Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1906-12-07
FOR GOOD ROADS
State Engineer Cooley to
Address Merchants and
Farmers Meetings

0eo JCAaCAoA, 0tdto engineer, G0?rRe
W: Cooley. will speak in Little Falls
before the Merchua's' Associa ton
Friday evening. De;ember 18th. and
to the farmers. at the court house,
Saturday, December 10Th, at one
O'Clock.
There is nothing in this state that
needs more development than our
roads. Why is good land in Illinois
worth one hundred dollars per acre,
while just as good land in Morrison
county, Minnesota, is worth only ten
dollars per acre? The reason for the
difference in value is to be found in
the difference IN accessibility to mar
ket The ease with which You can
get to and from tho farm largely gov
erns it's value. The one hundre1 dcl-
lar acre farm in Illinois may be
just as far from the market as the
land in Morrison county, but it is
not surrounded b7 a high wall of
mud, or by an impossible swamp.
Thousands OF farms in Minnesota are
almost worthless by reason of being
practically insccesaible. They are
cursed by poor roads, The condition
is not only costing the farmer thou
sands OF dollars every year by the loss
of time, but it is killing his horses,
wearing out his vehicles, hindt ring
the marketing of bis produce and
keeping down the value of his farm.
From the earliest settlements in
every part of this country some kind
OF effort has been made to put roads
in condition for travel It is inpos-
stble to make correct estimate of the
millions of dollars that have bsen
sunk In unorganized, desultory, spas
modic road building. II our state We
have had the so-called "psn tax
system, requiring an annual expendi-
ture OF time and money, or bot0, but
1T must be admitted that IN tho vast
majority of cases it has resulted in
no permanent benefit. Twenty five or
thirty years ago there may have been
some excuse for such methods hut
there can be none now. Road build
Ing should be placed on basis that
will actually mean good 1oads-on q
business basis.
Recognizing this condition of
affairs our legislature in 1915 passed
a law providing for a State Highway
Commission. Briefly stated the pur-
pose of this Commission is to aid in
the construction and maintenance of
public highways throughout the state
The Commission is composed of thrt Q
comm missioners, appointed by the gov
ernor tor three Yeas, and serving
without compensation. The law also
provided for the appointment by
SAID Commission of an engineer. at
fixed salary, and maintenance of
Offices at the state capitol. The en-
g'neer is the secretary of the Com
mission and bis duties require him
to assist in the building of roads
throghout the state, and for this p1r-
pose be is authorized to employ as
sistants. George W. Cooley is the en-.
gineer thus employed. and it is in
this capacity that he comes to Little
Falls at the request of the Merchants
Association.
The object of the association is to
inaugurate an educational campaign
in the matter of road construction and
maintenance in this county and 10
that end meetings will be held during
the winter in different parts of the
county for the purpose of discussing
the best methods OF building and
maintaining roads.
The state engineer will speak be-
fore q meeting of the Merchants
Association, Friday evening. Decem.
ber 14th, at the city hall. and before
9 meeting of the farmers, Saturday,
December 18th, at the court house, at
one clock. Every business man in
the city aud county, whether member
of the Association or not should at
ter d the meeting on Friday evening
the 18th, and 1t is needless to say
every farmer in the county should
attend the meeting for the farmers
the 18th, at the conrt house.