The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-08
cetter$ tc tbe Gdftor
A Plea For Good Roads.

Editor The Advertiser.
 Tn making plea for better roads in Montgomery County, I ask 1t roads are not already built. So far as I see, one part of the county Is as much interested in good thoroughfarcs as another. If I know myself l desire to belong to that class which has aspi- rations outside of their own selfish measures-wiling to live and let live when my neighbor thrives by reason of thrift end industry. desire to be ready and willing to rejoice with him.
 Already hundreds of our farmers are enjoying the benefit of good roads and 1 congratulate them on being so situat- ed as to be able to have good road to town every day of ihe year.
 While I represent no particular part of the county, l am sure l voice the wish of the farmers of the whole coun ty, when I say every one of them wants road so good and safe, that he can go to town and back home the same day. even though the distance be thir' ty miles.
 ways be friendly to them, yet 1 fully believe, good roads are of more real value than our best standard railroads and If I had to live without one or the other, would choose good roads-good thoroughfares to every part Of the county would put her sons and daugh ters where they could enjoy the bless ings of a home market for that which tages growing out of good roads would be that of cheapening the freight of the farmer. With a good team and nothing to do but to keep out of the way of can haul fifteen barrels of flour or forty bushels of corn as cheap as the railroad anG many times would be glad to do so, as money saved Is money made" But CTS gre compelled to live half the year in the mud, where when the roads are good. they are bad to say the least of them, so long will thrift and prosperity he withheld from such localities. Your best business men tell us that compe- tition Is the life of trade, therefore when good roads reach out into every part of the county they will. of course. become competing lines with. the rall roads, and wiu necessarily.. reduce freight without any intervention of a railroad commission.
 Try as you may for ways and means for the upbuildipg of Montgomery County farms. but as sure as day fol- lows night, you will never ma any SUD- stitute for good roads.
 Nowhere in the county can be found neighborhood, that skilled labor is not needed. therefore. open way for roads and 1t will flow into the rural districts as naturally as water flows down stream.
 So long as skilled labor is asked to and an inuumerable army of mosqul : toes, cut off from mail facilities, with no school worthy the name. just that long will these desirable laborers seek other channels for a livelihood.
 Good roads will secure you an intelli- gent laborer for each forty acres yol may have on the farm and their skill and thrift will sooner or later invite others of the same class, and ere Ions. every farm will become veritable paradise-a thing of beauty and joy forever"
 The prosperity, you. as farmers. So much desire, will never come until of the country. Good roads are the mud sills-the foundation stones on which to build agricultural prosperity therefore. they should be laid broad enough and deep enough to insure absolute and safe transit for each and every load of farm products the farmer wishes 10 sell.
 In the way of good roads. the Board of Revenue has done a noble work for the people. but the Boards financial arm is at present partially paralyzed and the good work Is, for the present. suspended. If these conditions are to continue for any considerable time lay your heads together and devise other ways to secure money for roadbuilding. Montgomery County's credit Is good anywhere. where money Is to De ndd' and she would have no difficulty III raising a half million dollars if she needed so much to spend in roadbuild ing. Money can be borrowed on long time and at low rate of interest and if the present generation could not pay 1t. the next could pay 1t and never miss 1t out of the increase in the value of all property over the entire county.
 Good roads will make one place al most as desirable as another in which to live, indeed, the further one Is from the city or town less of tho evil infiu- ences of the city or village he has to overcome-the better the morality or the community Is and therefore more lawabiding the citizens.
 Good roads make 1t possible to have excellent schools and good churches In every part of the county. No sensible man is going tCsplace his wife and chill dIen Tn a condition where no social re- lations exist, or where the children must grow up without education.
 No place on earth Is more conducive or helpful to sound bustnessllke edu- cation. than a we'll organized rural district. where conveniences and ad . vantages equal to those of the city or village are to be had. Such places have all the advantages of the city, with none of the gross immoralities. that blight so many of our young men who go to the cities from the country to live.
 Permit me, MT. President to congrat- ulate the club on account of the great