The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-02-20
GOOD @
@ RO n d S.
A Scattered Movement.

f'SNNsN-So
DR.. Chaplin is reported to have
said that he believes that with a
highway that will furnish good trav-
cling across half the continent the
various States will concentrate good
roads movements into providing
feeders for that highway, and that
eventually travel by automobile will
be common between distant points
| and that the farmers will be able to
assert their independence of the rail-
roads as gasoline and electric ve-
hicles become cheaper and more
fitted to the demands of the farmers.
Good roads movements in the va
rious States" he is also reported to
have said, "are scattered in their
effort. There are many struggles to
finish this, that and the other road
stretch in this, that and the other
county. There should be beginning
at the beginning. If we get one
stretch of road in each State put in
good shape and laid out so that it
will connect with stretch laid out
and properly built by the two adioin-
ing States, we will have a highway
established which will be worth while
tapping with feeding roads.
eve came from Chicago through
country which is fertile and which
needs just such highway and such
eventual feeding roads. 1t will en-
able the farmers to reach the cities
and towns with their produce inde-
pendent of the railroads. Once the
National Highway is started there
will be q general concentration of
the good roads movement toward
connecting with it all of the States
it traverses. The road will be really
an avenue over which traffic will
flow constantly. The man or boy
in the country will not be isolated.
He will have an avenue running be-
fore his farmhouse and farm"
In many parts of the country,
where for the last few years crops
have been abundant, the farmers are
buying motor cars. With the in
crease Of information and the at
tendant increase of scientific and in
tensive farming, the prosperity of
the nation will more and more
strongly be centered in the agricul-
tural districts. Their increasing
progressiveness will tend to insure
them against the less productive
years and their needs as we'll as
their contributions to the national
wealth will make the construction of
such road system for them a GER
tainty, not in one locality, but
throughout the entire country. Such
system probably will not be held
long by private corporation; yet,
though the roads are taken over by
the States or counties through which
they pass, the projectors will doubt
less earn a substantial and abundant
reward for their genius and labor.
The effect on national life and
character. of such a road system and
an extensive use of automobiles over
1t, would be consummation most
devoutly to be looked forward to.
The moral freedom that farm life
gives to a man who stands upon
his own ground and tills his own
soil, would, when backed up by the
broadening and urbanization that
such a system of roads and automo-
biles would give. probably develop a
character that the world would not
want to stand against-as much on
account of admiration as of fear
Nothing is done in moment that
is quite worth while doing. Yet, the
changes that have taken place in the
world during the last twenty years
are most remarkable. The world is
fairly rushing into what the late
Geo. s. Morrison called "The New
Era" When his book, by that name.
was first published. it seemed like the
idealistic dream of a great engineer.
Mr.. Morrison was, without any doubt.
one of the greatest engineers that
America has had. To-day the world
seems Just on the verge Of the civil
ization that ne foresaw-a closer
drawing together Of nations and men,
and a deeper humanization of the
race.-The Motor Car.