The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-08-19

teams as the formers or Europe. 1t
is the condition of the roads that
makes the difference The Public
Roads Office also states that on farm
and mining products, by having as
good roads as those in Europe, a saw
ing could be made in the transporta-
ton of same of $50 million dollars
year, 81 million of which would be
saved on the three products of wheat,
corn and cotton.
As the farmer uses both the rail-
roads and wagon roads more than
any other class of citizens, he is en-
titled to have them both in proper
condition to handle his business as
cheaply and promptly as possible.
There are now several enterprising
towns of Oklahoma which offer from
40 to so thousand dollars to secure
railroads from so to 100 miles in
length. This should not be. The
laws of the country should so pro-
tect and encourage Investments in
railroad construction as to prevent
the necessity of citizens having to
contribute to help build them. I
would prefer to see cash contribu-
tons to induce railroad construction
expended in improving roads leading
to the farming districts from the
towns making the donations, confin-
ing the railroad donations to termin-
ais and franchises The expenditure
of the money in this way will help
the farmer make better profit and
more money out of his products,
which will benefit the railroads and
the community at large.
There is no work more important
than to build public roads in such
manner that they will be permanent
and economical in maintenance.
Otherwise the money expended
would be largely wasted.
The question of improving our pub
lie roads in the most economical and
substantial manner is one to which /
attach much Importance. Their con-
struction for permanency and econ
omy in maintenance is of such i'm
portance that l extend an invitation
to the President of the Farmers I'm
ion and one other from each of the
states of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas
and Louisiana, comprising the south
western states, to make trip for the
study of public road building through
the older states that have given this
question much thought and consider
alton. Massachusetts and Connecti-
cut are spending much money in
building good roads. New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio. Indiana
and Illinois are also at work and
good Roadway. Through a
careful study of the methods of
building public highways, their foun-
lation, material and systems of t
lrainage, which are the three import 6
mt factors to be considered, the
members of this party will acquire :
on the subject that will be
helpful in their respective states IN
arrying on the work of public road
In addition to good public roads,
Oklahoma needs 5000 miles of ad- I
iitional new railroad to properly
Ievelop the state. Oklahoma is the r
Midway state of the great area be- c
ween the Mississippi and the Rocky v
10 ntains, between the Atlantic and S
he Pacific Oceans, between the Great y
IA IS and the Gulf of Mexico. 1t is q
n position to take advantage of the 4
markets of every section. With the G
of its citizens, the produc- t
iveness of its soil, its coal, oil and s
mineral wealth, it possesses all the a
dement's of strength, and with suf- b
icient railroad mileage to aid in its e
development, its wealth and popula- S
ion will rapidly increase. New rail- 1
DAD construction is one of the SER t
Gus problems of the day
One of the greatest factors of our e
marvellous growth in the last % years c
las been the construction of the 1O6 t
thousand miles of new railroads t
To show what this means to the t
ountry:
To construct, ballast, equip and
urnish terminal facilities for the :
5000 miles of railroad construct
ID in the last 25 years required an
each year of not less than T
700 million dollars which was paid
tut for labor and material
Railroad construction has practically
,een abandoned There is no great
construction under way, and no en-