The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1911-08-24
REASONING IN A CIRCLE
DO GOOD WAGON ROADS PAY

DO GOOO WAGON ROADS PAY
"You are reasoning in circle, my
friend, when you ought to cut cross
lots
Thus, did ST Hawkins, a plain un-
tutoredl but hard-head AIDED farmer pune
ture the labored philosophy of high
browed exponent of domestic econ- M
les, who had just climsWed an address
to a gathering of farmers with the
statement "thst the cause of high
prices and the high cost Of livflg is
freight rates, and the cure is re-
duction ina rtes."
II sm only plain farmer con-
timled Hawkins, '1but I,too, ha,ve given
tie high cost Nf living some Thought;
not, however, in a rocking chair in
richly furnished study, but in lum-
Der wagon up to the hubs in mud and
while walking between the handles of
a plow That is the college, in which
l matriculated and le rned what
knSw Of economics.
"Before this, l, too, had formed
some opinicGs' from garnishedl sophis-
try which found in books and
speeches by theorists and office-seek-
ing politicians, but it was hauling h-M
q ucad of hogs d3I market the Othnr
day ever a road knee-deep in mud
tll.t made me realize there were
other Things than freight rates IL
volved i'm the high cost OF living. l
Lad a osSe Of eggs at my feet on ehe
side AMID a tub of butter ON the either,
10Th bringing such good prices that
nlhtlher-tless her clear heart, she
books better I'M calico than other wom
en- i'm :i!Es-cautiOmeh me against
reckless driving
"A rev idea cann IT,, me. 1t was
that by giving the consumer the bene'
fit Of the waste thl4t ATTACKS tu ex-
isAillg methods and conditions, We
could by this aloma greatly re.luce the
cost OF living.
THAT set me to figuring. 1t took
me ia, -:l.cue day with a team aard
wIgon to haul 1900 lbs. OF hogs tine
ten lilies had to go. At THE race
OF So. SO per day fen team and driver,
! e,,sily aseertaintsd that the wagon
haul, without a1l-wing Lighting fer
repairs or keeping myself and team,
was cn:tin;g 46 cents a ton per mile.
Great He iyens, that was over sixty
ONE tire: mere titan tile average
charge IA ton per mile by the railroad
as shown by the reports OF the Inter
state O-mmerce Commission, and yet
everybody seehl-g to reduce the high
cost of living was bitterly inveighing
against railroad rates and blindly
marching behind blind la-ders to' that
end. When roads were not muddy,
hauled $500 lbs.to a load and yet that
was % cents az TON per mile, or over
thirty seven times more than the
average charge by the railroads. The
reports eft the Int lite Commerce
Commission showed that the average
cost by railroad was p of one cent a
tom per mile.
I'm pamphlet issued by the De-
pal'tmcnt of Agriculture, read that
the farmers of sevnH.-l states, partic-
ularly the farmers of Pennsylvania, by
the construction OF good rd1ds had
GOubled their wagon loads AID there
by decreased the cost OF wagon tn ms
portatIcn SO per cent That meant O
polIr roads saving of % CENTS Ia tor
per mile, and ON the dry roads basis
a saving OF IA cents a ton pr mile
when l re lized that this a.pr-
motS waste applied tc all the great
farm crops OF this country-for every
pound or ton of surplus firm product
must be moved by wagon to the cars
tr elevators At the railway station-l
IVES Staggered, first at tho enormous
waste and second at the stupidity OF
sorcallel economic philosophy. 1t cost
me $3.50 to llsul 1900 lbs, whereas
.,,.&l L., 7 4 I'll.
1t the same est, Showing very clearly
to me that ON that wagon haul / h ID
a cl9arl waste and less OF rs per cent
The average rmount | wCMId have I,
nay the railrcad for hauling the same
load the same distance is less than 4
CENTS. I'M either words, fer what il
cost me $3.50, the railroads do it for
less thin 6 cents, and the average
amount the railroad CHI rges me is ac