Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-17

| correct solution of which win largely
| spell success or failure for the Amer
lean farmer. Perhaps there is no ques-
ton that more vitality concerns the
! farmer than that of public highways,
! over which every commodity that
farmers buy or sell is conveyed. In
another section of this address 1 have
tried to set forth my views upon the
road question.
| Next in Importance comes the trans
portation problem from the railroad
station to cities and centers of popula-
/ ton. In the early days of transporta-
| ton by railroads the contention was
| that railway property was private
| property, and was not amenable to
anybody for wrongs committed or sub
| ject to anybody in making rates. The
| Grange was a factor in the creation of
| the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Its provisions are comprehensive
| enough to cover and regulate the
whole field of interstate commerce. 1t
| is not easy nor is it necessary to try
| to enumerate the advantages which
have followed the enactment and en-
| forcement of this law. But it is of
paramount Importance with the in
| that We awake to the necessity of find
! ing some means for regulating steam
! ship rates upon commodities consign-
ed to them fer transportation.
| If statistics available from testimony
given before the committee on mer-
chant marine is reliable (and we have
no reason. to question iD steamship
rates have advanced in the past three
years from loo to 200 per eent.-have
, advanced so enormously as to have
! become almost prohibitive. The law
! of supply and demand should obtain
and govern conditions in transporta-
ton as in other business, and with an
increase of II per cent. in ocean ton
mage in two years there is no defensi-
Bile reason for so large an increase in
rates in the same length Of time
| Investigation always promotes the
worthy claim and exposes the un-
worthy proposition. Investigation has
revealed that freight steamship rates
have been advanced all that the traf-
fic will bear and not kill the business.
l have a double purpose in bringing
| this matter to yuor attention. First, I
wish to protest against a gross injus-
this matter to your attention. First,
1 hope to aid in stimulating such in
terest in this matter as will induce
| competent persons to undertake the
solution of this problem and to stimu-
late all farmers to use their influence
and lend aid in this work And to
| this end 1 invite your attention to and
a careful consideration of the report
of the committee on transportation.
Good Roads and Federal Aid for Roads
| Good roads are necessary for the de-
velopment of any state. They are need
/ ed in Maine for the development of
| our greatest industry, agriculture, and
any good roads movement should in
clude a well organized scheme for the
! Improvement of the roads over which
are hauled the products from the
farms each year.
I wish to emphasize what I have
| said, that Names chief industry is
agriculture, I realize that in adver-
Using the resources of the State, the
idea has become prevalent that Maine
| Is great game preserve! that hunt
ing, fishing and entertaining the sum-
mer tourist is the chief business OF
Maine people. Nothing could be far
Their from existing facts. 1t is true
that the summer business in Maine
is an asset not to be despised or oV-
erlooked 1t Is also true that the d.
rect financial benefit aceruing to our
people has been vastly overestimated.
We have, in the past, persistently ad-
vertised that the summer business is
worth millions of dollars each year
to Maine. We have exploited this fea-
ture of their business until we have
had forced upon us the fact that the
direct financial benefits accruing to a
state or an individual is the profit
made from the business that is being
promoted. This is as true of the tour
list business as any other. The time
has come in all New England, and
especially in Maine, when agriculture
must be promoted and pushed for
ward to the commanding position
which its possibilities merit. And the
basic idea of road building and main
tenance should be to connect the farms
with the final markets at the least pos
sible cost. The possibilities for agri-
cultural development in Maine are al
most unlimited, and the first requisite
toward this development Is better
roads, and 1t seems to me that the
arguments for federal aid for roads
in states of large area and sparse pop
ulation are conclusive. For instance,
Maine has an area of 33.040 miles,
larger by about 5000 square miles than
all the rest Of New England. Its pop
ulation is 10000 and its total valua-
ton is but a little more than $780,
/ 100000. 1t is large in area, sparse in
population and comparatively not
wealthy State. The total road mileage
in the State is 25,530 miles; Of this
amount 1886 miles, or 7.6 per cent. is
in the cities and 1858 miles, or 92.4
per cent, are country roads. The val
uation of the cities is $16S.000,000, or
AZ per cent, and the valuation Of the
rural sections is s252,000,00o, or SIS per
cent. You will readily see the une-
quality of the burden laid upon the
rural resident when, with only 5S per
cent of the property available for tax
alton, the rural resident is Obliged
to maintain and build more than so
/ per cent of all the roads in the State,
and this, too. when every thinking
man must admit that the interests OF
1 all neonla ara paarlv Identical Fed-