The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-01-01


Bachelor, Master of the National
Grange, gave an address in which he
said:
Up to a comparatively recent period
the question of better roads was re-
garded as one that concerned only the
districts in which the highways are
located, and it was believed that the
expense of road construction and i'm
provement should be borne by such
districts. AS the result, very largely,
of the persistent agitation by the
farmers for better roads, the road
problem has come to be considered
from the wider point of view that bad
roads affect not only the communities
through which they run, but also the
interests of the towns, cities, states,
and nation. There is now a general
agreement that since the manufacture
ers. merchants, and workers of the
country at large are all concerned
with the prosperity of the farmers,
the question of good roads, as means
of improving the condition OF the
farmers, is of direct interest to other
classes of our people.
I assert without fear of cOntradic-
ton that the establishment of COM
plete system of improved public high
ways is the most important economic
issue now confronting the American
people. The conservation of our for
ests and other natural resources; the
improvement of our rivers and har-
bors; railway and trust regulation; all
these sink into insignificance in COM
parison with this question, in so far
as it relates to the permanent welfare
and prosperity of the nation. Care
full estimates of the loss in time, Ia
Dor, and actual expenditure for mar
keting the cOuntry's enormous volume
of farm products, show that bad roads
impose an annual burden of at least
SIZE, 200, 900, the Difference between the
cost of hauling these products over
the dirt roads which constitute SO
per cent of our total road mileage,
and the cost of hauling the same guam
tity over improved roads. This loss
falls heaviest on the farmers, whose
productive capacity is decreased be-
cause of the greater portion of their
time that is spent in conveying their
crops to market. but it also imposes
the burden of higher prices on the
consuming public generally. Manu-
featuring and business interests are
affected through the fact that under
present conditions the farmers pro-
duce less, and therefore consume less
manufactured goods, than they would
under more favorable conditions.
It is truism that the prosperity of
the whole country depends on the con-
dition of our agricultural interests, yet
this simple statement of fact is prac-
tically ignored in all discussions of
how to restore and maintain pros
perity. The dependence of our whole
complicated system of manufacturing,
transportation and trade on the farm
ers of the country has been clearly
illustrated during the past year, when
Wall Street, our great railway sys-
tens, and to a large extent our manu-
featuring and business interests gen.
orally, have been anxiously following
the crop reports, in order to assure
themselves of more favorable out
look and the coming of another period
of manufacturing, transportation, and
business activity.
But when 1t comes to appropriating
money by Congress, how do we find
the great basic agricultural industry
treated? The statistics of the expendi-
lures by the national government dur
ing period of ten years ending with
1906 show that out of appropriations
of 5000, 742,632, collected, it must be
remembered by taxes paid in large
part by the farmers of the country,
only $47,O0O,817 was devoted to fur
thering the interests of agriculture.
That is, three-quarters of one per cent
of the total appropriations, for the
department of our national govern
ment that is concerned with the adj
vancement and welfare Of the most
important interest of the country!