The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-06-10
MORALS AND ROADS
Bad Reads Cause shiftlessness IN
Rural Communities

Rural Communities
Among the speakers before the
meeting OF The women at the land
congress at Arcadia Mo. was Mrs.
Frank de Garmo OF st. Louis. who is
at the head Of the good roads COM
mittee OF the National Mothers con-
gress Mrs. de Garmo advocated
good road from a good home to
good school for every child of the
field and the foothills" She called
bad roads the arch enemy of the
rural world Many men and women"
she said, have left the farm on ac-
count of depriyations, resultant from
bad roads. In the name of the thou
sands OF child farmers who despair at
the almost superhuman task of &C
curing the rudiments of an educa-
ton. on account OF the almost impas-
sable condition OF the roads, at the
only season Of the year when their
little brown hands are not busy all
day long, | pray you, for their sakes,
wage an educational campaign for
systematic, permanent road building,
under the patronage Of the state and
by an experienced road engineer.
in the name OF the hundreds of
thousands Of the women farmers, pa
tiently toiling, toiling. toiling, through
out the neyer-ending days, carrying
with sanity smile their heartbreak-
ing load, | implore you to lend your
sweet, womanly influence to arouse
public opinion in favor of quick and
easy means of transit to rural social
centers, where the spelling bee and
the Singing school shall be supple
mented by dancing. athletics, healthy
theatrical attractions, cooking clubs,
road cadet drills, parent-teacher CO.
operative clubs, and last. but Of great
est importance, the religious develop
ment that comes from a non-sectarian
but deeply spiritual Sunday school
and Sunday sermon. / beseech you
to crystalline public opinion and pub
lie spirit into a system of highways,
which shall not only connect the
great commercial centers of your
state, but into which shall be built
the byways Of travel, the cross
country roads on which not only COM
mercial prosperity shall be transport
ed, but also the intellectual social
and moral development which will re
store to the country the glory which
has almost departed to the city, thai
of nurturing the earths geniuses.
Not only the bookworm but 81
far as white children are concerned
1t Is largely a matter of bad roads
that causes the shiftlessness that Pre-
duces a total Indifference to pride o
appearance and to normal ambition fl
rural districts. There is nothin
which hurts the people more, or cost
the people more, or keeps them bac
more, than bad roads. They make
hard to leave, hard TO get back, har
4 to haul, hard to visit, hard to 90 [
H school, and hard to get to HEAVIER
H sometimes. There is nothing that
4 man can think Of, that Will do NOR
II 70 help all the people than good road
II They make il easy TO travel easy {
II bring goods home, easy TO haul YOU
II produce and manufactures to marke
II easy TO 90 to school, easy to get I
II church, and easy to avoid many bite
II thoughts that bad roads cause.
II The lack OF good roads breed
II shiftlessness. A man gets tired OF Gu
II rying horse that always gets mu,
II dy whenever he is taken from III
II stable. lie slams a gate-and break
II panel In it-because there Is a pu,
II die between him and the post. and h
II has not had time to drain that pu,
II die IN % years. In some parts of m
II country, IL seems to be the ment,
II state for those accustomed To ba
II roads, TO be without pride and ami
II ton They may work hard and plo
II but their plodding does not brin
II prosperity. Il evidently does not o
II cur to them that the loss In tim
II the wear an horses, and the damap
II to wagons and harness In haulin
II their produce TO market, Is the ell
II ment OF financial leakage which hs
II Kept them paying interest on the
II mortgage for generations nor do the
II appreciate the fact that such vast
II OF time and material means ha
II amounted TO enough to have improve
II the roadways half a dozen times. tn
II farmer who goes to church over ba
II roads will lose his religion in goin
II to church. or II he got religion Will
II at church. he would lose Il goin
III hack home -