Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1906-10-10
WHY GOODROADSPAY
MAKE LAND VALUABLE AND CREATE
HIGH AVERAGE INTELLleeNcE

hat AT the recent convention of the
dis Arkansas Good Roads association hold
ess. at Fort Smith, II. e. Kelley, according
I've 10 the Goods Roads Magazine. smoke
'ur On Good Roads-Why They Paw"
ect laying in part as follows:
ner Roads are the foundation of civili
ma fation. They form the means of COM
munication between people, and there
nis Is no better index Of the intelligence of
rd any community than its roads Good |
he roads pay. They make high land val |
Ok ues' and In time they create high aver
ne aye inteliigence In the country through
winch they are built. Perhaps no bet
ed ter example Of this can be found than
'e- IN New Zealand, where the general
government undertakes the building
ul ana care OF all roads-the railroads az
ed Wen as the wagon roads. The country
- OF New Zealand is much like that of
Arkansas, but the government adopted
Of development policy which is very
eHective and highly profitable. One of
tne main lines of business conducted
by the government Of New Zealand Ia
In real estate. 1t acquired by purchase
II or condemnation large tracts of land
me hrst thing in the way of develop !.
" ment was highway built through the !
4 property Along this the government
o sells out to settlers on long time and =,
Z easy payments land in suitable sizes .
Tor 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 II is a.
tonishing what that government Ia ac- nj
comprising in spreading its people out fl
on the soil. There is no congestion NJ RI
the population in cities Each citizen Of
is encouraged TO get home of as many n,
acres of land as he can take care OF IN
ana the result Is a population whose of
general intelligence and comfort are In
greater than / have seen elsewhere. nj
'Ihat good roads pay is a generally FRI
conceded fact, and It has seemed In,
strange to me that an argument on this ~
subject should be needed. A visit TO az,
any or the rural districts of Arkansas on
Is convincing proof that an argument on,
Is required, for the good roads are not Iur
there, and / cannot conceive of n great moi
er contrast than that which the soualor tbr
poverty and ignorance displayed in our to
rural districts make with the intelli- roo
gence, cleanliness and comfort one sees an(
In New Zealand rural district. think vor
this difference is more due to the roads He,
tnan to any other cause. Whether the -
lack OF roads breeds ignorance or
whether the ignorance breeds the bad n
roads Is a subject will not undertake Il
10 discuss. At any rate, both exist to
such an extent In our state that our
nrst patriotic duty Is to either dispel Ihp
the ignorance In procuring the roads or
procuring the roads to dispel the Ig- B.
norance OIL
Il recently purchased a piece of land
near Fort Smith past which ran two -
good roads recently built This land Az
was timbered, but the timber had been AZ
rated an incumbrance on the land In HVI
fact, 1t hadn't been profitable to steal ssszz
II and haul 1t to town, which fact prob- Sc
lbly accounts for Its still being there
had lot of this timber cut and put a
'ather intelligent person looking for q
,iSposai OF IT, Some time later I was No. 2
urprised when he told me that IL was
OLD at net price, after paying for the
aulng' which would more than pay No. Il
OF clearing the land. On looking into
MS round that the good roads made
possible to haul cord or more at a
'ad Of this wood to market and make
bout four loads day, whereas before
10 good roads were built two loads of No.
ne-haf cord each were all that one
am could do. 1t cost SO a cord TO
lul this wood before the good roads
ere Quilt and 20 cents a cord after
ard. In other words, the wood WAS
orth $2.2O per cord after the roads NO. Id
ere put In, while 1t was absolutely
orthless before. / find that the DIFF
renee In the cost Of hauling ton of
y 10 market before and after the
Oh roads for distance Of seven miles
ABOUT ". One Of my farm teams
er the bad roads will bring a ton of Add
10 town In a day. Over the good fully
lbs they Will bring three tons. so Ticket
product OF meadow Of 100 acres W. B.
worth about $500 more with q GOOD Gen.
"a 10 IL at seven miles from town
n II Is with bad road Before this
Vi road was built the meadow was ays
nth $40 per acre. Since II il built s'@ss
seems a reasonable price for 1t. Cures q
have found by actual experience n
the tax the farmers are paying n
oh keeps them poverty stricken is Va 4
imposed by bad roads. For many --
rs ! tried earnestly to locate an in 4 ava
trl0us class of farmers In this conn e.
On different occasions did sue Cures a
In getting several such colonies n
ted. None Of them remain Usu- n
they were a hardy class of Ger -. =
IS such as settled the prairies and --
es to the north and west of us. q n
by one they would sell out and go ~
TO the prairie country. On close
tioning ! would find that the lack ~
'ads and schools was so great these ~ N'
lie wouldn't stay. The country --
came from had tax three times Nd.
rye as ours. In fact, many Of the II IA
d districts In Kansas where they U,-GN
lived levied a school tax much ~ ES
er than our total tax, and II was hSF
unusual for the total tax to be per TT -
in the counties from which these Z
IAN settlers came. They would ny
year or two In our country of
'oads and low taxes, then sell out ---
eturn to the 8 per cent tax rate. nl
'od city streets pay Just as well as Kill
country roads. and II is almost 900 -
slbe to have a clean, healthy, n.-e -
some town without paved streets. 49,,
Fort Smith have had a notabls VIII
pie OF how good streets pay"
H-e--= AE