St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1912-04-20
THE MUD A IS
STUPENDOUS.

people Dy DdQ EoduS.
The article is from the Medical
World"
No man more than the country
doctor is interested SO deeply in
the matter of good roads. The
affair is a matter of bread and
butter to every citizen, but the
doctor suffers more from vile
roads than any other individual
simply because he uses them
oftener, at the most disadyanta-
geous hours of the day and night
and in the most inclement Wea-
Their, and. because he cannot
make any choice of routes in but
few cases. The Doctors time is
money, and he loses more than
any other man if he is retarded
or delayed by bad roads. He is
also more Inconvenience by bad
roads, for the delay in making
his rounds often forces him to do
night work that could have been
done in daylight if the condition
of the roads had been favorable.
Statistics show that every man,
woman and child is paying an
annual mud tax of $12.50 each,
in the high cost of living, for
the maintenance of bad roads.
The doctor and his family do not
escape this outlay.
This nation produced 265, 000,-
900 tons of farm produce last
year, and it cost us just $572.-
$50, 900 to haul it to market.
The same load can be hauled the
same distance over the roads of
Europe for just $3.50, 900, 900 less
than it costus. This is astraight
annual loss of $3.50, 600, 900, and
every man has to stand his share.
lie we were losing as much money
any other way, we could not
sleep at night.
The tourists of the United
States left $500, 600, 600 in Europe
last year. They went there be-
cause of good roads. We have
as fine scenery in the United
States as can be found in Europe
or in the world, and if we had
good roads for the automobiles
that money would remain at
home, and it would be in circula-
ton, and every man would get
his share of the benefits of it in
the way of increast trade.
Pennsylvania, last year, spent
$11, 500, 600 scraping mud up out
of the water table and dumping
it on the roads, to wash down
with the first rain, and to again
be scraped up next spring at
another outlay of ST., 500, 900.
Every other state, in proportion,
is doing the same thing. You
can get the figures from your
own officials at your state capital,
and learn just what your state is
in this regard.
State construction Of good
roads is better than nothing, but
it is simply repeating the ex-
perience of all European nations,
and repeating it very foolishly.
A national movement is the only
reform that can prove successful,
for we have the European ex-
ample to go by. Every nation in
Europe first attempted to build
good roads by local sections, SINH
lar to our counties or states, and
every nation in Europe made a
failure of it and abandoned it.
Then, every nation in Europe
took up the national plan, and
every nation in Europe made an
unqualified success of it.
The national system of France
cost s613, 600, 600. and the total
cost of maintaining it in perfect
condition is only the wages of
SO, 600 men. Anyone knows that
this is a very insignificant road
tax on that amount of road.
There are 113, 579 conVicts in
the penitentiaries of the United
States, yet only thirteen of the
forty-eight states use them for
road construction. Every state
where their services have been
employed has found it economi-
cal and satisfactory.