Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1908-09-24
VALUE OF GOOD ROADS
Dusty Highways Mean Disease,
Says Government Expert.
VALUE OF IMPROVING THEM.

Where Thoroughfares Are Good Chill
dren Are Clean and Well Cared
For and Vice Versa-How California
Learned an Economic Lesson.
81 have noticed wherever l see bad
roads 1 invariably see neglected, un-
kempt, unwashed children. If travel
along good road l see children well
cared for. l do not say that one di-
rectly follows the other, but they I'M
doubtedly go together. A community
that is negligent of it's roads will be
negligent of it's children, and conf
munity that is negligent of it's children
will not produce good citizens, nor,
above all things, will it have high
standard of public health"
This observation on cause and effect
was made by DR.. Allerton S. Cushman,
assistant director of the office of pub
lie roads of the United States depart
ment of agriculture, at a meeting of
the American Public Health associa-
ton.
DR.. Cushman was asked to Justify
the statement. "It is, think, justified
by a day spent in an automobile in
any country section" said he, land, in
sisting as / do on the condition, l
so frequently asked by unthinking
Americans, What possible relation
can there be between the public road
and public health?
"If the medical men of the world
know what they are talking about the
relation is intimate. Dirt and dust
mean disease. Cleanliness and sanitary
surroundings work for better citizen
ship. The relation of science to mum
dane things is evident, if one will use
even percentage of the powers of de-
duction which Conan Doyle gave TO
Sherlock Holmes. Science holds in her
archives a delightful little story which
well illustrates my purpose. 1t is re-
lated that at one time the flavor of the
famous Staffordshire cheese had de-
parted and splendid industry was
endangered. Sir John Lubbock the
great naturalist, made a prolonged in
vestigation and finally reported to the
farmers that in his judgment the best
restorative measure possible would be
to import a great number of cats and
set them free in Staffordshire.
Naturally the unbelieving scoifed at
the proposed antidote, for they deemed
the suggestion ridiculous. They asked
a reason for SO extraordinary pre-
scription.
1.-The peculiar flavor of the Stafford
shire cheese comes from a hybrid clo-
yer which formerly grew here in great
abundance said Sir John. The bum
blebee is the one means of cross ferti-
lizing that clover. The field mice have
increased very rapidly in numbers of
late, and they are destroying the nests
of the bumblebees. If you can destroy
the mice, the bees can work on that
clover, and Staffordshire cheese will
soon be as good as ever. Get cats
therefore,
Il don't vouch for the story" con-
tinued DR.. Cushman, "but l indorse it
for its power of illustrating the deli
cate equilibrium which Hndcr our COM
pick civilization exists between the
public health and public utilities. No
body will deny that the 2,150,000 miles
of public roads of America constitute
the national dust factory and furnish
fully 80 per cent of the dust we in
hale. The delicate breathing appara-
tus of the human body was never
meant to harbor such substances as
every passing breeze blows from the
thoroughfares, and the percentage of
people dying from disease carried by
dust is higher than is generally be-
lieved
when the public will concede that
to be a fact the director of public
roads and the state and county road
builders and overseers will get n great
sr degree of popular support than they
now receive The American finds
dusty roads a menace only when it is
brought home to him that they cost
him money. That was demonstrated
to the orange growers of California
few years ago, when dust covered fruit
no longer commanded SO high a price
as when free from dust. The result
was an aroused interest in road i'm
provement and in dust suppression.
Appeals on the score of cleanliness and
good health never stirred the Califor-
mans, but slump in the price Of
oranges brought about wonderful
era Of activity. The outcome was
gratifying and California soon had
dustless, oiled roads. In that state
the oils possess higher asphaltum
base than the oils of any other section
Of the world, and when they are
spread on the roads the volatile por-
tion of the oil evaporates and the as
phaltum remains as a binder.
'"The almost immediate success of
this plan attracted the attention of
highway engineers throughout the
world In France and some of our
eastern states it was at once assumed
that oiling was the best road treat