Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-07-30
The Good Road Movement.

Maine has some very bad roads.
There is no doubt about that. A
whole lot of money could be spent to
advantage upon them, particularly up
on some of the main thorOughfares.
Good roads would be a great attrac-
ton for Maine to add to it's other at
fractions.
But the roads are no worse now than
they have been for years. They are
probably much better on the average.
For years and years and years farmers
and transfers have had to pick their
way over these roads, rocky, loose or
muddy, as might be the case. No
doubt they complained and kicked
about the roads but very little of the
complaint reached the public ear. 1t
was not until the autos came that such
severe criticism of Names roads was
heard. The roads that the patient and
much neglected farmer had toiled over
at all seasons of the year, in winter, In
mud times, in dry times and in the
rough season of early fall, suddenly be-
come a disgrace to the State and as
such are severely condemned, since the
advent of the auto. The criticisms are
til early fall, just the period when the
roads are really at their best. The
farmer goes on picking his way over
them. slumping through winter snow
and spring mud and racking his wagon
or cart over the rough going of late
fall, but the agitation for road i'm
provement is only active in the auto
season The roads are bad, very bad,
no doubt, but the agitation for I'M
provement ought to be on account OF
those who have to use them all the
year around rather than on account OF
the pleasure riders of the best season
of the year, as it seems to be. 1t seems
as though the farmer with his stiff
road wagon or work cart had more Ii
cense to kick than the pleasure seeking
tourist in his auto equipped with lux
urious springs and cushions and pneu-
matte ti"es-Biddeford Record.
There is nc doubt as to the truth of
the Records statements but it strikes
MS that the social standing of the
"kicker'' is not the vital question. The
farmer has more votes than the city
Ildu dI.u Cdil ulCldlc Vic
reason why he hasn't had more to do
with legislation in the past is because
he has worked at cross purposes with
his neighbor. Organization brings the
needs of the farmer sharply to the at
tention of the legislator.
The farmer has been grumbling for
years because the roads over which he
hauled his produce have been so poor
that in some seasons of the year he
might as we'll be living en- an island.
He grurbled and grumbled and that
was the end of it. The automobilist
came along and grumbled too, but he
accompanied his grumble with con-
certed movement for better roads.
Within very few years the farmer
ard automobilist, the tradesman and
the mechanic have discovered that
good roads bring prosperity. The re-
suit is that we are getting good roads,
slowly but surely. and the automobilist
is paying his share. That is the best
part of the whole proposition. 1t is a
pleasant past time to shout for good
roads when somebody else pays the
bills. Under the Maine highway law
everybody contributes his proportion
ate part of the expense, just as each
| reaps his proportionate share of the
benefits. And to the credit Of the au-
| tomobilist let it be said that he didn't
| stop shouting when the good roads
movement reached as far as his pocket
book