The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-02-22

ldTInS.
If the congested districts of the
cities could be relieved by returning
to the farms one-third of the pres
ent city jewellers. the tension on
living conditions would relax in
twelve months and something of
the free and natural life of fifty
years ago would result
The chief thing that drives the
farm boy to the city and keeps the
immigrant in the city is the isola-
ton (mere sentiment, of course, but
read further, hard facts and figures
coming). Farm life segregates peo-
pie and the typical farmers boy
feels himself lonely unit in n very
big whole that pays very little at
tention to him. The whir Of the city
wheels stirs the discomfort in his
brain and the glitter of the city
lights daZzles his eyes with a gla-
mour that is false, but it dazzles
nevertheless. Not only the boy but
the farmer himself feels at a disad-
vantage in comparison with the city
man who appears to be a part Of
the complex life about him.
There is no cure for this condi-
ton of isolation but the easy, al
ways ready, rapid communication
ensured by all-the-year round good
roads all over the country. The in
stinct for gregarious life, both So
cially and in business, can be salts
fed only when men are brought to-
gether, and the automobile, the good
road and motor truck will do this
where no other means yet devised
can succeed.
Unless the North American farm
er can be put on a plane of equal
advantage with his city cousin, the
farms of the American continent are
doomed to become tracts of land
leased to Japs, Chinese and Italians,
while the white farmer hunts for a
job in town. Telephones, rural de-
livery of mail, electric lights and the
trolley will help some, but good
roads and self-prcpelled road-vehi-
cles will do more than all of them
to solve the problem Of the farm.
When the farmer and his wife can
put on their good clothes and drive
their machine, over good roads, into
the city, where they may whiz along
the streets past their city cousins
trudging on foot, or waiting for a
car, the problem of the deserted
farm will be almost solved.
But the problem goes deeper than
this. Since no commodity is used
where it is produced, it follows that
everything pays some sort Of freight
charge, and the element of trans
portation enters into every phase Of
the problem. There are over a bill
lion acres Of land in North America
today that are uncultivated now, for
no reason other than that they are
classed as inaccessible. There are
as many more acres that are un-
profitable cause they are adapted
to certain forms of produce that re-
quire a very prompt and speedy de-
livery to market, which can not be
secured under present conditions.
When we remember that since the
year 1900 the per cent of people liv-
| ing in the cities has increased from
four to forty, we can pretty accu-
rately locate the causes of the pres
ent trouble Of high prices. We have
outgrown the producing power OF
the farm lands Of the country, I'M
der the conditions Of accessibility as
they now exist and unless we can
change our methods, we may expect
more trouble.
The vital point in the whole prob
lem is the radius of possible trans
portation Of produce to market
With mud-roads and horse-dra
wagons, five miles is the average
limit beyond which the green goods
of a city's food supply cannot be
drawn. With good roads, this dis
lance may be put as ten miles. With
good roads and mechanical transpor-
tation, all the country within twenty
five miles is available for truck
gardens, and fruit and vegetables
can be produced for a territory al
least four times larger than when
hauled by horses.
1t has been proved that to haul
produce over average dirt roads in
average poor condition, costs twenty
three cents per ton per mile. TIC
haul the same produce over goo6
roads costs 10 cents per ton per mile
With hard roads and commercial
self-propelled trucks the goods car
be got over the ground at the rate
of four cents per ton per mile, and
they can be got there in a hurry il
necessary. Makes difference
doesn't it?
i For two thousand years the horse
has been the motive power for NOV.
ing anything too heavy for man tc
handle himself. When steam came
to it's own in the railway there wer:
people who predicted the exit of the
horse, but it took more horses to gel
freight to the railways than it tool
before there were railroads, and i
is quite possible that the increased
production made possible by good
roads and motor transportation u
product to market will require th'
use of even more horses on thu
farms of the country than are n Nv
employed.
According to statistics now avail
able, the average haul of all kind
of farm produce is nine miles at {
cost of twenty-three cents per tol
per mile. Something like four hun
dred m .llion tons are hauled out an
nually to the railroads alone o
North America. This makes owe
eight hundred million dollars pait
for farm wagon-road freigh, owe
dirt roads. Experience on good road
shows that the mile-cost, with hors
drawn vehicles, should not exceed
ten cents, which means that we ar
now paying the neat little sum o