The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-01-29
AN APPEAL FOR FARMERS

The special committee of the National
Good Roads Association, which has been
in session in Washington. this week, ap-
peared before the Senate and House Com
mittees on Agriculture Tuesday to urge
Federal action in the direction Of i'm
proving the main highways of the coun
try.
A number of prominent men accompa-
MED the committee to the Capitol and ad-
vocated legislation. There was set pro-
gram of arguments before the committee.
At both hearings it was evident from the
beginning that what the good roads ad.
vocates want is sufficient Federal assis-
roads throughout the country, and that
it makes little difference with them as to
the means by which the Government &C
complished this.
Prominent members of the committee
who addressed the Congressional com
mittees declared it was immaterial to them
which of the pending bills was passed
by Congress or whether Congress passed
entirely new legislation, so long as the
best thing possible was done in behalf of
the movement. Members of the Con-
gressiopal committee showed much inter
est in the subject, but intimated the utter
impossibility of doing anything aside
from providing for the continuance OF
roadmaking experiments during the pre-
sent session of Congress. Members OF
the committees invited the attention OF
the good-roads men to the fact that the
Government faces serious deficit and
that efforts were being made in Congress
to appropriate only for actual DEEDS dur
ing this session.
Chairman Harper, who opened the dis
cussion, explained that neither the com.
mittee nor the association as q whole had
any desire to promote or advocate either
the Brownlow, Latimer, Gallinger or any
other particular bill now pending before
Congress, but that their purpose was to
impress upon the minds of the committee
the growing demand for national aid for
good public roads as q general PROPOSE.
ton. He said they were all in favor OF
any bill that Congress might enact which
would afford to the toiling farmers Of this
country some relief from the enormous
burdens of mud tax" which they are
now daily paying. He closed with an
earnest appeal to the Senators that they
give this matter their most careful con-
sideration and introduced Mr.. Winthrop
B. Scaritt, president of the Automobile
Club of America.
Mr.. Sca1itt first called attention to the
fact that the roads built by the Romans
under Augustus Caesar still stand as the
wonders of the world. he said: I'VE
have the biggest rivers, the biggest noun
tains, the biggest trusts and the poorest
roads of any nation on EARTH" He spoke
of the roads of France and Switzerland,
which were constructed by the govern
ments of those countries and were models
of the art of good roadmaking.
Mr.. Scarritt said he divided his argu-
ment in favor of national aid for good
roads into three propositions. The first
was the public welfare, and under this
head be pointed out that, while he was
not lawyer nor very good student Of
the Constitution, he OWNED its intention
to be that Congress should always provide
for the welfare of the nation, and show
could the public welfare be better provid-
ed for than by national aid to good .oads?"
he asked, (which benefits every citizen in
the land" His second proposition was
that good roads pay. He argued that
the statistics showed the average cost
per ton per mile for wagon haulage in
this country to be 25 cents, while in
France it never exceeded 12a cents, and
believed we could soon reduce it to 10
cents. which would save 81 100000 every
year over the present cost Occasioned by
bad roads. He mentioned the fact that
this Government is about to spend $780,
600, 900 or more on the Panama canal pro-
ject, that the State of New York would
soon expend $1O1, 900, 900 for the improve
ment of the Erie canal. that $450, 0OO, 900
of the Governments money had already
gone into the improvement of the rivers
and harbors of this country, and yet 1000
times more persons travel on land and
1000 times as many tons of freight are
hauled over the wagon roads of the land
as upon the waters.
"This movement" he said, lis for the
benefit of those who never saw q sea or
river and is to give Government aid to
the building of good roads along their
humble homes"
His third reason was that national aid
was but simple justice to the farmers.
He said he was entirely familiar with the
disagreeable phrases of the life of the
farmer in the 'mire and mud" yet upon
no other class of persons did the prosper
itY of the country 80 much depend.
1.-The last census shows that they rails
ed $3.50, 100000 worth of corn. $3.50, 000-
900 worth of hay, $500, 100000 worth of
cotton and $4,000 900 worth of wheat,
and our bad roads put tax of 12} cents
on every ton of this enormous product
that was hauled to market. How long"
he asked, ''can even such great and
wealthy nation as the United States stand
up in competition with the rest ,,of the
world under such an unfavorable handi-
cap as that the members of the committee