The Mena weekly star., 1910-04-21
GOOD ROADS AND PROSPERITY

A bill has been introduced in the United States senate to appropriate $500, ,000 for the extension of the work of the United States Office of Public Roads in aiding in the im- provement of public highways. In making it's report on this measure, Mir. Bankhead of the committee on Agriculture, in approving it, said, in part:
 The last quarter of century has witnessed the awakening of the public to the necessity for better country roads. With the increase of produc- ton has come corresponding increase in transportation over the country roads. The fallacy that the greater our railroad mileage the less our depend ence upon the wagon road has given place to a realization that the greater the railroad mileage the greater the movement of freight on the common roads, which are feeders to the rail- roads. In France, by actual traffic census, it has been found that the tonnage over the wagon roads is one and half times as great as on the railroads.
 Over the bad roads in the United States, a team in the worst hauling season is able to transport on an average only about 800 or 900 pounds, while in France every good draft horse is expected to be able to draw }, 306 pounds distance of IS l-2 miles any day in the year. It is this realization of the financial burden of bad roads that is largely responsible for the widespread public sentiment in favor of definite and prompt action looking to the betterment of public roads. Another potent factor inbring- ing about this attitude of the public is the growing tendency of the people to concentrate in the great cities. Already one-third of our population is crowded together in cities, leaving millions of acres of land unproductive which otherwise might be adding to the national wealth and prosperity. These two causes taken together, namely, the great cost of hauling, and the scarcity of labor in the coun- try, are probably as much responsible for the high cost of living as any fac tOFS lHdt COulu De ctbcu.
 Public sentiment has become organ ized and various commercial, agricul- tural, and road associations have specifically taken up the question of improving the public roads and have repeatedly called upon the national government for some action that will aid in bringing about this result. Since the establishment of the rural free delivery service the national gov ernment has become more directly connected with the sub1ecs of road lm- proyement. The appropriation for
 rural free delivery amounted last
 year to $35, ,673, GOO, and it is evident, therefore, that the question of econo- ! my in the expenditures fer ftii ai free delivery is materially affected by the condition of the roads over which the service operates. The necessity for action is so apparent, the demand so universal and insistent, and the subject of such vast importance to the general welfare of the country that recognition and endorsement has been given in the national platforms of
 both political parties in 1910.
 N. J. Bachelder, master of the
 National Grange. lends his approval
 to the effort for better roads, say
 ing that of the 90 million dollars
 now expended in this country for
 roads, 45 million is wasted from lack
 of knowledge on the part of local
 road authorities. He believes that
 the work proposed by the bill will
 do much to obviate this, and that a
 complete system of good roads would
 do more to promote prosperity and
 reduce the cost of living than any
 other reform.
 The contention is beyond denial,
 and we all are. or should be, inter
 ested in it.