Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1911-03-17
WHAT'S THE use?


And this is right and proper. We buy
church organs, Sunday school litera-
true, etc, and this, too. is exactly
right. But what's the use? The
churches are closed good part of the
year on account of bad roads. Bad
roads make churches inaccessible.
Would anyone think of building a
church on top of rugged mountain ?
Certainly not. 1t would be inaccessi-
BILE. Just so with many of them now
in the country. The people are cut off
by mud and rough roads. The preach
ers can't get there, neither can the
people. The church and Sunday
school are failures on account of the
difficulty of travel. We buy nice bug
gies and other conveyances for the
use of our wives and children. This
is exactly as it should be. They want
to visit, drive to church and the
store. attend the social party. But
what's the use? The buggy can't be
used. The roads are too rough and
muddy half the year. After a trip or
two over the roads the new buggy is
ri ned. The wife and daughters are
shut in most of the time. When they
do go the mud and necessary long
time spent on the road destroys all
pleasure of the visit.
We build school houess and employ
teachers at very large cost every
year. But what's the use? The child
rem must miss much of the session on
account of the inaccessibility of the
school house. The children must get
up early. plod through mud over long
rough roads, arrive ut school with
damp feet, which do not get dry dur
ing the day. The pupil can't study,
perhaps takes cold, is sick, doctor
bills and perhaps the undertakers, is
the result. The "mud tax" is big
one sometimes-a bad one at all
times. Produce of all kinds must
pay big mud tax. The cost on n
mud road is 81 cents per ton per
mile for hauling. On good road ii
is z cents. One man living 20 miles
from town and depot is picked up
and put 10 miles nearer by good
road. If his farm is ten miles away
the good road moves him s miles
nearer. If his home is 1-2 miles
from town. he lives in town. When
he loads his wagon for market he
must load with the worst road in
mind. On an improved road you load
the wagon. On mud road you load
the team. The regular work of q
splendid pair of Percherons is to move
seven tons of stuff from factory to
depot two days ea:h week. On the
smooth macadam road of their com.
munity they handle the seven tons at
one load, says the Breeders Gazette.
On tn usual mud road it would re.
quire seven teams. allowing one tor
team, and seven wagons and sew
en- drivers The mud tax each year il
ten times as much as the road tax fol
the man wha,uses the roads. Think OF
the enormousAsamount paid in mut
taxes by the small farmer who brings
one or more loads to town each week.
Dairymen and truckers living &c
miles out of New York get ready ant
deliver their goods in New York II
time for breakfast, and are back
home by nine o'clock-no mud, nc
worry.
No wonder boys and girls desert
the farm home!
Shut a bright girl off in an isolated
country home, where she is deprived
of all the amusement and social adj
vantages-can't get about to see hei
young friends, nor they to see her, ant
what happens? The first thing you
know she is seeking some employment
In town, even at poor aaary. She
wants to see something and hear
something besides the monotonous
screech and same old songs of the
country church, however good ans
useful these may be. The same will
the boy. He picks and up leaves the
farm because of isolation and the
mud tax. Farm and country life j.
the only ideal life, if only one coult
get to the farm, or get away after
he got there. Good roads will regen
crate tie country. The telephone hai
done wonders. Now, build splendit
macadam roads and lifs in the countr,
will be worth living. And yet, some
people oppose good road building
Are we blind, or misguided, or both