The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-08-17
FIELD DAY OF SOMERSET POMO.
MAS.
Continued from Page One

ercised to see that only the best
means are employed" We must
therefore clearly understa nd the right
relationship of the people as whole
to good roads, as well as the rela-
tionship of the farmers.
This is especially important now
that the rise of the automobile dur
ing the last few years has brought 4
new, powerful and insistent influence
| to bear, not only to secure govern
ment aid, federal and state, for road
improvement, but to determine the
policy of improvement that shall be
in a new factor also to be considered
in the field of traffic regulation and
road maintenance. Automobile asso-
Citations, national, state and local, are
active in promoting road improve
men in the interests of the AUTOMOBILE
lists, and it is therefore vitality import
ant that the farmers, through the
Grange, should be alert to safeguard
| their own interests.
That the federal, state, county and
| local governments should all con-
tribute to road improvement, is now
generally conceded, and the main
point remaining at issue is the policy
of road improvement that should be
adopted. The settlement of this point
will carry with it the decision as to
how the government funds, federal,
state and local, are to be apportioned
and expended.
Naturally the dominant influence in
the automobile world at any time will
determine the automobile road policy.
Whatever the future of the automo-
bile may be, there can be no ques-
ton that pleasure interests now dom
mate the automobile world. These
mobile clubs of the larger cities,
composed of millionaries and other
wealthy people, and the dealers, man
ufacturers, etc, who cater to them
The interest of the automoblist of
the large city in good roads centers
in main highways, connecting the
larger terminals, on which they can
speed gloriously from city to city
With this idea as a center there has
been built up a plausible theory of
road improvement: LIST, That it is the
duty of the federal and state gov
ernments to cooperate in building
interstate highways directly connect
ing the larger cities; End, That the
state should be the main factor in
building main highways connecting
the smaller cities with the large; and
Cd, That the local government should
have supervision over and be respon-
sible for by-roads leading from the
farms to these national and state
highways. OF course the argument
is made that such system of road
improvement would best serve the
commercial development of the ma
ton.
Unfortunately for the advocates of
that theory, it is commercially un-
sound. | am convinced that a theory
of road building the very opposite,
will best serve the farmers inter-
ests. The purpose for which roads
are built is commerce, not pleasure,
and the sole considerations THAT
should have weight in using the peo-
Pies money through federal, state Or
local appropriations for road i'm
provement, are commercial. The
commerce of the nation begins at the
farm, and the people as a whole, not
the farmer alone. are vitality con-
Cerned in Transporting the produce
from the farm to the consumer at the
least possible cost. The people are
also vitality interested in the second
AIRY problems of facilitating the trans
rcrtation of individuals and the mails,
necessary to commerce. This is the
/ true basis of the peoples common
interest in road Improvement.
The social betterment OF the farm
e. is his own concern and the pleas
ure of the automobiles in his own
concern. Neither Is entitled to gov
eminent aid. But to improve the
roads that are a part of the highway
| for the nations commerce, is the
concern of the whole people. In
these days of rapid advance in the
cost of living, how to reduce the cost
of Transporting farm produce to the
city consumer, is of even more vital
importance to the city man than 1t is
to the farmer.
The right theory of road improve
ment is to connect the farmer with
the final market in the cheapest and
most direct way. Roads-in this
country at least-were built solely
for this purpose, and that alone
should be the determining factor in
theiI Improvement at the public ex-
pense. 1t also determines what por-
ton of the roads should be most
highly improved, and how the i'm
provements should be graded. 1t is
manifest that those parts of the