Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1902-06-27
GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT.
Miss Eta Stark, Of Elizabethtown,
Writes an Essay on the Sub.
ject in a Contest For $500
Prize.

The good roads movement in Ken.
lucky doesn't seem to be confined to
men. The women are taking inter-
est IN it. One OF these has hardly
entered womanhood, and yet she is
writing on the subject. Recently a
New York paper offered a prize Of
5000 for the best essay on good
roads, to be written by any school
girl or boy in the United States.
Miss Eta Stark, of Elizabethtown,
tried her hand with the result that
her paper was printed in full,
indicating that she is at least a
good contestant for the money.
Miss Stark's essay was as fol-
lows:
Why is it that we find our glori-
Gus Bluegrass State so woefully be-
bind many sister States in that
greatest of modern Improvements,
good roads? Some say that this
assertion is too strong, but will
they tell me another Improvement
that will do so much for our state?
Good roads are necessary for bust
ness, pleasure, health, reputation
and good name. But they Will not
come to benefit and bless us, like
sunshine and summer breezes.
without labor and expense. In no
State have good, permanent roads
been built without aid and cooper
alton from the Governor and Legis-
lature. Every one knows that ours
is grand State, with resources al
most unlimited; yet, notwithstand-
ing this, we have no system of road
working, and are not improving our
highways as we should.
The question that now naturally
arises, What is the condition OF
the field? How near to the harvest
timer" Thanks to the untiring
work of few far-seeing men, we
have a people who, if not eager for
the best are certainly clamorous
for better roads. Now, we must
have a Legislature which is willing
to enact suitable laws, and ther
comes our golden opportunity t.
bring Kentucky into the foremos
rank
We admit that during the las
few years much money and labo
have been expended on our roads
but the Improvement has not KEEP
pace with the increased amount o
travel, and now they are little bet
ter il spring and fall for heavy
traffic than they were several years
ago, The roads of the State, in
fact, though not in name, belong to
the State and are for the use and
benefit of all people, and not, as
many think, for the farmer alone.
The rich and poor alike have
equal rights in the use of the roads,
let them be good or bad. A large
portion of the wealth of the State
has never contributed to the i'm.
provemeut OF the roads, though
sharing in all benefits derived from
them. With few exceptions, the
Improvements up to the present
time have been made by the farm.
ers, and at their expense alone.
They have laid the foundation, in
the main, for most of the roads, and
now call for aid for the superstruc-
ture, to make them such as the
wants of the State require. With
olt aid there is no hope for pro-
gress, Shall this aid be granted?
We most earnestly ask the men who
legislate for US to broaden their
views OF the needs of the country,
if we are to have continued pros
perity, and direct money and labor
into channels that will permanently
improve our roads and bring bene-
hts and blessings to our people.
We think this is an age of pro-
gress, but it is fact that back in
the distant ages the Romans had
better roads than we have now.
Our people should leave no stone