The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-12-05

BROUGHT OUT MANY POINTS

Newton, Kan, Dec. 5.-Every 1000!
bushels of wheat marketed by Kansas
farmers cost $50 in unnecessary vast
ed energy because Kansas roads and
highways do not permit the Kansas
farmer to compete with the farmers
of Europe. Governor Hodges told dele
gates to the state good roads congress
which Is in session in Newton. Thus.
the governor declared. Kansas has
grown great in spite of herself, al
though she has annually spent five
million dollars for roads and bridges.
but without an organized constructive
read policy that secured real results.
Speaking before the good roads
delegates, Governor Hodges today
handled the highways question from a
strict business viewpoint. He declared
that Kansas farmers paid mud tax
OF six cents bushels for every bushel
OF grain marketed, that Kansas spent
IL millions annually for her schools
and looked at the matter merely as an
investment in child development. Such
an investment, the governor declared
should be made in the development Of
dirt rOads-Eut under the guidance
and direction Of trained experts in
road construction.
Kansas just Waking Up.
In part the governor said: :.
I'VE are just beginning to realize
ped by a bad wagon freight haul rate
of 20 cents a ton a mile in his COM
petition with the wheat growers Of
Europe. Our wheat growers pay near
ly six cents a bushel more for wagon
transportation than their competitors
do. The farmer who markets 1000
bushels of grain in Kansas, pays an
unnecessary expense of $50 for
wasted energy. A far greater COM
mercial loss Is from the fact that he
m hio n kaA n
are good. irrespective Of market con-
ditiOns or prices, whereas the exact
contrary with seaSonable roads the
year around. his crops would naturally
find the market when the prices were
the most attractive.
I'VE spend about five million dol
lars q, year on. roads and bridges. At
least $50 per cent of this vast sum in,
travagance. of which but few states
could stand the strain. We have no
distinct, united road policy. Our road
work has been Of the haphazard sort.
We have penal board, an educational
board and board of control, whose sole
ing the state institutions under their
charge as q business department of
the state. Yet we have never attempt
ed building or maintaining our roads
as business department. even though
We wasted more money annually on
roads and bridges than we spent on all
the other functions of the state COM
bined.
Road System q Failure.
I'VE must have educated road build
ers and then more road builders to be
educated. I do not mean that all road
builders are incompetent but our road
building system is q failure. We have
no fixed plan and without some definite
fixed purpose, with a standardization.
without know how system, no per-
manent roads can or will be built. Road
building is q business that stands alone,
unique, all by itself. The educational
agencies now existing in the immediate
farm communities must be utilized to
teach and preach the commercial, social
and Intellectual advancement Of good
roads.
Kansas has grown great, but we
have grown great in spite of ourselves.
How much greater we could have been
it is impossible to conjecture had we
used the millions spent on roads-mon-
ey that we have nothing to show for
highways; such as France and Ger
many have done.
I'VE have postponed road work in
Kansas too long. The object Of our
state IS not to be merely rich, but to
build a better, a more intelligent citi-
zenship. The greatest means to this
desired end are good roads To attain
this, we must mould each Kansan so
that he will have an individual, a def
pite interest in our state. Really the
only distinct factor in the creation of
wealth as well as the sane CONSERVATIVE
force in Kansas is the agricultur1St.
Roads and the III. @. L.
''The high cost Of living, 20 very
apparent at this time and SO serious
that it is highly disturbing to our ma
tional peace Of mind. finds a greater
part Of it's origin in our miserable
road conditions. The mud tax have
pointed out Of six cents a bushel on
wheat-a direct loss attributable to
bad roadstis a toll that does not go
into the pockets of the farmer. It
helps no one. It Ii q wasted energy.
paid for by the consumer of bread
and deprives some hungry child Of q
mouthfu1 OF food that the Almighty
has grown for him and that as an
American citizen he is entitled to-
The annual financial loss due to the
transportation Of crops over bad
roads is estimated at ESQ million dol
lars annually.
"It costs the wheat grower one and
sixteenth cents a bushel more to haul
his crop nine and fourteenth miles
the average haulEto q railroad sta
ton, than il charged for freighting 1t
from New York to Liverpool, 5000
miles. The railroad congestion IL due
to an uneven delivery OF crops caused
by .impassable roads A fair share OF
the responsibility of the high cost Of
living is chargeable to such conges-
tion.
"a splendid highway will make ru-
raj conditions preferable to city life
and the first and most important step
that will soon make the country home
30 attractive, 50 satisfactory that the
back to the farm movement will be
reversed and in its stead will be the
slogan. stay In town."
More than zoo delegates from an
parts Of the stats are attending the