Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-13

for highway engineers. and the time is
short. iNHD~ +N+ 9"o'
But 1t is not only sentiment that should
promote the construction and the mainten-
ance Of public highways throughout the
length and breadth OF this country; there
are cold dollar reasons. Poor roads i'm
pose an Unnecessary inancial burden, not
only upon those who most constantly use
them, but upon the men n women who
consume the products grown in the rural
sections and brought to cities and towns
by farmers.
No more convincing study can be had
than that of the economic waste placed
upon the shoulders of the 5000 200 people
of this land from the almost eriminally
hamefu condition or 100000 miles of road.
Every pound OF farm products brought
from rural sections to thickly populated
%eenters has placed upon 1t a fictitious
value, because It costs the farmer more to
transport 1t than II would cost him were
the roads in passable condition.
Everybody who thinks must concede the
evident fact hat If a farmer with two
horses can draw but coo pounds to mar
ket in five hours, he would save money II
with one horse he could haul 100 pounds
in two hours. Were the roads in good con-
dition he could do that and more. Any
saving In hauling a ton of farm product
would bring a benefit not alone to the
farmer, but to the consumer, and II the
product hauled each year was large, II is
not hard to figure that the saving would
be large. Figures have been to
prove that owing to the frightful condi-
tion OF almost all American roads, It cost
Is cents a ton a mile to haul. The superb
roads of the old countries of Europe make
possible the hauling OF farm products at
u cents a ton a mile. Therefore, every
ton hauled costs the American farmer Il
cents more per mile than the farmers Of
the old country are forced TO pay. The
average length OF haul of farm products
in the United States Is 81 miles; therefore,
were our roads as good as those of France,
the farmers gain would be 90 times Is
cents, or approximately a.2S.
what HAD Roads Cost.
Let us see. what that amounts to In a
year in hauling but a portion of the pro-
ducts which traverse the country roads in
wagons. The United States Department of
Agriculture, through its office of roads,
has collected the figures and they may be
accepted as approximately accurate. During
the crop year OF 1866. S. s7, 100000 pounds
OF farm products, consisting OF barley,
corn, cotton, flaxseed, hemp. hops, oats,
beans, rice. tobacco, whea and wool
We're hauled from the places where they
originated to shipping points. This vast
weight did not. by any means, include
all Of the crops produced. the most notable
exceptions being truck products and
orchard products. the tonnage of those
two amounting high In the millions. Neither
dld 1t include any figures for forest or
mine products, nor for those things which
go in wagons from the cities back to the
country districts. Were all those included
one may easily see what a vast annual
saving would be made, Az Il is, however.
OF the figures quoted above at a saving of
Is cents per ton a mile, the cash benefit
to the farmers would be Ss,9 0 900.
Beyond that however. the Interstate
Commerce commission has assembled other
freight figures. a most conservative esti-
mate and most liberal deductions from
their figures tending to prove that 25O.OOO.OOo
pounds are annually hauled. BY the same
method Of figuring as that adopted above
the hauling OF this would result in
saving OF about 500, 100000 a year, 1t would
appear that so vast a sum should not be
annually thrown away simply because
those responsible for appropriation q,
money 10 construct roads cannot be brou0bt
to a realisation Of their tremendous i'm
portanee. The time for an -awakenIng is
here. and the quicker the awakentng
occurs, the greater the benefit the farmar
will enjoy.
is an easy matter to do busips..