The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1905-11-28
THE ROADS
GOVERNMENT HELPEDBUILD
RAILROADS, WHY NOT
HELP BUILD HIGH
WAYS.
Why, too, Should Not the Business
Methods of Railroads Be APP
piled to Public Roads?
Good Thoughts on
Good Roads.

Good Thoughts on
Good Roads.
In discussion Of the question
em bodied in my subject it is neces-
sary to consider the country road as
an independent branch of the gen.
eral common carrier route. That
is, it is a branch of the railroad or
steamboat route, and in so consid-
ering it the necessity Of calculating
the relative proportion of the cost
of transportation of the product of
the producer and of those things
the producer requires which should
be credited or charged to the coun-
try road is evident. The great
trouble in our present Transports
ton system Is that the proportion
of cost of handling freight and pas
sengers on the county road or dirt
road branch of the system Is excess
sive. .-......-.
The cause and the remedy are the
proper things for discussion in this
and kindred conventions They
are the matters at issue In conneo-
tion with this ''good roads'' move
ment, and every manner that. may
be suggested Of developing the prop
er plan for overcoming the dificul-
ties of transportation from the barn
or field to the final market whore
consumption takes place, is worthy
of consideration by those looking
for light and mode of advancement.
As is the relationship of the coun.
try to the town, the rural to the ur-
ban, SO is the wagon to the railroad
or navigable waterway. We speak
of railways and water ways as agen-
cies of development, but we must
not overlook the country road IS
the original and perhaps pioneer
agency. Before railroads were
dreamed of, our forefathers devoted
their time and talents to the devel-
opment of the country cart or wag-
on road, with a view to making it
meet the requirements of permanent
cy, and of utility at all seasons of
the year. Had we not developed
the railway, does any one doubt that
the great national highway that was
under construction from Washing
ton to ST. Louis, Missouri, would
have been extended to the Pacific
coast, and that others of a similar
character would have been built by
the national governm ent all over
the country with view to Its de-
velopment. Lst the railway,
through a rapidly developing knowl
edge Of the use of steam power, soon
relegated the national highway as
a route of transportation to the uses
which have been made of it and all
other country roade ever since, that
of feeders to the many lines that
have been made to traverse this
great continent, and of the water
routes which connect with or paral.
lei them. The tact that speed be-
came the recognized mercantile uni
ty of value in transportation. was
the prime cause of this, and the rel
egation of the country road system
to the service of feeders as the more
speedy system was but the natural
result Of these conditions. Fl
The producer has ever looked for
a market for his product, and he
early realized that the. market most
valuable to him was that one away
frem home, where his product wal
more In demand, and that he re-
eeived better value for it when he
took the product to market. than
when he waited for the market te
come to him. Perhaps in -thelatter
case he realized better prices occa'
sionally, but more often he faile6
/, in market for reasons recognized
by all. eoa. Il -s,.-.
l. Railways, and improvement O
waterways have each worked stead,
lily to bring the markets nearer ant
nearer the producer; have steadily
worked to the extension of the pro
duction. area Yet with 1t all, tn
wagon road or cart road has con
Itinued TO be-. the; principal elemen
| for the scatterment of civilization
| and Of the extension Of lproductiv
area away from the main routes
while at the same timesit has beel
the principal element of cost to th'
producer in the marketing of hi
product. Very few producers 9
the raw material. that is to say othe
than of the metals, coal, iron, etc., ar
lsofortunately situated as to be able t