The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1910-02-17

RURAL ROAD BEFORE IMPROVEMENT
write. In four good road states out
Of 100000 population there are 90
600 illiterates, DO good roads concern
you? If you are one Of the 30,000,000
people who live on farms in the United
States it is a fairly safe guess that you
know something about bad roads, even
If you do not know and have never
CHANGED to cross the Z per cent of I'M
proved roads of the total 100000
miles Of highway in the United States.
Americas country roads are so no.
toriously bad that It costs more to
haul ton of wheat from farm to mar.
ket than to ship that ton from New
York to Liverpool. Americas country
roads are 50 bad that it costs the
American farmer % cents to haul
ton when 1t costs the English or the
Belgian or the French or the German
farmer only from : to 0 cents for the
same haul. You, Mr.. Town Man, and
you, Mr.. Farmer pay for the unneces.
sary waste of those bad roads. the
town man by extra cost Of what he
eats, the farmer by lessened profits on
what he sells. The same reason ex.
plains why the town man pays SIPS
In spring for potatoes which cost from
80 to 70 cents in the autumn.
The interstate commerce report
shows that the railroads yearly haul
2G5O00,O00 tons of farm produce and
that the average haul from farm to
market for the whole country is nine
and a fraction miles Put the cost Of
hauling at a round 81 ton for the
nine miles and you have the cost Of
hauling farm produce at round half
billion dollars a year. Half that cost
Is waste, solely owing TO bad roads.
The charge to haul wheat from New
York to Liverpool, 300 miles, is SO
cents per bushel, The charge to haul
bushel Of wheat from farm to mar
ket, "a miles, is ell cents. The stor.
age on wheat at water fronts is q
cents a bushel year.
The results OF bad roads are yearly
tolls Of $12.50 against every person
who eats farm produce. That yearly
waste would build 100000 miles of Al
macadam roads every year, basing the
cost at the very highest average of
$1,000 mile.
The beauty Of the relentless scheme
or things is when we mend our WAYS
in this case, mend our roads-nature
nOt onlv Nvinau ONT tbo doaott H.. l. -
puts plus TO the account where there
used to be a minus. Supposlng of the
2,OOO,OOO miles of roads in the United
States all were improved instead of
only Z per cent, what would be the
result to farmer and consumer? First
Of all, the big deficit Of waste on haul
on storage, on cornered prices. wiped
out! The minus goes off the national
slate and the plus comes on.
The good road moves the remotest
farm right next to the market. A farm
twenty miles from the market on an
all the year round good road is nearer
market than farm seven miles away
on bad road. Truck farmers In New
Jersey and Long Island can haul their
produce to market, thirty miles, cheap.
err than they can ship by railroad, and
that produce nets, according to well
known averages, as follows:
Fruit, $50 per acre; flowers, $1,000
per acre; corn, SO per acre; wheat, 81
per acre; oats, 81 per acre; vegetables,
$42 per acre.
Out In the Dakotas and Minnesota
and Manitoba farmers haul their prod
uct thirty and forty miles, but they can
maui 1t only when the roads are dry in