The Washington herald., 1913-09-29
THE RURAL ROADS OF AMERICA

The American Road Congress opens to-
day in Detroit. Men big and men little
will be there. Sellers Of road devices will
make displays. The automobile enthus-
lasts who want to drive a car without in
jury from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
who are convinced that the nation should
in some way be led to pay for the suit
able highway will be present to push
along the cause. Running through every
speech will be the undertope OF benefit
TO be secured by the farmer II great
highways are built from the Lakes to the
Gulf, along certain uiAridians. travelling
ancient trails. by historic capitals. along
scenic ridges, &C.
But the chief Beneficiary" the farmer
the horny-handed, the smaIi-incomed
viii not be there. Neither will he be at
later meetings unless the national cam
paign of education takes on a more truly
sympathetic tinge.
The Farmers QscstIon.
The good roads gospel is at present
receiving a setback by the kind OF So
cial top-notch advocacy II is receiving.
The pyramid of endeavor for good
roads is being balanced on its apex
pleasure-instead of on the one en-
A sentence or two will make this clear.
The cashable interest OF the farmer
in good roads is this-how much will
it take to make a good road from my
farm TO town or the depot; how many
others along the way will help?
Seven national highways, or seventy.
named after all the men who made
us great before good roads were
known. will not interest this simple
and direct thinker. It may be put
down as a stsrting point in the ma
tionRl campaign that until the farmer
Of the back lands, the man OF the main
road. is convinced regarding the need
of his own road being improved. he
will not favor the expenditure of bill
lions on water-bound or Outbound
macadam highways from Sea Girt TO
San Diego or from anywhere else TO
anywhere else: for he is bound-hide-
bound-with the common-sense query
OF how he will be better of. The
frank answer is that he will not be,
for the national highways campaign
does not contemplate touching any
more than a fraction OF our more than
2.22o,C0O miles OF roads. of which about
100000 are so far improved.
The Meetings That Count.
The best roads service now being done
in the United States is unheralded and
obscure. II does not find its expression
in hurrah meetings. 1t is the type OF
work that has been done in Illinois and
a number of other States-systematic
rallies of few men at a time in cross
road and voting precinct meetings and
these meetings held by the hundreds
National highways are not so much as
mentioned in such gatherings. Such
meetings, where simple and direct men
meet others equally direct. take UP the
practicalities of road betterment-how
many tugs" break in a year from wheels
becoming mired: how much harness must
be replaced: how many breeching straps
give way on grades that are improperly
steep; how many more pounds one horse
can pull on a good road than on a bad
one at all seasons OF the year: how tc
prevent ruts when the frost comes out
and how much time can be saved in going
| to town and getting back.
Road Work Involves Much.
This is foundatio work and essential
| for nationally We can wait a long time
| for pleasure-seeking races across the con
| tinent. but We cannot delay one single
| day in getting at agricultural betterment
| that, through good roads, shall brinE
school, church, town, market. breadth
Of mind. cash. and COntentmeHt nearer
! Tied up with this good sense kind OF ef'
! fort is that certain 100 firklns of Siberian
butter now lying in New York awaiting
! the new tariff, and those loads Of Argen
! tina meat coming here to feed us. Thest
shipments should not be and would not bt