The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-09-06
WHY GOOD ROADSPAY
HAKE LAND VALUABLE AND CREATE
HIGH AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE.

~ lhe recent convention or the
/ Arkansas Good Roads association held
ut Fort Smith, H. L. Kelley, according
/ to the Goods Roads Magazine, spoke
/ on Good Roads-Why They Pay"
/ saying in part as follows:
Roads are the foundation OF civili-
cation. They form the means of COM
munication between people, and there
/ is no better index of the intelligence of
/ any community than its roads. Good
/ roads pay. They make high land val
ties, and in time they create high aver
age intelligence in the country through
/ which they are built Perhaps 10 bet
/ ter example of this can be found than
/ in New Zealand. where the general
/ government undertakes the building
| and care of all roads-the railroads as
/ well as the wagon roads. The country
] of New Zealand is much like that of
] Arkansas but the government adopted
/ development policy which is very
/ effective and highly profitable. One of
/ the main lines of business conducted
/ by the government of New Zealand is
! in real estate. It acquired by purchase
/ or condemnation large tracts of land.
! The first thing in the way of develop
/ ment was Il highway built through the
! property. Along this the government
sells out to settlers on Iong time and
/ easy payments land in suitable sizes
/ for farms and homes The settlers on
/ this land are first given employment
! by working on the roads After the
/ roads are in good condition the popula-
/ ton comes quite rapidly. and it is as
tonishiug what that government is ac-
I cOnplishing in spreading its people out
/ on the soil. There IS no congestion of
the population in cities Each citizen
| is encouraged To get home of us many
acres Of land as he can take care of,
and the result is population whose
| general intelligence and comfort are
/ greater than l have seen elsewhere.
That good roads pay is a generally
conceded fact. and it has seemed
! strange to me that an argument on this
| subject should be needed. \ visit to
/ any of the rural districts of Arkansas
is convincing proof that an argument
! is required, for the good roads are not
| there, and | cannot conceive Of great
| cr contrast than that which the sQualor.
| poverty and ignorance displayed in our
/ rural districts make with the intelli-
! @cnce, cleanliness and comfort one sees
in New Zealand rural district think
! this difference is more due to the roads
! than to any other cause. Whether the
| lack of roads breeds ignorance or
/ whether the ignorance breeds the bad
roads is subject l will not undertake
/ TO discuss At any rate, both exist TO
/ such an extent in our state that our
| first patriotic duty is to either dispcl
| the ignorance in procuring tie roads or
/ procuring the roads to dispel the ig-
/ uOrance.
1 recently purchased piece Of land
uear Fort Smith past which ran two
| good roads recently built This land
! was tlmbered but the timber had been
! rated an REMEMBRANCE on the land In
! fact, it hadn't been profitable 10 steal
it and haul 1t to town, which fact prob
ably accounts for its still being there
| lad lot Of this timber cut ana put a
! rather intelligent person looking for
| disposal Of it. Some time later was
| surprised when he told me that it was
sold at net price, after paying for the
! hauling, which would more than pay
| for clearing the land. On looking into
this found that the good roads made
| it possible to haul cord or more ut 4
load Of this wood to market and make
| about four loads day. whereas before
| the good roads were built two loads OF
oEc-half cord each We're all that one
! team could do. 1t cost $3 Il cord to
| haul this wood before the good roads
We're built and 10 cents cord after
ward. In other words, the wood was
worth S2.2J per cord after the roads
! We're put in, while it was absolutely
worthless before. | find that the diff
| ference in the cost of hauling Il ton Of
hay to market before and after the
! good roads for distance Of seven miles
is about 50. One of my farm teams
over the bad roads will bring ton of
hay to town in Il day. Over the good
/ roads they will bring three tons, so
! the product of q meadow of 100 acres
is worth about $500 more with good
! road to it at seven miles from town
than it is with Il bad road. Before this
/ good road was built the meadow was
worth so per acre. Since it is built
! $50 seems Il reasonable price for it,
Il have found by actual experience
that the tax the farmers are paying
which keeps them poverty stricken is
/ that imposed by bad roads. For many
| years I tried earnestly to locate an in
| dustrious class of farmers in this coun-
/ ty On different occasions | did sue
coed in getting several such colonies
/ started, None Of them remain. Usu-
ally they were a hardy class Of Ger
mans such as settled the prairieS and
states 10 the north and west of us.
| One by one they would sell out and go
back to the prairie country. On close
J questioning | would find that the lack
Of roads and schools was so great these
| people wouldn't stay. The country
they came from had a tax three times
as large as ours In fact, many of the
/ school districts in Kansas where they
/ had lived levied a school tax much
! greater than our total tax, and it was
/ not unusual for the total tax to be per
cent in the counties from which these
German settlers came They would