The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-07-19
THE VALUE OF GOOD ROADS.

THE VALUE OF GOOD ROADS.
In a short address in the national
house of representatives several days
ago, in which address he secured per-
mission to publish in the Congression-
al Record relevant data upon the sub
ject, the Hon. William Sulzer, of New
York, made an exceptionally clear and
forceful exposition of the value of
good roads. This is a question vital
ly affecting the happiness and the
prosperity of the people of all the
country, and its Importance can not
be too often or too strongly stressed.
"The plain people of the land are
familiar with the truths of history"
said Mr.. Sulzer. "They know the past.
They realize that often the difference
between good roads and bad roads is
the difference between profit and loss.
Good roads have a money value far
beyond our ordinary conception. Bad
roads constitute our greatest draw
back to internal development and ma
terial progress Good roads mean
prosperous farmers; bad roads mean
abandoned farms, sparsely settled
country districts, and congested popu-
lated cities, where the poor are des-
tined to become poorer"
The remainder of Mr.. Sulzer's ad-
dress is not long, and We desire to re-
produce it in these columns with our
hearty endorsement, and to urge the
people of Newberry county, and espe-
cially those living in the rural dis
tricts, to read it and to consider it
carefully:
Good roads mean more cultivated
farms and cheaper food products for
the toiler in the cities; bad roads
mean poor transportation, lack of COM
munication, high prices for the neces-
saries of life, the loss of untold mil
lions of wealth, and idle workmen
seeking employment. Good roads will
help those who cultivate the soil and
feed the multitudes, and whatever aids
the producers and the farmers of our
country will increase our wealth and
our greatness and benefit all the peo-
pie.
eve can not destroy our farms with
out final decay. They are today the
heart of our national life and the chief
source of our material greatness. Tear
down every edifice in our cities and la
bor will rebuild them, out abandon
the farms and our cities will disap-
pear forever.
Zone of the crying needs in this
country, especially in the South and
West, is good roads. The establish
ment of good roads would, in a meas
ure, solve the question of the high
price of food and the increasing cost
of living BY reducing the cost of
transportation it would enable the far
mer to market his produce at a lower
price and at larger profit at the same
time. 1t would bring communities
closer together and in touch with the
centres of population, thereby facili-
tating the commerce of ideas as we'll
as of material products.
when the agricultural production
alone of the United States for the
past II years totals sSO,OO0,O00,000,
sum that staggers the imagination,
and when We consider that it cost
more to take this product from the
farm to the railway station than from
such station to the American and Eu-
ropean markets, and when the saving
in cost of moving this product of ag-
riculture over good highways instead
of bad would have built million miles
of good roads, the incalculable waste |