Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-02-26

IMPROVED HIGHWAYS WILL SOLVE IT.
along stretches of impossible thor
oughfares which had as a basis the
sticky ''gumbo" clay of the south,
burnt them to such purpose that the
clay was changed entirely in charac-
ter and then supervised the construc-
ton OF q road that for hauling pur-
poses is little short of the splendid
macadam roads of the north and east
1T depends entirely upon the char
acter of the country through which
the road passes" said Mr.. Humphreys
when asked what 1t all cost eff It be
wooded so that fuel can be bought
for, say, $1.25 cord. the road can be
made for $500 a mile. 1 may say
that 1t costs from one-half to one
fifth as much as a macadam road
costs, and 1t is as easily and as cheap
~ maintained. ..a..T a5-
"In country where the people
have never gone into the building of
good roads the thought Of paying
$4,000 mile seems prohibitive.
Where the experiment is once made,
however. we all know that the people,
and especially the farmers. who usual
ly at first are most violently opposed
to. the undertaking, demand that the
roads be constructed and are most
willing to bear the tax"
In explaining how easily the bur-
den Of taxation would be borne, even
If the authorities of his county de-
cided to expend a half million In the
construction of perfect system Of
high class roads. Mr.. Humphreys
said: eff the farmer, instead Of haul
ing six boles OF cotton with two
mules. as could be done with ease last
winter over the burnt clay. road near
Greenville Ghe one built as a model
by Engineer Spoon of Director Pages
office, could haul but two. he would
be taxed for bad road at higher
rate than anybody. was ever taxed
for good road, not counting the wear
and tear on mules and wagons. l
Il have seen seed cotton in the
pens In July which had been picked
after the rains had begun to fab in
the previous winter and which had
not been hauled to th,c railroad where
the gin was located because the roads
were too bad to travel. Think Of the
tax that man was paying. and that,
too. for a road he conld not trayelw
Mr.. Humphreys, who. has taken a
great interest in the splendid work
being dore by Director Page and who
Is apparently thoroughly familiar
with the experiments ard scientific
Announcements. being made by that
schSlariy road expert. named a num-
Der Of the publications issued by the
Office and told. Of the vast benefits the
farmers of the country were receiving
through their, distribution. He refer
red especially to the efficacy of the
split log drag as road builder and
maintainer and read letters from men
who had attained the most gratifying
results from the use of this simple
but effective device. .l1 lsi Ir4i.-
Last year the 1900, 600 miles Of poor
roads in the United States cost vast
fortune to the farmers and incidental !
~ another to the city men, the added i
cost to the farmers OF hauling farm /
products over the well nigh impassa-
bic roads being In the end paid by the \
men who consume them.
! Statistics gathered from the leading
countries Of Europe prove that the
cost Of hauling over the American
roads is far higher than In any other
country, the average in France, Ger.
many and England being II cents a
ton mile last year to a cost Of Is cents
here. That difference Of 10 cents is
the unnecessary tax burden the Amer
lean farmer Is forced to bear because
state and county authorities have long
been blind to the BENEFITS which would
follow an awakening to road impor-
lance. f,ee 40 8. d f.g.siD 54lsa
As the average length Of the haul |
Df all American farm products Is "a |
miles, 1t will be seen that every ton |
hguled cost the farmer who hauled 10 |
s1.22 more than the hauling Of a ton
of similar products would cost the
tarmers Of England, France or Ger
many. Last year nearly S6.0000O0--