Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1909-03-25
Their Political Economy.

Poor impose an unnecessary
financial burden, not only upon those
who most constantly use them, but
upon the men and women who con-
sumo the products grown In the rura
sections and brought to cities and
towns by farmers.
No study can be more convincing
than that of the economic waste
placed upon the shoulders Of the S5,-
100000 people of this land Q the
almost criminally shameful condition
Of 2,OOO,O0O miles Of road. Every
pound Of farm products brought from
rural sections to thickly-populated
centres has placed upon it a fictitious
value, because it costs the farmer
more to transport it than it would
cost him were the roads in passable
condition. The price of the lamb
chop that Brooklyn eats for break
fast is based, not upon the real value
of the lamb, but upon the cost OF
bringing that lamb from the western
fields to the Brooklyn breakfast table.
The cost Of the breakfast roll would
be trifling did 1t not cost the farmer
who grew the wheat from which the
roll was made 1.8 cents a bushel
more to draw that wheat from his
farm nine miles to a railroad station
than 1t cost to carry a bushel of wheat
from New York to Liverpool, q dis
lance Of 800 miles. The cost OF a
soft-boiled egg, which is also closely
related to the American breakfast, is
established by the cost of transport
ing the product Of the hen to the
hotel, and not because the egg was at,
all ~intrinsically worth what was
charged for it.
Everybody who thinks must con-
cede the evident fact that If a farmer
with two horses can draw but 600
pounds to market in five hours, he
would save money If with one horse
he could haul 1900 pounds in two
hours. Were the roads in good con-
dition, he could do that and more.
Any saving in hauling a ton of farm
product would bring a benefit, not
alone to the farmer, but to the con-
sumner, and if the product hauled each
year was large, it is not hard to fig
ure that the saving would be large.
Figures have been assembled to prove
that owing to the frightful condition
of almost all American roads, it costs
twenty-five cents a ton a mile to haul.
The superb roads Of the old countries
OF Europe make possible the hauling
OF farm products at twelve cents a
ton a mile. Therefore, every ton
hauled costs the American farmer
thirteen cents more per mile than the
farmers of the old country are forced
to pay. The average length of haul
Of farm products in the United States
is "a miles; therefore, were our
roads as good as those of France, the
farmers gain would be "a times thir-
teen cents, or approximately $1.23.
Let us see what that amounts to in
a year in hauling but a portion Of the
products which traverse the country
roads in wagons. The United States
Department of Agriculture, through
its Office Of Public Roads, has col
lected the figures, and they may be
accepted as approximately accurate.
During the crop rear of 19O5-6, 85,-
487,OOO,O00 pounds of farm products,
consisting of barley, corn, cotton,
faxseed, hemp, hops, oats, beans,
rice, tobacco, wheat, and wool, were
hauled from the places where they
originated to shipping points. This
vast weight did not, by any means,
include all Of the crops produced. the
most notable exceptions being truck
products and orchard products, the
tonnage of those two amounting high
in the millions. Neither did it in
clude any figures for forest or mine
products, nor for those things which
go In wagons from the cities back to
the country districts. Were all those
included, n may easily see what q
vast annual saving would be made.
AS it is, however, of the figures
quoted above, at a saving Of thirteen
cents per ton mile, the cash benefit
TO b farmers would be $1,000 900.
Beyond that, however, the Inter.
state Commerce Commission has as.
sembled other freight figures, a most
conservative estimate and most lib.
eral deductions from their figures
tending to prove hat 100000, 900,
y pounds are annually hauled. By
same method Of figuring as that
adopted above, the hauling of this
would result in a saving of about
$35O,0O0, 900 a year. It would an.
pear that so vast a sum~should not be
annually thrown away, simply be.
cause those responsible for appro.
pr1atlons OF money to construct roads
cannot be brought to a realization o.
tnelr tremendous Importance. The
time for an awakening is here. and
the quicker the awakening occurs
the greater the benefit the farme,
Will enjoy.-Scientifc American.