Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1907-10-17
They Help Farmers.

don as a plain, practical business
proposition Is, in my opinion, para
mount to any question that now pre-
sents or that can possibly be suggest
ed, because good roads would 90
more for the country than any other
one thing that can be named or any
dozen or more things combined, says
W. P. Brownlow, Congressman from
Tennessee, in Golfers Weekly.
There is a feature of this question
which persons accustomed to thor
oughness in every other line OF
thought seem to entirely overlook,
especially dwellers in towns and cit
les. If the common roads of the
country we're brought to a condition
that would enable farmers to market
their products at all seasons of the
e a the cost of living in town and
city would be greatly lessened and
discomfort among laboring people
and the operatives Of industrial con-
Germs would largely decrease, IL It
did not entirely disappear. Why and
how?
Present road conditions compel
| farmers to rush their products to
market 5000 as harvested, when the
roads are at their best, since by wait
ing a convenient time they may not
| get there at all because of bad roads.
| This naturally congests the market,
forcing low prices, to the great detrl-
ment of the producer and without ap-
probable benefit to the consumer, be-
| cause the average family inHtOwn or
| city buys only in small quantities at
one time, say, a days OF a weeks
supply. What is the result?
The Spectator, finding prices low
and knowing that in a little while the
bad roads season will be on, when
| competing products will be kept from
the trade centres, buys up the surplus
and stores it away for the day of ne
! cessity when he can demand and re-
ceive his own price for his holdings
the stuff for which men toll, which
they are compelled to have at what
ever cost.
And when the citizen in a town
the mechanic and operative of the
shops and factories-is forced in win
ter and spring to pay exorbitant
prices for those articles Of household
necessity which went begging for
buyers at low prices the preceding
fall he figures the increased cost of
living in comparison and grows rest
less and disconnected and is easily
led into strikes and other labor dis
turbances that are SO disastrous to
the business of the country and so
prolific of other hurtful consequences.
This of course is not all that enters
into strike causes, but it contributes
q full share.
The prices of foodstuffs from the
farm would be always at a decent liv-
ing level to all concerned if the coun-
try had Systematically improved
highways over which farmers could
travel to market any day in the year.
These farmers would then realize
better prices for their products than
they now do, at less cost for market
ing and still be able to sell to all
classes of consumers at lower prices
than are forced by spectators in the
bad roads season.
While it is undeniable that the in.
fuence of public schools, the press,
the pulpit and other institutions
marks the progress of civilization
yet all these are more or less depend.
ent upon the facilities of intercourse
between the people. Good roads
through the country would do much
to relieve-the congestion of popula.
ton in great sSties, and thus the so.
clal fabric would be strengthened
because rural life is conducive to the
highest moral standards, whereas in
crowded city tenements vice runs riot
with it's malign influence.
Bad roads in the United State:
cost the producing people $1,500,00C
every tw%enty-four hours. This drair
IS fearful. 1t is d%eadening the ma.
tlonal life and is a national disgrace
Good roads develop good people. The
wagon roads are the highways along
which civilization and development
move.