The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-03-16
BENEFITS OF GOOD ROADS.
Improved Highways Aid Everyone and En-.
nance the Value of Real Estate.

Improved Highways Aid Everyone and En-
nance the Value of Real Estate.
From the Ford Times.]
While it is impossible to assign an ar
bitrary per cent or amount to represent
the increase in land values by reason of
road improvement, it is generally be-
lieved that the average increase per acre
within the zone of influence of an i'm
proved road would be from So to SO per
acre AS there are about $50, 900, 600
acres of farm lands improved and unim-
proved in the United States, the posi-
bilities of aggregate increase in value are
enormous.
In the crop-moving season, the rail-
roads which traverse the great agricul-
tural sections are taxed far beyond their
equipment. For many months, while
the country roads are impossible, much
of this equipment is idle and thus the
railroads suffer double loss This can
not fail to affect dividends of stockhold-
ers and salaries of employees.
With an adequate improvement of the
common roads, the development of ag-
ricultural resources would be so great as
to increase in a marked degree the an
nual tonnage of the railroads, while the
means of access to the railroad stations
would be so uniform throughout the year
that the delivery of freight would be
reasonably constant instead of spasmodic.
1t is not to be wondered, therefore. that
the industrial departments of great rail-
road systems are cooperating to the full
est extent with all the other factors in
bringing about the era of road building.
These figures constitute conclusive
evidence of the immensely of traffic on
the common roads. They do more; they
give food for reflection as to where the
cumulative losses in wear and tear of
wagons, harness and teams, due to poor
roads, will land US on the debit side No
body can ever approximately estimate
this drain, but everybody must know it is
in terms of millions.
The rapid trend of population from
country to city has been frequently COM
mented upon as grave cause for concern.
In 1870 only "a per cent Of our popula-
ton dwelt in cities, in 1850 only II. 5 per
cent, while in 1900 the percentage was
31.1. This explains why hundreds of
millions of fertile acres remain untitled,
while the unsanitary and unwholesome
city tenements are crowded with human
beings whose standard of living must re-
suit in their mental, moral and physical
decay. Man is a social animal and pre-
fers misery and want rather than isola-
ton, and the tenement jewellers will not
go to the country, if by so doing they
isolate themselves from their fellow-men.
That the common road vitality affects
this phase of American life must be ap-
parent to even the casual observer. An
examination of the statistics of popula-
ton in countries possessing first-class
roads will reveal the fact that in almost
every case the population has increased,
while the sections Of country which have
lost in population are conspicuous for i'm
passable roads.
In confederation of this statement a
of the reports of the office of
public roads with the reports of the U.
S. census for 1900 reveals the significant
fact that, in Is countries selected at ran
dom, possessing an average of only 1.5
per cent improved roads in 1904, the de-
crease in population averaged 3112 for
each county for the 10-year period be-
tween 1890 and 1900. Contrasted with
this showing, the records in Is counties
which possessed an average of 40 per
cent improved roads, revealed an increase
averaging 81, 095 to the county.
There is no phase of life in the coun-
try. social or economic, which is not af-
fected by good roads. There is direct
relation between improved highways and
the value of land, the attendance of
children at school, the health of the COM
munity, and everything else that tends
to make life in the country efficient.
And this, in turn, affects the people in
the cities who live on the country prod
ucts. 1t is task-the maintenance of
good roads-which affects every person
in the country, no matter where he lives
Or what his profession.
The first requisite is sufficient reve-
nue.. In order that America may set the
world an unprecedented example of road
building and maintenance, certain essen
tial features must be provided. The first
Of these is ample cash revenue. The
total expenditure in money and labor in
1904 was about S8O,000,O 900. This may
appear to be large sum, but when d.
vided among the 2, 155, 900 miles it means
an average per mile of only about $37.
AS only $50, $1,000 of the total reve-
lue was cash, it follows that the expen-
liture in cash per mile was only $28. J
England, with only 5000 miles of road !
spent last year more than $89, 900, 900, or
an average of 1898 per mile. Even
though we substitute the cash tax for
$40, 600, 900, now paid in labor, and SUBJ
'titute good management for bad man.
agement, $50, 900, 600 is far from suf-
icient.