The Springfield herald., 1904-02-26
GOOD ROADS LAUDED
THEY ARE SIGN OF CIVILIZATION

President Roosevelt Wants Them for
AIaska-Committee at Work for
National Lesislation-Strong Argu-
ments Advanced.
The good roads committee, repre-
senting the National Good Roads con-
rention at St. Louis. last April and the
different State Good Roads Associa-
lions met at Washington last month
and spoke before the Senate and House
committees, after which they cNlled
upon the President. Chairman T. j.
Harper of Burlington, Iowa, explained
the object of the committee, and said
he hoped the President would sympa-
thize with it. Mr. Roosevelt said:
II wish to greet you particularly,
and l am sure need not say how en-
tirely sympathize with the movement
that you are championing for better
means of communication. The road is
the symbol of civilization. Take our
great province of Alaska. | doubt If
there is anything more needed for the
development of Alaska on permanent
lines than the building up of proper
system of roads. and where it is impos-
sible to make wagon roads, trails in
Alaska. Throughout our country our
citizens will have to turn their ener-
gies to improving the means of inter-
course-that is, the roads-between
community and community. because we
are civilized people. and we cannot
afford to have barbaric methods OF
communication"
! Chairman Proctor of the Senate COM
mittee on agriculture and forestry;
Senators Dolliver and Quarles. and
other members of the committee, greet
| ed the good roads committee when they
were introduced by Senator Latimer.
Among the speakers at the hearing
: were Chairman Harper of the good
roads committee. Mr.. Winthrop b.
Scarritt, president of the Automobile
Club of America; l.. NJ. Haupt of Penn
| sylvania, Mr.. Samuel J. Hill of Seattle,
Washington; Mr.. r. II. Hiatt of South
Carolina, Mr.. ]. B. Killsbrew of Ten
/ nessee, Mr.. II. p. Gillette of New York,
associate editor of the Engineering
News. and Mr.. George w. Cooley OF
| Minnesota.
I'VE have the biggest rivers, the big
! gest mountains, the biggest trusts
and the poorest roads of any nation on
earth" said Mr.. Scarritt, the Automo-
bile Club man. He and others who fol-
lowed him recited list of reasons ad
! vanced by the good roads associations
why the government should aid In
building roads, as follows:
National aid has been given to rail-
| roads in the past, and is now given to
! river and harbor improvements. The
Improvement of rivers and harbors
benefits directly the cities and Indirect
ly the farmers. National aid in good
road building would benefit the farm
ers directly, and it would be the first
direct benefit they have ever received
ba
The government will build the Pan
ANA canal because it will reduce the
cost of transportation from one side OF
the country to the other. and from this
country to other countries. thus en-
II, abling this country to compete more
advantageously in trade with the out
side world. The building of good roads
cuts down the price of transporting
grain and other farm products to the
railways. and thus reduces the total
transportation cost to foreign coun-
tries by at least 2 or cents a bushel.
1t now costs more to haul grain few
miles to town than it does to transport
it half across the continent by rail.
THE other countries of the world
give national aid to good road building.
France is not monarchy. but has done
more than any other country in giving
national aid to the building of roads
Good roads are deserved by the
farmers, who produce very large part
of the national wealth, and are taxed
heavily, but receive fewer of the bene-
fits of taxation than the people of the
cities.
Good roads will aid in the education
of the farmers children. They will
make rural free delivery feasible over
much larger territory. They will
make farm life more enjoyable. and
will keep people on the farms"