The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-02-23

try.
The average length Of haul Of all
farm products in this country IS 9.4
miles, therefore. on the tonnage above
! brought forth the American farmer
suffered Il loss Of Sill for every ton
hauled, a total of $38.900,000 on the
above tonnage.
That, however, is only a percentage
of the tonnage annually transported
over the country roads. The Inter-
State Commerce Commission in a re-
port embracing the fiscal year which
ended June Both, 1906, showed that
the railroads handled S20,164,627 tons
of freight originating on the respec-
tive railroads. Of that wealth Of
commerce the product Of the mines
constituted $50 per cent. and those
! OF manufacturers 14S1 per cent
On the theory that mine products
and manufactured articles are trans
ported by rail and not by wagon,
those may be excluded from consid
GRAFTON. There is then left 32 per
cent, which is made up Of agricultur-
al. forest and miscellaneous pro-
ducts; maximum of 263.O0O.00O
tons which annually pass over the
country roads in the wagons of ten
millions of farmers. With the aver
age haul of 94 miles, that product
passes over 2,491,000,00O miles Of
country roads. At the accepted rate
Of 25 cents a ton mile, 'the cost to the
farmer of hauling his wares to the
transportation points or market cen
tres is 1922, 100000. If it could be
hauled at the average European rate
of y cents a mile, the cost would be
s29S, 100000; the difference of
1928, $4,000 being 1.-THE unjust tax
placed upon him because Of the i'm
passable condition of his transporta-
| tion routes.
All Divide the Burden.
It must not be assumed by the city
man or the city woman, however, that
the farmer is the only sufferer or that
ne is alone forced to carry the mud
tax burden. Everybody has to share
it, for it is the consumer who finally
"pays the freight The cost Of the
eggs served on the tables Of the city
hotels have their price established,
not because Of the arduous labors OF
the hen, but largely because Of the
cost Of transporting the wares OF the
hen from hennery to hostelry. The
cost of the cream in the breakfast
coffee rests not so much upon the
strenuous endeavors of the COW as up
on the cost Of transporting that cream
from dairy farm to city home, and
the cost of the breakfast roll rests
more upon the cost of hauling the
wheat from Western fields, first to
shipping point, thence to elevator,
thence to mill and thence to baker.
than upon the toll of the baker.
During THE year 1906 it cost 3.8
cents per bushel to carry wheat from
New York to Liverpool, distance OF
3,1OO miles, while it costs the Ameri-
can farmer 1.6 cents more to haul
that same bushel Of wheat from his
barn to the nearest market place nine
miles away; the heavy cost being due
to the fact that the roads were so bad
that he spent a generous portion of
the time between sunur and sundown
in stealing rails from his neighbor's
fence with which to pry' his wagon
out Of ,the Sloughs and ruts.
Would Save Money in Horses.
Il doesn't take scientist to appre-
ciate the fact that all commodities
may be hauled more economically
owe" hard. smooth roads than over
soft. bad ones. but it may interest
many who do haul to learn the reason
why.
Tests by eminent engineers have
proved that if a horse can barely
draw load on a level road over iron
rails. it will require one and one-half
horses to draw that same load on
asphalt, three and one-half horses
% draw it over the best Belgian
block pavement, seven over cobble-
stone pavement in good repair, thlr-
,een cn bad cobblestone, twenty on
IN ordinary earth road. and forty on
sandy road. The resistance III
poundsh can be stated as follows: On
an earth road, 224 pounds: on a hard
rolled gravel road, IS pounds; on a
hard, smooth maeadam, IS pounds,
the velocity being pace.
Therefore. were all American roads
improved, large loads could be hauled
with far less power and such increase
I