Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1911-04-06

mile, in England the same; while Bel
gium reduces this low rate half a cent,
and Germany caps the climax with an
average rate Of 8.5 cents per ton per
mile for transportation on her high
ways. 1t would, therefore, seem rea-
scnable to assume that with a high
grade class of highways in your county,
the cost of hauling to the point of rail-
road transportation might we'll be re-
duced one-half at least, and if this were
done it is susceptible of demonstration
as to whether or not it would be to your
interest to issue $625, 900 worth of bonds
to improve your roads. / feel perfectly
confident in saying that you would find
it exceedingly profitable and that you
could we'll afford to pay the interest on
these bonds and it would be a most
profitable undertaking to borrow the
money on bonds for buildings highways
on the above basis, but the Indictment
against bad roads has not yet been re
cited.
am persuaded that q great waste of
money is constantly being made by too
much land being occupied for highway
purposes and the amount of ground
wasted in this manner Isl. entirely un-
necessary and results in great loss to
the communities. The average high
way is 66 feet wide and only small
part of this space is actually needed for
roadway, the rest being devoted to
weed culture. These " eeds furnish an
inexhaustible supply of seeds with which
adjacent farms are stocked without eff
fort on the part of their owners, caus-
ing either heavy outlay for labor to
keep the weeds down or a still greater
loss from damaged crops 1 believe
that highway 80 feet in width is as
efficient and answers every purpose as
: to have it wider.
! James ]. Hill, Of st. Paul, Minnesota,
has sounded a note of warning rs to the
waste Of land throughout our whole
country. agree with him in part but
differ with him materially as to the dam
; ger he claims confronts this country by
want of land for cultivation. We have
not yet reached the danger point of lack
of land for cultivation. We can take
care of a great many more people in
this country than we are called upon to
do.
Another that enters into the question
Of good roads and which is back of it
all. is the inability of the farmers, on
account of bad roads. to haul their crops
to the market when the prices are high
est. Again quote from Mr.. Page in a
paper read before the American Road
Builders Association at indianapolis
last December, when he bruised the
pocket nerves of every farmer in Indi-
ana by reminding them that in 1909
prices of wheat in Chicago ranged from
e9i cents to SLIGO per bushel, the lowest
price being reached in August when the
roads we're at their best, while the top
prices were attained when the roads
were practically impossible; thereby
demonstrating that if the roads had
been in a condition all the time to have
hauled the products to the markets they
could have obtained, if not the highest
prices, price much higher than the
lowest. Therefore, think it is proven
that even from purely monetary and
economic basis that good roads are a
necessity, but this is not all.
Aside from an question of money is
the isolstion imposed by bad roads.
Churches, entertainments and agree
able neighbors count for naught if one
is separated from them by a mile or two
of impossible mud holes. Good roads
mean more to the children than to the
grown members of the farmers family,
for they may spell the difference be-
tween an education and the lack Of one
1t has been found that in communities
provided with good roads the average
school attendance the year round is over
80 per cent, while with bad roads the
attendance rarely exceeds 70 per cent,
while it may be as low as 80 per cent.
The best schools are always situated on
good roads, the worst schools on bad
bad ones.
oub OCIICl tulHSo arc HOW III SlSut
The Federal government and the State
governments are taking an interest in
the matter of improvements to roads,
and with the proper effort on the part
of the freeholders of your county and
throughout the State of Virginia, aid
from both the United States and your
own State can be obtained. And this is
not all. We have our full quota of
criminals confined in our State prison
and our county and municipal jails, and
every able-bo3ied man and woman, who
for violation of our laws, is sentenced
to our prisons, should, if for no other
reason than humanity's sake, be given
an opportunity 20 work. They are not
only benefited physically but mentally
and morally. Nothing is more offensive
to my mind than the thought of con-
fining in large body the criminals of
our State of all ages. the older and