The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-05
JUDGEGASTON'S SPEECH
WARM WELCOME FOR MEN OF
 GOOD ROADS OUTFIT.
Says They Came as Benefaction to Farming Interests on Which Prosperity of Country Rests,
 Professional and Business.

Judge J. B. Gaston of Montgomery. was one of the speakers invited to welcome the Good Roads Convention to Mont gomery yesterday.
 Following is Judge Gaston's speech:
 MT. President and Gentlemen of the Good Roads Commission:
 Tn behalf of the County of Montgom. cry, I greet you and your exhibition of road building now going on in this Coun- ty, as benefaction to every part and every business interest in this County. farming interests of the County. which is the foundation of all professional and business prosperity In Montgomery.
 We have one hundred and twenty miles of good roads in this County. The first ten miles which were nuilt. cost $6,0J0 per mile. The top dressing of chert which was brought hundred miles by rail, cost, when laid down upon the road, two top dressing of gravel. which Is now used The average cost per mile of all our good roads is four thousand dollars. The road building was commenced about ten years ago by the Board of Revenue. consisting of five men who had made reputation by the economy and skill with which they had managed the finances of the County. They were without special training, or skill in road building; and went to work to learn in the. school of experience. They so profited by their experience that I am reliably informed that equally good roads can now be constructed under like con.
 
 well for our tuition. but the roads are worth all and more than all they cost: and those who had charge of their con struction have the confidence and com mendation of the tax payers of the Coun- ty.
 Good roads unquestionably in- crease the value of lands. les crops, and enhance the rental value of farms; and such an exhibition of road building as the Commission is now mak- ing on our roads, educates the farmer and should improve the agriculture If the future in this country. Some months ago l met a gentleman who. thirty years before. ha1 competed successfully for the highest honors of his class In a college of high grade He was engaged, and successfully engaged, on small scale. in market gardening. On inquiring as to his mode of cultivating and the extent of his fertilizing, I was somewhat sur prised by his answering. Brains are the best fertilizers" The great painter, Turner, who was noted for the beauty and durability of his coloring, on being asked with what he mixed his paints, answered. .'brains;" and I suspect that cur learned gardener was indebted to the artist for the witty expression of an important fact which he wished to im- press, namely. that farming has devel- oped into a learned profession. Farming has it's geology, it's chemistry and bot any; it has its engineering and archi- lecture; it requires a knowledge of the seed time and the seasons of the growth and maturity of farm and garden plants; and the farmer must know with what to fertilze and how to cultivate them. He must also be a judge of stock and know how to care for them, and, above all, he must have the capacity to con- trol labor successfully, which is a rare gift Verify. farming is learned pro- fession, and he who would greatly excel in it must have the thorough training in his business. and give to it the pa tient industry and undivided attention which are required of those who wear the honors of the learned professions.
 If understand it rightly. your Com mission proposes to demonstrate that with scientific training the best ma chnery and skilled labor. you can con struct better roads, do 1t much more rapidly and at much less cost per mile. than can be done by more primitive methods. This surely is an object lesson which, if improved. will be of great value to the farming interest of our country. The conclusion follows neces- sarily that with thoroughly competent knowledge of the business, the most inn proved implements of farming, better paid and consequently better labor, and constant supervision by the owner, farm ing may be made to yield correspondingly excellent results. As the improved sur passs the primitive in amount, quality and cheapness in road building, so the improved may and will surpass the prim- tive in greater yield. better quality of crops and at less cost of production. in farming. There is a little book by Sho- enhof entitled Economy of High Wages" which teaches most impressive ly the economy of the most improved methods in all industrial work. Time does not permit that do more than men ton it. It is we'll worth reading by all persons engaged in industrial pursuits. in conclusion. permit me, in behalf of the good people of this county. to wei come you as the past grand masters of the science and arts of road building. We greet you personally and officially. and we hail your exhibition as a demon stration of the economy of the best ma chinery and the best work.