Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1911-03-24
TAZEWELL, VA, MAR. 81, 1911,
ARE YOU A SMALL FARMER?

ton of the road question, and in
fact, of almost every other question,
the average farmer, the small farm
er, particularly the renter, is the man
to be considered Why? Because he
most needs help on the one hand, and
protection on the other hand. The
rich mantle "big" farmer, is able
to stand alone. He can take care of
himself. He is able to command and
use the small farmer and the renter,
as circumstances may demand or his
avarice dictates. The small farmer is
largely in the majority. The "big
farmer" is largely in the minority.
If the small farmer is neglected or
oppressed the whole country prac-
tically suffers. If the average land
owner and the renter is not prosper
Gus the whole country, practically, is
not prosperous, for the plain reason,
as stated, that he is so very largely
in the majority. Hence, to help up
and benefit the small farmer and the
renter is to help up and benefit the
whole country. The country needs
fewer land lords and more land own
ers, and hence the prosperity of the
average men - the small farmer,
should be the chief concern of all leg
islation. Now, to the point: Who
suffers. most from bad roads, and
who pays the bulk of the "mud
tax" Why, of course, the man who
needs to use the roads most, the small
farmer. The big cattle growers mar
ket their cattle once a year, in Sep
TENDER and October. Cattle can walk
over rough roads and through mud, if
needs be. The small farmer must use
the roads to market his produce,
fruits, vegetables, etc, many times
year. He comes in his one and two
horse wagon, with potatoes, butter,
eggs, chickens, apples, ETC., to the
depot and to the homes of the people
many times year. Owing to the
difficulties of transportation his pro-
fits are nearly all consumed in re-
pairing broken vehicles and time
lost. He hauls few hundred pounds
at the expense ton or more would
cost. The mud tax is a constant drain
upon his resources. He is at the mer-
cy of the mud. The big farmer sells
his stock or hay and corn, perhaps in
bulk, and picks his time to deliver.
generally when roads are good. If
not, he cares not He can afford to
pay the mud tax. He employs all his
labor at from sixty cents to one dol
lar day generally white men with
families who are unable to buy land
and cannot rent, and he is not SO
much concerned about good roads.
The small farmer and fruit and pro-
duce peddler, must market his stuff
in season or not at all, and take the
roads as he finds them, and a part of
his load must be sold to pay enor-
nous and unnecessary wear and tear
OF his wagon, and his time. He leaves
home at daybreak, or before. Puts a
lunch in his pocket, and stops in 2
back alley, eats his cold snack, and
gets back home away in the night.
He only lives ten or twelve miles
from town, and if he had a good Nc
Adam road he could have brought
twice as much stuff, gotten back
home by dinner time, with his team
and vehicle uninjured, and the mud
tax, of so much per bushel or dozen.
could have been taken off the price
he charged the consumer in town
And SO, the small farmer isl the
sufferer from bad transportation facil-
tiles. He it is who pays the mud tax.
and he it is who should be helped
up. This proposed bond issue is the
greatest scheme yet proposed for the
permanent benefit of the .bone and
sinew" of the county, and any man
who opposes it is Iaboring under
mistaken notion as to what is. the
best public policy. If the bond issue
IS defeated the strong probability is
that, ten or even twenty years hence,
the county will have no better roads
than they now have.