The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1903-07-08
OF FIRST Importance.
Tyearts Valley News.

vention which will be held near
Morgantown July 10 and IL, is the
beginning of a movement which
has deeper interests to the rural
population of West Virginia than
any other which has been stated
in the state in its history. 1t
marks the era of the beginning of
perfection in public roads and the
multiplication by large numbers of
the opportunities of the small far
mer and truckman, as we'll as the
great enhancement in the value of
real estate.
The reform in road building
must, necessarily, be slow pro-
cess. People in all ages have
been very unwilling to better their
condition or increase their con-
veniences where radical changes in
methods are necessary. The son
who persists in carrying a heavy
stone in one end of the sack to
balance the msaI in the other be-
cause his father before him had
done it that way and always had
meal in the house, is type of the
average man of today. Now bust.
ness is practically suspended
throughout whole states for five
months out of each twelve, and
millions :of dollars wasted annual
ly'eyery year by reason of the con-
dition of the country roads,
The unthinking youth had the
short sightedness to overlook the
fact that half his load was worth.
less to him, and half his energy
wasted; that he could have had
twice the amount of meal for the
same labor in carrying. Is he diff.
ferent from the farmer or lum.
herman who uses twice the power
in hauling a load through the mud
and spends twice the time that
would be; necessary over a solid
smooth road? "Our fathers did il
and lived to ia good old age and
made money" is the only defense
We can offer. Our fathers lived
in log huts and midland. sticE
ohimnies, too; they went bare.
footed in summer and wore moo
oasins lin winter; they harvested
their grain with a sickle and theil
hay with a scythe and wooden
forks, and threshed their grain or
a floor with fail and cleaned i
by throwing it up when the vino
was blowing; they wore homespur
clothes woven in a hand loom, anc
they paid their debts with tobacco
and coon skins, but we don't. W.
take pride in having advanced il
everything except in the matter OIL
public roads.
Good roads would cost more
money to construct than poor roads
but so do modern houses modern
farm machinery, modern models
of travel and every improvement
We have, but who stops on that &C
countP The latest equipped rail,
road tram. with its immense engine
hauling coaches, dining, sleeping
and parlor cars sixty miles an hour
running on magnificent roadbec
finished with heavy steel rails
cost more than the old-time trair
car drawn by horses. which crawl
ed along on wooden rails, but who
wants the tram carr and who com
plains that the improvements il
railroad equipment doesn't pay?
1t is a stock reply that tn,
people are already overburdeneC
with taxes, and can't afford to
make perfect roads now, and the
statement is true. People can no
afford to spend more money thar
they now do unless they are to gel
some adequate return from it
But who will claim that every
farmer who lives on road that ii
solid, and smooth every day in the
year and well graded does not re
alize more from it each year thar
the cost would be to himP
The coming convention shoulC
be attended by delegates from
every county in the state, and will
be by every county that is looking
for sure and permanent prosperity
The revolution in country road
will be Witnessed by very man,
people now living and the count,
that does not start with the pro
cession will have many peopl,
now living and the county tina
does not start with the procession
will have MANY hnmiliationa anf