St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-08-19
OF BENEFIT TO ALL.
SENATOR DANIEL ON THE VALUE OF
GOOD ROADS.


An object Lesson In Virgins
County.
In an address at Virginia good
roads convention United States Sena
tor Daniel spoke on the economy and
benefits of good highways as follows:
ga good road is a universal public
benefaction. There is not single mem.
Der of the community who does not re.
ceive advantage and pleasure from it.
1t is the most domestic of all public
institutions. A courthouse is for liti-
giants, an asylum is for the infirm, q
Jail for criminals, theater for enter
tainment park for recreation, a
school for instruction, church for
worshipers, hotel for wayfarers, but
a good road is for everybody saint and
sinner, man, woman and child, maid
and matron, young and old, rich and
| poor, healthy and sick, the lame, the
halt and the blind all get share Of
benefit from a good road.
"a good road is a mark of the prog
ress of the community in which it is
located. Show me a good road and I
will confidently say of the people Of
the community, They are up and do
ing; they are going forw ID A good
road is no transient and tickle salts
faction. 1t Is a slayer. Night and day,
winter or summer, autumn or spring,
1t is the general public servant, "a
friend that sticketh closer than broth
err The antipodes of interest on q
debt, which runs against you all the
time, a good road is for you and does
duty to you all the time.
"A good road is generator and a
radiator of benefit to all who live upon
1t or who move upon 1t. A man likes to
locate In land of good roads. They
are the lightning rods to attract intelli-
gent settlers. A good road is faith
ful friend and cheerful companion.
1t Is the best investment and the best
OF advertisements. 1t Is poster that
nobody wants to deface and that YOU
can't pull down.
'"This is country in which you have
got to build roads after the old Roman
fashion or after the fashion of the
good roads train-build them to stay
built. In country of this kind there is
no economy in building what you
you might call a 'tolerable road unless
you are on the top of a fair plateau
where nature has given you a good
grade. In Prince Edward county the
enterprising people of Farmville and
vicinity have built good road accord
ing to modern ideas from Farmville
out to old Hampden-Sidney college. At
any time You 60 there you can find the
farmers, with their four horse and six
horse teams carrying their tobacco and
other products to this road. AS soon as
they strike this good road they take
out all but two horses and 60 merrily
jogging on to town, sending the rest of
the horses back to the plantation.
There Is an object lesson for you and
one which illustrates the economy of
good roads.
what will road save? First, it
Will save time. That is the most i'm
portant thing in your life that you
ought to save, because a little slice Of
time is all that the Creator has allow
ed any of us here out Of the great
eternity. Whoever can save time pro-
longs his life on earth to that extent
In the next place, you can save ma.
terial by having good road This is
q department of the matter which the
statistician has never thoroughly in
vestgated nor the historian recounted.
But your experience tells you this:
A stretch Of muddy road means the
breakage of harness, the straining of
vehicles, ruined paint and varnish on
your buggies and many other petty
losses which amount to great deal In
the aggregate. Then there Is great
saving Of animal life resulting from
good roads. 1t ruins good horse to
work him hard on bad road. Look
at the horses that are strained Think
of the increased number of horses you
have to use on bad road. Then
think of the difference between bad
and good roads to man himself. If he
starts with his produce to town, ten, |
fifteen or twenty miles away over q
bad road, he cannot get there and sell
1t before breakfast. But on a good
road he can bring his produce with the
dew Of the morning upon it ten or
even fifteen miles to town and get 1t
to market while it is most valuable.
Think for a moment of the effect
upon the man himself Let him have
a rickety wagon and a bad horse and
twenty miles to go to town through
such mud as we have up In this coun-
try, and he will be ready by the time
he gets there to appreciate the legend
written on dial in Spain with refer
ence to the flying moments, each one
wounds, the last kills." But If he is |
journeying upon q good road pleasant
thoughts come to him. He has oppor- |
tunity to think. He has opportunity |
to take in whatever is pleasant around |
him. He will enjoy conversation with |
his companions, and when he gets to |
town he is rational, contented man,
ready to face the next duty in life,
whatever it may be.
But 1t Is not only in saving that
good roads are economical. See what
they produce-increasing population,