The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1908-10-22
HEAVIER LOADS
WITH BETTER
SPEED ON GOOD ROADS.
Better Highways Will Benefit the
Business Men and Farmers
in Marketing Produce
To the Editor of The Comet:

To the Editor of The Comet:
II the farm is to be profitable it must
not merely produce abundant crops,
but its products must be put where
they can be sold. BY whatever means
of transportation they may ultimately
be carried before they reach the final
consumer, our farm products move pri-
marially over the country highway,
and the condition of the road leading
from the farm to the shipping point or
to near by consuming center, such as
manufacturing town, affects materi-
ally the profits Of the farmer and the
value of his farm. The condition of the
road controls the size of the load that
can be hauled over it and the speed at
which it can be carried. An improve
ment by which the farmer is enabled
to carry, with the same vehicle and the
same team, load seventy-five or one
hundred per cent. heavier, will result
in substantial saving in his time and
in the wear and tear of his vehicles and
teams. The construction of good roads
leading from market town has prac-
tically the same effect as bringing the
farms nearer to the town. 1t extends
by several miles in every direction the
area of territory in which farmers can
proftably engage in market gardening
and dairying. That this is true has
effectively demonstrated in those local
tiles in the southern states and in other
sections Of the country where road i'm
provements have been carried out in
telligently and systematically.
The cost to the farmer of hauling his
products over poor roads is not always
appreciated, for the reason that it is
rare that a farmer pays for having his
hauling done. The United States de-
partment of agriculture has made an
Investigation of this matter, however,
and the results show the cost for cot
ton, for instance, to be an average rate
of twenty-seven cents per ton per mile
for an average haul of 11.8 miles. That
road improvement would materially
reduce this cost is shown by the follow
ing striking statement in the Year
Book of the agricultural department
foI 1905:
"If it were possible to increase the
average weight of wagon load of cot.
ton in the United States from three
bales, as it now is, to four bales, with.
out increasing the cost of hauling the
load, the saving on crop equal to the
one picked in 1905 would amount tc
$4,000, 600; and if the average load o
wheat, now So bushels, were increased
by 20 bushels, the saving effected ir
hauling q crop like that of 1905 woulC
be more'than $4,000, 600"
In addition to what may be termed
the commercial aspect of good road'
they have highly important socia
aspect as well. They bring the farme
into closer touch with the world a
large. He and his family are not fore
ed to remain at home for days at a tim
because the condition of the roads ma,
make travelling unpleasant if not diff
cult. Good roads insure efficient an'
} prompt rural mail deliveries, placing
the newspaper on a table of the farme
early on the day of its publication, en-
abling him to transact much of hi
business by mail and to take advantag
of early information as to fluctuatiol
! in the prices Of his farm products. Goo
roads mean that the farmer and tn
members Of his family can enjoy to
. greater degree the society of thei
? neighbors and friends in the town an
= country. They mean that his childre
: can be more regular in school attend
B ance and can receive to greater degre
the advantages of education. The
mean the bringing closer together {
Q the town and country, with advantage
on both sides, for as the farmer is Der
/, Gifted by being brought into close
. touch with the town, SO all the bushes
\ interests of the town prosper as the RI
s suit of the facility with which the fa
: mer and his family can do their shoI
ping. Good roads also benefit til
|. inhabitants of towns and cities by a
. fording facilities for pleasant countr
. drives. They invite the business ma
= to the establishment of country on
4 suburban homes, such as he can enio
only when he is assured that the eond