The Democratic advocate., 1909-08-13
VOL. 44.-NO. "A.

tear, lost time, number OF horses. The
great gain which will result in the
increased value OF our proDertv is
also another item to be consIdered
Let us examine these few subieets
briefly, and see II can make clear
70 you my views.
Wear and Tear.
Owing TO natural laws ii is imnos-
sible for anything TO be done n fbis
ire without a certain amount of wear
ana tear. 1t is considerable upon the
iarin, and whatever would lessen the
wear and tear on your wagons, your
horses, your harness, would be saw
ing 10 you. IL needs no argument 10
prove that everything, even, your
temper, would last longer by hanIing
over good road than over a bad one
ana the longer your wagons. yo;',.
harness., your horses last. so nren
longer can you have the money 4
would take to replace them working
Tor you In another place What the
actual amount in dollars and cents
per year this saving would amount
TO- cannot tell. but you know II
would be something of importance.
Saving Of Time.
Again, another difference between
good roads and bad. is the difference
between time utilized and time lost
II time Is money. its loss has vaIup
Everyone konws that mnch Of the
farm work has 10 be done nj cer-
tain periods OF the year and that At
other times work is slack Now II
is Just at this time when the farmer
has leisure, that the roads are al
their worst and he is confined 10 tbe
farm, and II Is at the busiest time that
ne must frequently leave his work to
haul products. work which. n tho
roads were good. could be done I'm
the winter All the heavy banIIne
could he done then. and Il would NOT
wear either you or the horses o,,t
20 much and Il could be- done IL less
time.
It's no answer to say that al certain
seasons the farmer has SO little ~
do that the extra amount ~ work
does not matter Such an answer
I doesn't meet the question. m the
hrBt place II could only apply IN
the winter, and the roads are so had
then you cant haul anyhow; and In
the second place, who ever heard of
farmer having nothing 10 do on a
farm; II there IS anything % do. your
time being Of value. It's loss is the
loss OF money.
number Of Horses
IL costs money to keep a horse:
u you can do the same amount of
Work with less horses, every horse
dispensed with is a saving OF course
many Of you would say that you re-
/ qulre q certain number Of horses to
/ 90 the harvesting, which is true, and
mat You have 10 keep them anyhow.
/ which Is not true, for statistics show
/ that a less number Of horses are kent
IN countries where the roads are
/ good than where they are bad. In
/ th@ United states and Russia, the two
countries Of the worst roads, there
~ morse 10 iive people in France and
/ 1ermhny, ! TO l3 and IN Great Britain
I about | to 1S In addition we do
know that besides the hauling done
/ by farmers. a large amount Is done
/ by truckers lumbermen and others.
/ who keep horses principally for hauI-
ing, and they certainly could do with
/ leHs. Your loads would also be larg-
I er so even II you kept the same num-
I Der OF horses you would still be saw
/ Ing time. In foreign countries much
/ lhTgeF loads are pulled than In Mary
land. Ia Trnnce. Italy and Germany
i from one and a half TO two tons per
( horse ts the usual load The largest
loads anywhere are pulled on the
/ roads near Munich. where 2 horses
haul from 5 TO 6 tons. Compare
/ these figures with ours, where the
average ls about one half 10 two
4 thirds OF ton per horse. Another
+ way In which the hanlins capacity
/ OF horse would be increased would
be that we could use lighter wagons
/ and the horses work would 20 into
/ pulling the load and not the wagons
dead weight In addition, your horse
/ would not be strained so much would
live longer, and AK his work would
not be so hard he would require less
/ feed. Horses last longer doing the
same work I'm Washington than they
do In Baltimore why, because they
have better streets and less grade.
How much this saving on vehicles,
/ harness, feed and horses would
/ amount to no one can exactly tell.
! but you know II would be consider
able. The Maryland Geological Com
mission, from the result OF its inquir-
les among the Maryland farmers. says
that II would amount To about 500
| per farm Of 210 acres. IL the work
could be handled with one horse less.
It's feed per year should be added to
this amount which would be al least
$50. making n total of $3.50, the in
terest on $4,000.
The Increased Value Of Property.
Another item TO be considered is
the Increased value OF your farm
lands. This increase In value is
most noticeable, and Il is said that
In the Improvement of the roads in
parts Of New Jersey the tax rate
was not raised owing to the increas-
ed value OF property coming from the
saving made by good roads and the
additional demand for the land. New
settlers are new wealth; they are
\ attracted by good roads for It is ap-
parent that one would rather have
q farm on good road than ON a bad
one. SO important do emigrants Of
a better class from Europe view our
roads that some OF our consuIs have
reported that they refuse to 20 to a
State whose roads are bad. But 1t is
not necessary to argue this question,
No man but would prefer having a
farm on pike then one away from
II.
General Estimate.
i II Is difficult of course to fix the
amount Of saving from good roads,
but II has been estimated in various
ways. the fairest In my opinion be-
Ing ON the cost OF hauling. The
Maryland Geological Commission,
after thorough investigation, fixes the
n cneA NOR fnrn mar NIL, Al, AAn...I.a.,.