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

good road can command the bost -,
by hauling only when the price 70 1--WE h.
and he can also raise the produce ~
gives biggest net returns. If Won wo's n
learn why whole family can 1.-Two o.,
live well, of an acre in HOLLAND a
Belgium and France when n fo,Sn
often fails to live we'll of 100 scraa !,
America.
With good roads Dakota forr0
who under present conditions d..'
hub deep in gumbo mud during spr,n'
could market their crops when nr,oDs
ruled the highest, Instead Of sen,Ns
their wheat at 20 and 50 cents y
the fall they could sell It at 81 Az.
ing the winter and in the snrIna
An additional price Of even % cents
bushel would mean S15,OO0,OOO mora H.
the pockets Of the Minnesota farmos'
a similar amount to the farmers ~ ~,
DakOtas and to the wheat farmers !,
the Pacific coast.
New York farmers do not raise vor.
tables in quantities because until ~
Gently roads did not permit them =,
market such a perishable prodpct ~
quantities. This holds good in NON
England. The same condition eyIsts
in the COW country and the grain conn,
try. Potatoes and onions your Dako,,
farmer can market in quantities
Therefore he raises them, but becopso
bad roads cut him off from the marlot
half the year he does not raise i6a
more perishable vegetables Vereto.
bles he buys from California at fancy
prices, another tax for bad roads. In
fact, owing to bad roads. there bovo
been seasons when New Workers vero
paying 81 a bushel for their potatoes
and western farmers were glad TO sail
them at 10 cents for pig feed and
starch.
With access to market and best mi
Ing prices, net returns increase and
farm lands jump in value. 1t is m
actual fact wherever good roads have
gone land has increased in value from
50 to so an acre. In jackson county
Ala, bond issue Of S250,000 built
1916 miles of macadam road. The sell.
ing price of land was from SO to Sl5
before the road was built On the
completion land values went up from
SIS to 500.
The effect of good roads on school
attendance needs no proof. In the five
states having the best roads the aver.
age attendance is n per cent Of en-.
rollment. In the Eve states having
the fewest good roads the attendance
averages only 80 per cent,
With these figures on schools 1t Is
not surprising to find that Ignorance
and bad roads go together, In the
four bad roads states, with total
population of 100000, are 375,OOO men
and women, white and native born
who can neither read nor write. In
four good roads states, with a popu.
lation Of 100000, are only 10000 Tilt
crates.
The movement for good roads is 50
recent that 1t need not be retailed
here. When colonists first came to
America the roads followed buffalo
trails and Indian wilderness paths. As
farms became fenced roads ran along
between boundaries without regard to
the shortest distance or grade, and
these were kept in order Cor disorder
by statute labor-farmers turning out
for a day once a year for road pic.
mic, filling in holes that ought to have
been filed in months previously, ink
ering and trifing away time with no
special director. The results were
what might have been expected. Men
do not employ blacksmiths as doctors
and why should farmers be supposed
to possess the technical knowledge Of
an engineer2 During various wars
two or three good roads were hacked
through the wilderness across coun'
try, from New York up to Boston
along the old post road, from the