The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1910-03-25

hDhhb hohD
write In four good road states out
of G,000.OoO population there are 90
600 illiterateS. DO good roads concern
you? If you are one of the 30,0OO000
people who live on farms in the United
States 1t 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 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 1t 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 so bad that it costs the
American farmer % cents to haul q
ton when it costs the English or the
Belgian or the French or the German
farmer only from to 8 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
" nat hC StllS' lt SdInc ltuSOn eA-
plains why the town man pays $l.25
in spring for potatoes which cost from
so to 10 cents in the autumn.
The interstate commerce report
shows that the railroads yearly haul
2G5,OOO,OO0 tons of farm produce and
that the average haul from farm to
market for the whole country Is nine
and n fraction miles. Put the cost of
hauling ut a round 81 ton for the
nine miles and You have the cost Of
hauling farm produce ut round half
billion dollars year. Half that cost
e waste. solely owing to bad roads.
The charge to haul wheat from New
York to Liverpool, 300 miles, Is 35
cents per bushel. The charge to haul
n bnshel of wheat from farm to mar
kct, "a miles. is Oil cents. The stor-
cents bushel n year.
The results of bad roads are yearly
tolls of $3.50 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
of things is when we mend our ways
in this case, mend our roads-nature
not only wipes out the deficit but she
puts plus to the account where there
used to be Il minus, Surprising of the
2OOO0OO miles of roads in the United
States all were improved instead of
| only 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 a farm seven miles away
on bad road. Truck farmers in New
Jersey and Long Island can haul their
| produce to market, thirty miles, cheap
er than they can ship by railroad, and
that produce nets, according to well
known averages, as follows:
Fruit, $50 per acre; flowers, $4,000
| per uCIt, COIu, 90 per acre. WHEAT, 81
per acre; oats, 81 per acre; vegetables,
$40 per acre.
| Out in the Dakotas and Minnesota
and Manitoba farmers haul their prod.
uct thirty and forty miles, but they can
haul 1t only when the roads are dry in
the early fall, and at that season the
price Is lowest. The farmer along the
good road can command the best price
by hauling only when the price is best,
and he can also raise the produce that
gives biggest net returns. If you would
learn why whole family can live, and
live well, Off an acre in Holland and
Belgium and France when family
often fails TO live well off 100 acres in
America.
With good roads Dakota farmers
who under present conditions drive
hub deep in gumbo mud during spring
could market their crops when prices
ruled the highest Instead Of selling
'helr wheat at 20 and so cents In
the fall they could sell it at 81 dur
ing the winter and In the spring.