St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-01-05

GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT IN THE SOUTH.
EXTRACTS from Article by Joseph Hyde
Pratt.)
From the commercial standpoint the
public road question concerns the farmer
more than any other class of people, as
practically all agricultural products
have to be hauled for a greater or less
distance over the public road. There is,
at present, but little chance of reducing
the railway transportation charge on
agricultural products, but there is a
splendid opportunity in nearly every
county of every state in the South to
reduce the cost of public road transpor-
tation charges on these products. Over
manv of the public roads it is now i'm
possible for a farmer to haul more than
half ton. It may be that a consider
able portion of the road between him
and town may be fairly good road
over which he could easily haul ton or
more; but there are too many bad
where it is impossible for his team to
haul over half ton. Consequently, it is
necessary for him to load his wagon for
these rough, heavy places and not for
the good places.
II the farmer is not over eight miles
from the railroad, his team can make
round trip in day if the roads are not
too muddy and there are not too heavy
grades. IF his team is worth $3.50 per
day, it has cost him at the rate of 6213
cents per ton for each mile. On the I'll
road it can be shipped to almost any
point that the farmer desires for one
fiftieth to one-hundredth of the rate
which it cost him to bring it to the rail
road. This is because the science of trans
portation has been h ghly developed with
ra4HTnadfno ND al ut aIUI
oped in connection with the public road.
As public road improvement goes on
the farmer will find that he can begin to
hail from two to four times as much per
load as formerly, and in one-quarter to
one-half the time, thus reducing the cost
per ton per mile from one-quarter to
three-quarters of what it cost him over
the poor road. In the following table
there is given, approximately, the cost of
transporting a load of one ton by horse
and wagon a distance of one mile over
level roads, with different kinds of sur
facing. 1t will illustrate the great
saving in public road transportation if
improved roads are constructed.
TABLE 1.
Cost of transportion by horses and
wagons, hauling one ton a distance of
one mile on different road coverings.
On iron rails, 1.28 Cents
On asphalt, 2.7O {"
On stone paving, dry, and in
good order, $50 +"
On stone paving, ordinary
condition, 1900 I"
On stone paving covered with
mud, 213O Z"
On broken stone road, dry
and in good order, 500 sc
On sand-clav road, dry, and
in good order, 500 I"
On broken stone road, moist
and in good order, 1890
On broken stone road, ordin-
airy condition, 119O
On broken stone road cover
ed with mud, 1870
On broken stone road with
ruts and mud, 26OO
On earth, dry and hard, 1900
On earth, with ruts and mud, $500 %
On gravel, loose, SLIGO
On gravel, compact. 1890
On plank, good condition, $50 g
On sand, wet, 80. so :.
On sand, dry, 64.OO
The figures in the above table of course
refer to level roads, but, unfortunately,
we cannot make all our roads level
1t is necessary that most of our roads