The Falls City tribune., 1910-07-15
GOOD
Speech of Hon. VIM. Sulzer
New York.

y AAatoAL oaAG1As u 4N1h NJ III TN
House of Representatives, Thursday,
July 9. 1910.
Ore OF the greatest and most
important conventions ever held in
this country will be the Third Nation
al Good Roads Congress, which has
been called by the National Good
Roads Association to meet in Niagara
Falls Y. Y, July 28. %. and 30. The
appointment of delegates is invited by
the officials of every state, county,
and city of the United States, and by
every agricultural, automobile, COM
mercial, educational, good roads, in
dustrial, labor, transportation, and
woman's organization in such num-
Der as each may determine.
For year, l have been an earnest
advocate of postal savings, parcel
posts and good road building. They
are sure to come, and | shall briefly
discuss some of their advantages.
Good roads mean progress and pros
perity, a benefit to the people who
live in the cities, an advantage to
the people who live in the country,
and it will help every section of our
vast domain. Good roads, like good
streets. make habitation along them
most desirable; they enhance the
value of farm lands, facilitate trans
portation, and add untold wealth to
the producers and of the
country; are the milestones mark
ing the advance of civilization, they
econcmiZe time, give labor a lift,
and make millions in money; they
save wear and tear and worry and
waste; they beautify the country
bring it in touch with the city; they
aid the social and the religious and
the educational and the industrial pro-
gress of the people; they make better
homes and happier hearthsides; they
are the of trade, the high
ways of commerce, the mail routes
of information, and the agencies of
speedy communication; they mean
the economical transportation of mar
ketahle products-the maximum bur-
den at a minimum cost; they are
the ligaments that bind the country
together in thrift and industry and
intelligence and patriotism; they pro-
mote social intercourse, prevent in
tellectual stagnation, and increase the
happiness and the prosperity of Il
producing masses; they contribute to
the glory CT the country, give employ
ment to our idle workmen, distribute
of the fields and the forests and the
Notwithstanding energy and hus-
bandry, inculcate love for our scenic
wonders, and make mankind better
and broader and greater and grander.
THE plain people of the land are
familiar with the truths of history.
They know the past. They realize
that often the difference between
good roads and bad roads is the
difference between profit and loss.
Good roads have a money value far
beyond our ordinary conception. Bad
roads constitute our greatest draw
back to internal development and ma
terial progress. Good roads mean
prosperous farmers; bad roads mean
abandoned farms, sparsely settled
country districts, and congested pop
ulated cities, where the poor are des-
tined to become poorer. Good roads
mean more cultivated farms and
! cheaper food products for the toilers
in the towns; bad roads poor
transportation, lack of communica-
ton, high prices for the necessaries
of life, the loss of untold millions of
wealth, and idle workmen seeking en-
ployment. Good roads will help those
who cultivate the soil and feed the
multitude, and whatever aids the
producers. and the farmers of our
country will increase our wealth and
our greatness and benefit all the
people. We a not destroy our
farms without final decay. They are
today the heart of our national life
and the chief source of our material
greatness. Tear down every edifice
in our cities and labor will rebuild
them. but abandon the farms and our
cities will disappear forever.
One of the crying needs in this
country, especially in the south and
west, is good roads. The establish
ment of good roads would in a great
measure solve the question of the hig
price of food and the increasing cost
of living. By reducing the cost of
transportation it would enable the
farmer to market his produce al a
lower price and at a larger profit
at the same time. 1t would bring
communities closer together and in
roJah with tho capfo-c of DonI1o+;o,