The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1914-01-30

nnd energy OF those employed or
required to work them, waste in the
loss OF time and the wear and
tear OF horses, harnesses. buggies.
wagons. automobiles. or of other
vehicles of those who travel them,
waste in the cost of transporting
produce of all kinds from the farms
to the shipping points or markets,
and enormous waste of land values.
President Waters says: IL costs
no more to transport bushel of
wheat from New York to Liverpool
than TO haul II nine miles on the
average road. II costs an average
OF 90 cents per ton mile to haul
freight on the average American
road. In Belgium the highways
have been SO improved that this
cost has been reduced to eight and
half cents, a little more than one
, third OF what Il costs us In Ameri.
ca. In Germany the cost is nine
cents. In Great Britain and France
: ten cents.
Although says he, We have in
Kansas one OF the best systems
of dirt roads I'm the country, due
in part to the favorable climate and
soil and part to the enterprise OF
the. farmers and citizens i'm drag
ging and otherwise keeping up these
roads. yet, according to State Engi-
neer Yearheart. tits costing in round
numbers about eleven million dollars
| each year to get the states surplus
product from the farm to the rail-
road station. Engineer Gearh art
estimates that ten per cent of the
roads carry fully seventy-five per-
cent of the total traffic II this ten
per cent were improved and the
cost reduced a third, there would
be a difference in getting the prod
rcts from the farm to the railroad
stations OF from three to three and
one-half million dollars.-a nice
saving in the high cost of living or
substantial increase in the profits
of farming
Somewhere I have read the state
ment that two horses will haul one
bale OF cotton few miles in one
day on a bad road. They haul
twelve bales double the distance
or more on a good road. The same
Is true of hay. grain. produce, etc.
II costs our farmers twelve and
one-half ton to haul anything one
mile on good road, and double
that on an average country road,
and four to ten or more times that
over Tor rather through a bad
road. g..
Congressman Underwood quotes
q bulletin Of the agricultural de-
partment as indicating loss in
marketing the wheat, corn. and
cotton crops of one year, as com.
pared with what the cost would have
been II the hauling had been done
over hard road, OF more than s2S,.
600, 900.
High Cost OF Living.
Talk of the high cost OF living
and the back to the farm move.
ment' In the presence of such
facts and conditions ~as these. Is
II any wonder that the rumble OF
the tumble of that high cost don't
sound like deep thundert?) or that
the back to the farm movement don't
become an epidemic?
But what are we going to do
about Il? Continue I'm our haphaz
ard and wasteful course? Or, like
the prudent mariner. take our
sounding. consult the chart and
compass for our bearings. and then
press on in wisdom's way?
Public sentiment Is rapidly
crysta!izing in favor of good roads
and recognizes Il to be the duty
Of the government to assume leader
ship In the solution of the great
problem, but there Is averitabl,
babble of tongues and riot of meas
ures when we come to the ways and
means of procuring them. More
than seventy bills have been in
troduced In. the congress By abou
as many authors each of whom en-
tertains divergent viewpoin
touching good roads. They may bt
divided along general lines into two
schools OF thought. those who favor
national highways .o be built ant
maintained by the government. and
tohse who favor federal aid II
.. good road building.
Among the disciples of these TIVE
schools there Is much partisanshiy
and unfortunately passion and pred
judice are frequently appealed to
, The advocates of federal aid
feharge the advocates of '.nationa
highways" with being chiefly con
|. fcerned In securing touring-roads. o.
interstate boulevards of great per
lection to delight wealthy auto
mobile 'joyrlding,' see Americi
, first tourists and In making of tn
, government profitable customer o
, the manufacturers of road buildin,
|, machinery. Some of the nationa
highways gentlemen are charge,
. with INDUCING the madman's dream
, of improving our 2.2sO.Oo0 miles o
, roads at an average expense o
, $4,000. or planning a raid upor
!. the National treasury for the mer
,, bagatelle OF s45. ,0e0. 900. Other,
are charged with asking for bu
: A