Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-07-31

Just three times as great as it would be
if we had good roads all over the Unit
ed States. The average life of the farm
horse is shortened several years by the
bad roads; live stock in general is less
ened in flesh and longevity by having
to travel over miry and rut covered
roads. When the farmer of today drives
his fattened hogs to market over
country road he expects them to lose a
great many pounds of flesh in making
the trip. II the roads were smooth and
hardened by macadam the loss would
be curtaied and his net profit that
much more.
The average speed along a country
road today is five to six miles an hour
with farm wagon. With Il good
team of horses it is possible to drive
fifteen and even twenty miles an hour.
There are communities in Illinois
where the roads are 50 winding and
cut up by ruts that Il lightly loaded
buggy drawn by two good farm horses
cannot reach over an eight mile gait.
Hill climbing. as all horse owners
know. is hard on the animal. 1t re-
duces the flesh very quickly. The
roads of the country should be in such
condition as TO do away with all steep
inclines. The life of the horse might
be extended by several years and the
cost of his feed would also be lessened
in the improvement and alignment of
these defects.
The farmers of this country are los
ers by the bad road evil at least 500
per capita per annum. BY combining
their losses and placing them at the
disposal of expert road builders with
in ten years the roads would be in
such state of travel as to prevent the
loss, every cent of 1t. This system Of
economics is beginning to dawn upon
the farmers, and through the state leg
islatures laws are being enacted to
remedy the country road system.
Not only the farmers are taking an
active interest In road improvement,
but the wheelmen, Automobiles and
the men who make these vehicles.
Nearly every line of industry is affect
ed
The cost of hauling products from
" -
per mile, while the rate by rail is
cents. Thus the hauling of Il load of
wheat from the farm to the station
often costs the farmer more than ship
ping it to a distant market. Common
road traffic rates are higher than in
any other country. In Belgium ton
of farm products can be hauled mile
for 20 cents; England, ii cents;
France, Germany and Italy, II cents;
Switzerland. 10 cents. our people who
return from trips abroad are unit i'll
expressing their disgust with road con-
ditions in America.
The cost of road building is not so
enormous but that public highways
can be constructed, and yet tlere are
counties in western states where not
stroke of labor has been performed
upon a country highway for years. In
New Jersey stone roads are being built
for 81 800 per mile. These roads are
fifteen feet wide and will last twenty
or more years. Macadam roads eight
feet wide can be built at a cost of
$1,000 per mile. Single track gravel
roads can be built for 81 300 mile.
Telford roads, the best that can be
constructed, cost $4,000 per mile. In
Michigan recently farmers set to work
and constructed plain dirt roads at II
cost of $500 per mile. But the dirt road
even at a reduced original cost is more
expensive in the end. Washouts carry
away the dirt, ruts form with any con
siderable amount of traffic, and slush
pools are common along the roadside.
The most expensive roads have been
found to be the cheapest in the end.