The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-05-19
ALL HELPED BY GOOD ROADS.
Cost of Living Affected BY Condition
of HIGHWAYS.

In the current issue of the Burling-
ton Clipper appears the following ar
ticle by Smith s. Ballard, of this
city, secretary of the Automobile
Club of Vermont:
While more is heard from automo-
bilists than from any one else of the
desirability of better highways, every
one else who uses the highways is as
much interested as that class and ev-
eryone else will benefit from high
way Improvement
One writer asserts that the present
high prices for agricultural products,
which are greater than those of in
dustrial products, are due to the poor
system of rural communication which
makes 1t expensive to market produce.
In 1887 the cost of hauling one ton
one mile on a railroad was Ia
cents; today it costs 40 of a cent.
In 1887 it cost II cents to haul one
ton one mile by horses; today the
cost is % cents. Railway transporta-
ton has been cheapened, though the
cost of construction and equipment
has been increased. Highway trans
portation has become more costly
because the road has not been inn
proved
The matter has been worked out
and tested sufficiently in some places
in this country and in foreign coun-
tries to show that improved high
ways are paying investment.
Truck farming is one of the pay
ing forms of agriculture, but Access
sible markets are necessary factor.
With ordinary mud roads an area of
2S.26 square miles is accessible to the
truck farmer which gives an aver
age haul of three miles With improv-
ed roads, which furnish a good sur
face and avoid mud holes, this avail
able area is extended to 1929 miles
with an average haul of six miles.
This might be elaborated further,
but the plain statement is sufficient
to show that the automobilists are
not alone or principally interested in
better roads. The subject is one that
concerns the entire community.
1t is a mooted question whether the
pounding of heavy automobile and
the suction of it's tires does greater in
jury to the ordinary road bed than
the pounding of a horse wearing
shoes with sharp calks and hauling a
vehicle with a narrow steel tire. The
use of oil will do much to preserve
the surface of dirt roads from injury
by any kind of travel. The oil forms
sort of crust which is not ground
to powder by the passing of autos
or horse hauled vehicles. 1t sheds
the rain, so there is no mud in the
road after a storm to dry up and be
ground into powder. The dust is elm
mated and this is of special interest
in villages.
For this purpose crude petroleum
is used at small cost A heavy ap-
plication is required the first year, but
some OF that remains in the road sur
face; the snow and rain do not wash
1t out, so that lighter application
each following year will keep the road
in good condition.
This treatment is more for the BEN
eft of the roads and those living
along them than for the AUTOMOBILE
list, for the motorist usually travels
fast enough to keep out of his own
dust.
1t would hardly be possible to oil
long stretches of country road in any
town the first year, but if the oil treat
ment were applied in the villages it
would be found but little more expen-
slVe than common sprinkling, which
it would displace, while it is much
more efficient, and from year to year
its use would very probably be ex-
tended to the outlying highways. In
the few places in Vermont where the
oil treatment has been tried it has
give nsatisfaction and has been con-
tinued
Whatever improves the roads bene-
hts all who live along them and all
who use them, while still others, who
do not use them, bay be benefited by
the lowered cost of transportation, re-
ducing the cost of articles hauled on
the highways which they must buy and
consume.
The time has passed when the rural
resident looks on the motorist as
selfish in asking better roads and is
beginning to look on him as a friend
who is trying to secure benefits for
them both, This growing realization
or their community of interest in an
impartial improvement holds out the
promise of securing it.
All this can be said without refer
ence to further development of COM
mon interest in the increasing use
,of motor vehicles by jewellers in the
rural districts.