Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1911-12-29
ROADS AND SETTLERS.

Oregon Agricultural College, Corval.
lis, Oregon.-When Thomas H. Edison
returned from his European vacation.
the New York reporters met him at
the pier with requests for his impress
sions OF the countries he had visited
with special reference to the oues.
ton Of how they compared with his
native land. His reply was that
Europe could show us nothing better
than we produced with one exception
our highways. When it is consid.
cred that he comes from state which
has been one of the foremost in road
improvement, and that his criticism
was based on the condition of her
roads, one wonders what he would
have said if he had come from some
of the newer states.
His Impressions are undoubtedly the
same as those of the European trav-
eler who visits our shores, and there
may be a lesson in his remarks that
will explain the absence of the best
; class OF European emigrants from our
vacant farm lands. Everyone with
even the most superficial knowledge
of Oregon's conditions will admit that
her greatest need today is more set
tiers to develop her latent resources.
The commercial clubs of the state
spend thousands of dollars every year
to tell our friends in other sections
OF the United States and in Europe
about the marvellous opportunities that
await them in the Northwest, but
somehow results fail to measure up
to expectations.
Many reasons are advanced for the
failure of the campaign, each booster
laying the blame on the other fellow.
One claims that the high freight and
passenger rates are retarding the
growth of the state; another blames
the land boomers for holding the land
at prices which are practically pro-
hibitive; others say that the very
nature of the literature issued is pre-.
venting development, as the general
farmer sees nothing to attract him in
fruit growing at the present price of
land and water, and so it goes, each
one carefully refraining from shoulder
ing any portion of the responsibility
himself.
Of course, 1t, is much pleasanter to
let the other fellow relieve us of all
portions of the blame, but before
being too sure it is sometimes a good
idea to make sure that he has done
so, and as long as our rural roads
are left in their present condition, it
will be difficult to persuade him to
shoulder the part that rightfully be-
longs to him. The fault lies with the
entire state, including both you and
me, and while it is very unfortunate,
We cannot dodge the issue.
How can we expect to attract farm
ers from countries where every man
has been accustomed to hard surfaced
roads from his childhood and regards
them as matter of course. He can
not understand why the American
people make so much fuss over the
improvement of small stretch of
highway, for in his country no fuss is
made unless the road is neglected.
Then it is not necessary for him to
complain, his government will attend
to the delinquent road official with
great despatch. True, some European
countries still have the same class of
roads with which we are afflicted,
but without mentioning names stop a
moment and think if the class of set
tiers which come from these countries
are what we need to build up the
state.
If the Booster Books are sent to
our Eastern states the results are
much the same. The farmer has had
a taste of better market roads, and
while he was very skeptical of their
advantages at first, he is now their
most ardent supporter and does not
care to go back to the old conditions.
"The Good Old Days" undoubtedly
had their advantages, but the high
ways were not among the most con-
spicuous. He will read the literature
we send him and admire the pictures;
he may even reach the point where
he feels that it would pay him to
sell the old homestead and begin
again in the West-and then he picks
up his paper and sees what happened
to the road bills in both Washington
and Oregon last winter. He also
notes that it was impossible for 3S
men, selected by the governor for
their intimate knowledge of condi-
tions, to agree on plan of procedure
for the Oregon roads, and he allows
that his present location looks good
to him.
Oregon us not the only state that
must have more settlers in order to
take her rightful place among the
commonwealth, and study of how
some of the other thinly populated
communities are meeting the problem
may be helpful. Texas needs men to
cultivate her broad acres and secure
her almost limitless mineral wealth,
and the price at which her land can
be secured is SO much lower than in
most states that she has an advantage
at the start. Her laws permit the
counties to bond themselves for high
way improvement and great deal
of good work has been done under
All. oo% Tbara hoe haan No ODDOr-