. and it is regarded by them as a fao.or
not to he lost sight of In the evolution Of ufs 49,,
the farm.
There are those present who are NOT Va, old
whose birth antedates the railway the telegram
the commercial application of steam mower an,
the daily newspaper. while those still in their
teens can recall the sensation caused by the Edi
sons. Teslas and R6ntsens in the last few wears.
is it a wonder, then. that in these stirring time.
the youth of the farm dreams and longs for the
intenser life of the city? He feels an almost ire
sstble desire TO get closer to the centre OF
things. The farm is too quiet. He is not content
70 be shut in. mud bound. for weeks and months
at time The great outside world is calling To
him. and his nature answers the call The man
with the hoe does not and must not represent or
typify country lie in America. The need of the
hour that transcends every other reed is TO let
country life feel the pulse beat of the great wide
world. Country life demands and must snee5i,,,
have free rural delivery and daily newspaper
delivered by Uncle Sam upon the day of its nuhli
caron' 1t demands the telephone; it demands above
everything else a complete system of good hard
every day in the year roads Distance is no longer
measured by the yardstick but by the clock tick:
distance is merely matter of time in this age of
rapid transit Good roads make short miles, bad
roads long ones.
people must have of the advantages that
hitherto have obtained only in town or city life.
Good roads make this possible
The influence of good roads upon farm life is to
living; they broaden. educate and uplift this
important branch of the commonwealth: they
bring the advantages of the church and lecture
platform TO the residents of country districts:
they relieve the country dweller Of isolation and
orudgery. Up date roads make up TO date cit-
With good roads the farmer will come
in contact with other men and take larger and
higher views OF life; he will become more useful
himself and valuable 10 the community
His interest will beyond the division fence that
!, Fro,, h,e to- xx-f1 aad
more and become better informed. They open to
his children the higher schools of the towns and
cities. His wife and daughter will have an op-
portunity to mix in society, to the leneht OF
themselves and equally TO The benefit of their town
bred sisters. Good roads Will speedily remove the
apparent distinction between them; they Will be-
come better acquainted, and each will find 10 her
surprise that the other has oeen misunders' ood
Jealousies will supplanted with friendships. the
charm and characteristics peculiar 10 Iae '0wn
and the country will be merged and blended III a
composite product, which is better for the oleho-
Nan is a social being sociability is broadening
and should be cultivated. The city and the coun-
try have. unfortunately for both. only ooWinss
scquaintance IaSR OF s2eldt t re5n5ca and iesi
ousy. is largely responsible for this unWholesome
crsmped condition. Bad roads are largely respon33
sibe the slight acquaintance that is Inaintaned
between the city and the country and Tor the ab-
serce Of the sociabity that would naturally fol-
low a close: acquaintance - :.
eTcodrse ea6 6eeen the city and the farm
mind is warped BY Wro9g so,nd su
cation thereby much hindered If not rendered I'M
Il must then be admitted that from end to end Of
our beautiful progressive country Ine grAaLess LES
on spiritual mental and moral development is the
hindrance of free social intercourse between the
city and the country through bad and at times
Every farmer knows that there is nothing more
destructive to tranquility Of mind: nothing that
conducive to gray hairs than to sit loaded
wagon and see team struggling through mud and
side to side.
renee that there is economy in raising good stock
that II costs no more to feed Berkshire pig than
Stanford of California made to me as we were
sitting under his favorite oak tree at Paio Alto
watching his drivers and trainers exercising horses
upon his private track. In answering the question
as to the cost Of raising good d. horses he said You
and the same time YOU can raise $40 plug Good
roads viii pay even Better than good stock tits It is
roads i''sS '"~'' -'A'A
MACHINERY WORKING REVOLUTION
The perfection OF farm machinery has worked a
revolution i'll all farming methods Now man
with do the work in a day that used TO
take him three four days to perform. BY means
Of the improved machinery and scientific methods
the progressive farmer has cheapened the cost of
his produce by half; the perfection of railway
vice takes his surplus to the market in half the
time, with freight charge of one-fOurth the tariff
OF thirty years ago There is more money now in
50 cent wheat than there in dollar wheat
then.
IN every neid or human activity IN this country
save one. there have been and being made
giant strides TO multiply productivity, lessen cost
and add convenience. Shall not expect long
that the top wire Of main fences will connect with
telephones and join farm TO farm. and these in
turn. to the town the railway, the county seat
and the city? But what shall say the roads?
In these there has been practically advance
ment IN fifty years. Wagon transportation shows
little if any. progress for a century. Periodically
in every community the farmers go out, and under
the direction, or, more properly. msdrection OF
the path master, plough up and destroy more or
less Of the roads in working their annual poll
tax. May all live TO the end of this idiotic
practice. Many of main travelled roads
have had time and money thrown away
upon them in these annual fits of Improving
than il would have cost to build and maintain
Z first class macadam road. The necessity for
good roads is immediate and imperative; expand
ing trade and the perfection of ocean transporta-
ton have put American grain into competition with
the food products Of Crimea, India Australia and
Argentina In all Of these countries American
machinery and methods strangers and all
OF she economies known and practised here
understood and employed there. II then; the Amer
lean farmer is in the future to hold the first po
sition the feeder of the world, he must still
worlds market. There may be various ways
do this but there Is one way SO potent. so o. pro %
others, and that is TO build good roads, and thus
reduce the cost of transportation from the farm
than the United States Bureau of Agriculture finds
that II often requires one-fourth Of the farm prod
TO the railway. The Secretary of Agriculture says:
NO permanent prosperity will or can come to
hauling from the farm to the market is three or
times than the cost of similar service in
would be here with good hard roads;
The economic value Of good roads can hardly
New-Jersey and New-York shows that where hard
roads have been built the incomes from the @ farms