Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1904-02-15
THE BAD
ROADS TAX
Mud Highways Are Very Costly
Especially for the
Farmer

/ The name 'publlc highway INDICATES
/ that roads are matters a. public rather
than private concern, and nothing but
( the fact that we have all been giving
attention to our private affairs TO the
exclusion of public affairs can account
for the lack Of interest that has been
taken In the highways in the past, said
a speaker mt q good roads convention
held in Winterset, la. But fortunately
& change is taking place. Interest is in
c-easing. Country and city alike are
awakening to the necessity of some
thing being done.
The people OF Madison county, Ia.
being the limit that can be levied, but
they have for years been paying a
larger sum in the shape Of a bad roads
tax, or "a mud tax, as it Is frequently
called. The largest tax is paid by the
farmers. The farm products of this
county, that can find a market only
when hauled to town, are enormous
If the farmer was always sure of q
good road to town whenever his stuff
was ready to market, he could haul a
larger load and make better time and
thereby materially lessen the cost of
production. The Madison county hog
will not walk to market. He must ride
Every time farmer is caught with a
bunch of hogs ready to sell and the
bad roads keep him away from a good
market he makes a substantial contri-
button to the mud tax.
1t costs $40 to ship a carload of hogs
weighing 1900 pounds from Winter
set to Chicago. One thousand seven
hundred pounds make q good average
wagon load of hogs, and it would there
fore take ten teams to haul such car
load Of hogs to Winterset from the
country at one trip. Allowing 81 per
load for the cost of hauling to Winter
set from the country, which is certain
ly conservative estimate, 1t costs just
half as much to haul a carload of hogs
over the country roads ten miles to
Winterset as 1t does to haul them from
Winterset to Chicago by railroad dis
lance of 400 miles. II the hogs could
be hauled over q stone road all the way
TO town about twice as large a load
as the present average load could be
hauled. 1t costs 81 to haul q cord of
wood eight or ten miles that will sell
in Winterset for 81, the cost of hauling
being one-half of the selling price. If
two cords could be hauled at one load,
the cost Of hauling would only be che
fourth of the selling price.
In the old countries or in localities in
this country where permanent roads
have been built the farmer can haul a
load of produce to town when the fields
are too wet for work. In our country
the roads are usually unfit for hauling
when the fields are unfit for work. The
merchant helps to pay the mud tax.
When the roads are bad he and his
clerks are idle. When they mend he
needs extra help for awhile, provided
his customers have not done without
the article he sells so long that they
conclude To- do without it entirely, as is
very frequently the case. Many mer-
chants carry line of goods that must
be sold at certain seasons of the year.
Let bad roads keep their customers
away during that season, and they will
have left on their hands a lot of goods
that they could have sold at a profit if
their customers from the country could
have reached them. Every one in Win
terset who uses wood for fuel must
contribute to the mud tax Ii he hap
pens to run out of wood when the roads
are bad. He must then pay high
price to some person that has stored up
quality OF wood that could not be
sold in competition with good wood
The railroads pay mud tax. When the
roads in the live stock district are bad
the stock cars and train crews and en-
gines are idle. and when the roads get
better In their own good time they dc
not have cars, crews and engines
enough To handle the traffic properly
traffic is rushed and wrecks occur. This
explains why il is that railway comna-
MES are willing to make cash contrihu-
tlons to aid in building country roads
aud to haul nj cost the material needed
Without going into details further It
: is sufficient 10 say that there are very
few people living in agricultural com
munities who do not directly or indi-
rectly pay in the form of a tax to the
bad roads more than the ordinary lew
for road purposes