The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-10-16
SPEAKING OF GOOD ROADS,"

Farm, stock and Home: \ marked
feeling of dissatisfaction exists on the
part of the farmer over the way the
good roads movement is taxing
road affairs out of his hands. rms
together with school matters. is apou'
all he has left by way of local govern
ment. one control after another mas
slippcd into other hands. and now
the control Of road affairs Is gong
Naturally he feels hurt.
Tho plain fact. which every farmer
knows. is that road making has been
hu,,vIed. About ten cents of the dol
lar collected or worked out has gone
into actual road building. There mas
been much faulty work. more loaflns'
and above all else, absence OF plans.
Road work has consisted, i'll the maii1'
*nd for many years. of haf-donc
patchwork, disconnected. and serving
.hm few rather than the many.
As the natural result of this We
have road laws taking away from the
community it's local control of ROAD
fund expenditures. Had the local sys-
tenn been efficient it would have been
retained. But new conditions nave
arisen. The community has broad
ened out. Roads must serve the trav-
cler as Well AS the local ~neighborhood'
And the logical answer is that the
state fund should he expended in the
best possible manner.
. Right here is where it seems to F..
$. & RI. that the farmer ought to get
busy and protect his OWL community
interests. The main purpose Of a road
is to connec: the farm with the mar
ket. Roads that connect two towns
usually parallel lines of railway. but
the roads the farmer chiefly travels
run back from the towns into the
country. Goth roads are necessary,
but because the farmer has sat back
the. town fellows have been boosting
for the betwecn-town roads-and get
ting them.
The farmer, as a rule, has either
t,een asleep or kicking. Neither SUM
ber nor a back pull OH the breeding
helps the situation. There is no tax
the farmer can so we'll afford TO pay
as the road tax. No outlay of a pub
lie nature, save only that for schools.
will as surely enhance the value Of his
property as will money wisely spent
on road building. But the money
ought to he spent in n way that will
help in tho. greatest degree possible
the local taxpayer and road user.
What the farmer can do, what the
farmer should do. is not to turn back
the good roads movement. but ratn-
or to control it. Through the farm
ers' clubs and through township and
county meetings called for the pur-
pose, a proposed network Of roads
that will best serve the local commu-
nifty can he worked out. and the pres
sure Of public sentiment will make
the adoption of such plans reasonably
sure. Neighborhood %jealousies must
give place to the idea of community
betterment. The local neiEhborhood
disappears, INC the community, with
its trading point as the center of its
Iodu sysleHi' DeIol'ies lie 'uhpV1'eh
thing. If tho business men under
stand clearly that the farmers stand
for good roads and plenty Of them.
but that these roads must be traffic
roads to town, rather than pleasure
highways from one town to another,
they will swing into line. Today they
believe that tho farmer is opposed to
good roads. The farmers answer
should be to- put hilnself at the front
Of the good roads" movement and
direct it. Who will set things In mo-
ton?