The record., 1912-08-15
GC0D ROADS BETTER COUNTRY
Highways Tell Tale OF Profit or Losa
Snd Spell Ruin for County That
Neaiects Them.


niliar with the truths of history.
Thoy know the past. They realize
that often difference between GOod
roSGS and bad roads is the difference
between profit and loss. Good
roads have a money value far
hs I'd our ordinary conception.
Ead =, roads constitute our great
ost drawback TO internal deyel-
oImcnt and material progress. Good
roads mean prosperous farmers, bad
roads mean abandoned farms, sparse
ly settled country districts, and coz
Eegtcd populated cities, whore tho
POOR are destined to become poorer.
Good roads mean more cultivated
farms and cheaper food products for
the toilers in the towns; bad roads
mean poor transportation, lack of
communication, high prices for the
necessaries of LIE. the loss Of untold
millions. Of wealth, and idle worlmSn
seeking employment. Good roads viii
help these who cultivate the soil ard
feed the multitude, and whatever aids
the producers of our country VIII in
crease our wealth and our greatness
and beneft all the people We cannot
destroy our farms without final decay.
They are today the. heart of our na-
tional life and the chief source of our
odiilce in our cities and labor will re,
build them, but abandon the farms
and our cities will disappear forever.
| take an abiding interest in this
allabsorbing question for better high
ways by some plan il can be done
honestly, economically and constitu-
tionally. | am not committed To any
pet scheme. l have no vanity in the
matter. care not who gets the glory
so long as the people gat the results.
i am for the cause and in the fight
to stay. Good roads mean progress
and prosperity, benefit TO the people
who live in the cities. an advantage
TO the people who live in The coun-
try, and it win help every section OF
our vast domain. Good roads, Ike
good streets, make habitation along
them most desirable: they enhance
the value of farm lands, facilitate
transportation, and add untold wealth
10 the producers and consumers of
the country; they are the milestoncs
marking the advance CT civilization:
they economize time, give labor aNlift
and make millions in money; they
save wear and tear and worry and
WASTE, they beautify the country
s'sits Z & sSaeh-Xith. thn CITY; Shey
ssss tFsszsec-.. lynnT l1I{q11 an
sts1zaduoarional and the Industrial
progress of .the people; they maze
better homes and happier hearth
sides; they are the avenues of trade;
the highways of commerce, and mail
routes of information. ard the agen.
cies of speedy communication; they
mean the economical transportation
of marketable products-the maxi
mum burden at the minimum cost,
they are the ligaments that bind the
country together in thrift and indus
try and intelligence and patriotism;
they promote social intercourse, pre-
vent intellectual staSnation and in
crease the happiness and the prosper
ity of our producing masses; they
contribute TO the glory of the coVn-
try, give employment to our idle
workmen, distribute the necessaTies
of life-the products of the fields and
the forests and the factories-en.
courage energy and husDandry, incul-
cate love for our scenic wonders and
make mankind better and greater and
grander and broader.
Good roads are the arteries of indus
trial life of great and powerful peo-
pie. Good roads make good coun-
try. In a government such as ours
all sorts of men and women are more
or less absolutely dependent upon the
best and speediest means of commu-
nication and transportation. IL you
say that good roads will only help the
farmer, ! deny it. The farmer who
produce the necessarics of life are
less dependent than the millions and
millions of people who live in our cit.
les. The very lives of the latter de-
pend on the farmers-the producers
of the necessaries of life. The most
superficial investigation of this srb-
ject will clearly prove that good roads
are more important TO the consumers
than they are 10 the producers of
the country.
The fathers of the republic wisely
recognized the importance of this
question Washington and jefferson
advocated good roads and projected
the construction of great highway
from the capital to the Mississippi
valley. The far-seeing statesmen f
the early days of our national exist
cree championed and passed meas
ures to better the means of transpor-
t;.tion. They knew that OF all human
agencies the one which has done most
for civilization has been the building
of good roads-the coridgment Of dis
tances, the shortening of time-in tho
facility of communication. They real
lied the necessity of good roads, how
important they were to the country,
TO its growth aud its development;
and to mankind, morally. physically,
intellectually and industrially.
WILLIAM SULZER.
Division Extraordinary.