Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1913-05-08
UNITED STATES LAGS
OF 1900 900 Miles In This Country Less
Than 100000 Are Up to Date
$3.50, ooo. 900 Is the Annual
Loss to People.

What is the use OF rural free deliv.
cry mail routes and the parcel post
system II there Is to be no improve.
mcnt of the public roads for thu eco.
monte delivery of parcels and mails :"
According to a bulletin issued by the
office of public roads. there were In
the United States In 1902 9,199, 645
miles of public roads. and the total
mileage of improved public roads was
only 1907 Yet we boast that The
United States is highly civilized
country and make faces ut the Cftcte
countries Of the old world in some
OF the most decadent OF which, rs we
people know where they are KotnE
when they start, and have some idea
of when they will get there and what
II will cost them to make the Journey
There is n good deal OF humhug in the
claims we make for ourselves, particu-
larly when it comes to practical thngs
although we are willing to admit with
out argument that we are the most
practical people In the world
Recently what Is called the second
National Good Roads Federal Aid con
Vcntion was in session in WASHING
have been better selected, the limo
could not have been more nauspi
Cious. Nobody was thinking abou>
good roads. except the nearest cut "a
the White House and the offices wait.
ing for distribution. II was announced
in the official program OF the meot,
which was called by the American Au
tomohilc association, that the distinct
purpose Of this gathering is to create
a concrete plan which shall logically
involve our national government In the
highways progress Of the country"
That is n fine purpose; but with the
old ones going out in shoals and the
new ones coming in without any spe
cial purpose or any purpose that has
been formulated clearly, this was hard
ly the time for the association to make
very deep impression upon the leg
islative and disposing mind.
For two days the convention dis
cussed good roads In most intelli,
gent way and mass of valuable In.
formation was obtained from expert
testimony. foreign and domestic. that
would lose much of it's force II II
using" or the speaking. The main
contention of the association IL that
III is the duty of the federal govern
ment to supplement state and county
systems with IL plan of national roads
connecting all parts of the country.
That ia most ambitious project
but mono too ambitious for country
so big as this. There are something
like 1000 counties in the United States
and II is well within the mark TO say
that in not one-half OF these counties
IL there anything Ike what could be
called by the utmost stretch Of cour
tesy road system" The official fig
ures prove this without argument.
The ratio of good roads TO bad roads
is as 1879 900 is to 100000 and, as Mr.
Dooley would say, there yc are" But
It Is as certain as taxes that good
roads are coming. The idea Ia tuking
hold of the public imagination and Will
soon make it's way into the public
pocketbook. 1t costs from five to ten
cents, according to the classification.
To haul ton Of freight by the much
abused railroads hundred miles or
so; it costs about twenty.threo cents
mile to haul ton Of almost any sort
Of freight over most of the public
highways In this country. and these
highways are in the daily use Of the
people IN their most intimate and nee
essary business. II has been estimat
ed that bad roads cost the people OF
the United States not less than $780,
000000 year.