The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-06-28

a ioe'u W HldIhet' men mus meas
ured, ten miles of good, smooth high
way are not as long as a few miles of
mud and stone.
Let me illustrate this further. Two
men We're discussing The respective
merits of their farms. One said. Il
am only three miles from the market
while YOU are five" Yes said the
other. "but my five miles is over a
hard graded road over which my
two horses can easily haul two tons,
while your road is hilly and rough
and YOU would not think of putting
more than "a of a ton on your wag-
on"
Farmers are realizing more and
more that the distance they live from
market is measured in time and not
in miles.
1t will be easily seen that any re-
duction in the cost of marketing a
product is to the advantage Of the
make the difference, the consumer
will; and il should not be and it is
not difficult to convince the. town and
city man that he is directly Interested
in the construction and maintenance
of good roads in the country. II he
can be convinced of this fact, he will
be willing to be taxed that improved
road construction may be carried on
In every part of the county of which
he is a resident. Wherever improved
roads have been constructed, they
have demonstrated in q Very short
time their value to the community
and to the State and have shown con-
clusively that they are the means of
saving mar. dollars a year to the
farmer. Over many of the public
roads of the South it is now impossible
for a farmer to haul more than half
ton. 1t may be that cOnsidera BILE
portion of the road between him and
town may be a fairly good road over
which he could easily haul ton, but
there are too many heavy places and
grades on the roads over which it is
impossible to haul over half a ton.
Consequently, it is necessary for him
to load his wagon for these rough,
heavy places and not for the good
places. If the farmer is not over 8
miles from the railroad his team can
make round trip in a day if the
roads are not too muddy and there
are rot too heavy grades If his
team is worth $3.50 per day, it has
cost him at the rate Of 62 1-2 cents
per ton for each mile. On the rail-
road 1T can be shipped to almost any
point that the farmer desires for
1-5O to 1-100th of the rate which it
has cost him to bring it to the rail-
road. This is because the science of
transportation has been highly de-
veloped in connection with railroad
ing and almost entirely undeveIoped
in connection with the public road.
AS public road improvement goes
on the farmer will find that he can
begin to haul from two to four times
as much per load as formerly, and in
IA to 1-2 the time, thus reducing the
cost per ton per mile from IA to S-4
of what 1t cost him over the poor
chance OF reducing the railway trans
portation charge on agricultural pro-
ducts, but there is a splendid oppor-
tunity in nearly every county Of North
Carolina 10 reduce the cost of the
public road transportation charge on
these products.
Estimated Cost of Transportation by
Horses and Wagons, Hauling One
Ton a Distance Of One Mile OH DIFF
fcrcnt Road Coverings.
ON iron rails. E. :. . 12S cents
ON asphalt. E. 2.70 cents
On stone, paving. dry, and
in good order. E. 5.33 cents
ON stone, paving, ordinary
condition. 1900 cents
ON stone. paving, covered
with mud. ..... 21.%O cents
ON broken stone road, dry,
and i'm good order. . 500 cents
ON sand-clay road, dry,
and in good order. =. 500 cents
ON broken stone road
moist, i'm good order 1880 cents
ON broken stone road, or
dinary condition.. =. 11.90 cents
on broken stone road, COW
cred with mud. . 1880 cents
ON broken stone road,
with ruts and mud E. $500 cents