The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1906-12-07
WHY GOOD ROADS PAY

MAKE LAND VALUABLE AND CREATE
HIGH AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE.
Striking Instances of Importance Of
Having Improved Highways Told
by an Arkansas Man-serious Eject
Of bad Road Tax ON Farmers
At the recent convention Of the
Arkansas Good Roads association held
at Fort Smith, 81. e. 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 it's roads. Good
roads pay. They make high land val
ues, and in time they create high aver
age intelligence in the country through
which they are built. Perhaps no bet
ter example of this can be found than
IN New Zealand, where the general
! government undertakes the building
! and care of all roadside 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. 1t acquired by purchase
or condemnation large tracts of land.
The first thing in the way Of develop
ment was a highway built through the
property. Along this the government
sells out to settlers on long 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 1t is as
tonishing what that government Is ac-
complishing in spreading it's people out
on the soil. There is no congestion of
the population in cities. Each citizen
is encouraged to get a home Of as many
acres Of land as he can take care Of,
and the result is a population whose
general intelligence and comfort are
greater than l have seen elsewhere.
'That good roads pay is generally
conceded fact, and it has seemed
strange to me that an argument on this
subject should be needed A 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 I cannot conceive of great
err contrast than that which the squalor
poverty and ignorance displayed in our
rural districts make with the intelli-
gence, cleanliness and comfort one sees
in a New Zealand rural district I 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 I 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 dispei
the ignorance in procuring the roads or
procuring the roads to dispel the ig-
norance. -
II recently purchased piece of land
near Fort Smith past which ran two
good roads recently built This land
was timbered, but the timber had been
rated an incumbrance on the land. In
fact, it hadn't been profitable to steal
it and haul it to town. which fact prob
ably accounts for it's still being there.
had lot of this timber cut and put a
rather intelligent person looking for a
disposal of 1t. Some time later l was
surprised when he told me that 1t was
sold at net price, after paying for the
hauling. which would more than pay
for clearing the land. On looking into
this I found that the good roads made
it possible to haul cord or more at a
load Of this wood to market and make
about four loads day. whereas before
the good roads were built two loads Of
one-half cord each were all that one
team could do. 1t cost So cord to
: haul this wood before the good roads
were built and rs cents a cord after
ward In other words, the wood was
, worth 1925 per cord after the roads
: were put in, while it was absolutely
t worthless before ] find that the diff
: ference in the cost of hauling a ton OF
t hay to market before and after the
r good roads for distance of seven miles
is about 50. One of my farm teams
b over the bad roads will bring ton OF
: hay to town in day. Over the good
9 roads they will bring three tons. sc
: the product of meadow Of 100 acres
y Is worth about $500 more with good
l. road to 1t at seven miles from towr
+ than it is with bad road. Before this
t good road was built the meadow was
J. worth $40 per acre. Since 1t Is bull
n $50 seems reasonable price for'it
II have found by actual experience
l. that the tax the farmers are payini
d which keeps them poverty stricken Il
Is that imposed by bad roads. For man.
y years tried earnestly to lScate an in