The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-04-04

JOHN L. MACADAM. out our roads, Dut
have not improved them. we nave
risen superior to the demands for bet
ter means of communication during Tue
years which have passed; we have
prospered in spite of their hampeflng
conditions. But we have, however
reached point where great further
advance in our civilization is lmpossi-
bic, unless we give them heed-whefe'
In fact we can see the arrest OF future
development unless our means OF COM
munication are made much better thah
they now are. To the farmer, upon
whose shoulders rests the weight or
the nation, three things are vital-good
crops, good prices and good roads. The
first Of these conditions is affected by
so many phases of weather, season.
pest and other things that 1t cannot be
controlled; the second depends almost
wholly upon the first and third. How
ever, whether the season be favorable
or the reverse, the price in the end de-
pends much on the facilities for getting
farm products to market. Most farm
Ing localities beingat least few miles
from any railroad station, the question
of haulage. then. becomes paramount.
The farmer has paid out for his poor
roads, In yearly repairs, many times
the cost of good roads, which, in the
beginning, would have been more ex-
pensiye, but which would have re-
quired much less cost in keeping them
in proper condition. The benefits from
system of really good roads would
have been so great as to make compari
son infinitely in their favor
1t is regarded as a gratifying sign of
the times that there seems to be a
movement in all parts of the country
looking TO the betterment of rural high.
ways. Experiments made In pro-
gressive communities In Massachu.
sets, New York, New Jersey, Connect.
icut, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and
some of the other States East and
West, have shown several things. In.
creased values in farm lands in these
communities have been accomplished
with decreased cost In marketing rural
products. Better roads have brought
the people into closer touch with one
another. broader ways of living have
superseded the narrowness which Is too
often characteristic of rural com.
munlties, and beneficial results have
come In other ways. In every such
locality, those who, on the score of
economy or otherwise, were opposed 20
a departure from the old style of road.
making, are now the l0udest In praise
of the new regime, and those who IA
vored 1t from the beginning feel much
qualification of their instrumentality
in establishing custom so productive
Of general good
The time will doubtless come when
the roads of the United States Will be
equal to those of France or Switzer.
land-and that will be when the Amer.
lean people are brought to full reali-
Eation of the fact that for the want of
such roads their monetary losses are
not only large. but continuous.
The old-fashloned dirt road Is sus.
ceptlble to treatment which will ma
terially benefit 1t. but such advantage
Is merely temporary. Once a year, at
least, the road is 'worked"-that is, the
old, worn-out dirt which has squeezed
out at the edges Of the road is turned
back into the beaten track with the
road machine or with plows and
scrapers. Sometimes, gravel is dumped
into the hollows and low places, but
this practice has almost ceased since
the advent Of the road machine. In
either case the result is the same. For
a time, the road is soft and rutty; then
1t hardens down into a semblance of
what road should be, but its surface
soon works up into dust in the heat of
the summer sun, or changes into deep
mud under the influence of even tran.