The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-17
supervision. a surprising amount Of
good road work could be accomplish
ed in a few wears.

ASaoh' ouA llSlil6 sIiloull VI
good road work could be accomplish
ed in a few years.
Many Of the rural districts have be-
come so accustomed to poor roads
that they do not realize their real cost
unless 1t Is directly called to their at
tention. A farmer in the corn belt
sold his corn for so cents to be de-
livered in February; his object in sell
ing was to get the corn to market be-
fore the roads broke up and spring
work began. On the day he was to
begin Smelling it rained. the roads be-
coming impossible. When the roads
again became solid so he could haul
it was in the middle of the oat sowing
season. He had to stop sowing oats,
haul his corn to town, and sell it at
so cents when the market price was
o. cents. He not only was on the road
when he should have been in the field,
els OF corn. He attributed his misfor-
tune to the weather-if it had not
rained, the roads would have been
good. 1t had not occurred to him to
look at it in the reverse order-that
If he had had a good road. the rain
would not have delayed him at the
longest more than a day. He could
have held his corn until the price
suited him without regard to the road.
When the matter was presented to
him as above. he felt that he was
paying a heavy tax for a+poor road.
Road statistics, kept in Illinois,
show that the travel was approximate
ly six times greater in June than in
March in districts where there were
poor roads, while in districts where
there were good roads. the travel was
a little greater in March than in June.
This alone would furnish a text for "a
In n Gr VNl ~ NJ, kH@ /, ~ 1901 81
n unit people could do their
trading at periods when they. could
not work on the farm, which would
balance up trade conditions in the
country towns, lessen the congestion
on railways and in elevators. thus
causing farm commodities both
bought II sold to be handled at
cheaper rates between the consumer
and producer, a part Of this advantage
coming to the farmer.
State and federal aid in road build
ing should not be advocated too
strongly lest the land owner becomes
imbued with the thought that in the
near future good roads will be built
without expense to the adjoining land.
1t is entirely within the province of
the state and government to maintain
road offices. to study methods and
conduct experiments on road material,
SAoI SAICS AldS 6lNo duSICe dIu III.
struction for various localities, but on
the land owners must come the bur-
den of building the great mileage of
our roads.
In conclusions:
The history of roads shows that
they pass through a state of develop
ment and ordinarily this general de-
velopment should be encouraged and
not come to n stand.
The principles OF road building
should be clearly taught as adapted
to local conditions.
Drainage should be promoted be-
fore roads.
Drainage as related to roads should
be thoroughly explained.
The cash system should replace the
labor system. -
The farmer element should be
taught that his roads can be bettered
with the material and money at hand.
Illustrations and facts should be
used that relate to that or similar To-
~calities without taking them from
Europe or the older states in the east.
The facts should be clearly brought
out that good roads can be had in
nearly all localities by sandwiching
some vocal material between good
drainage and eternal vigilance in
maintenance.