The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-06-18
JOE LONGS TALK
ON GOOD ROADS
PRESENT DAY IMPROVEMENTS
ARE NO NEW THINGS.
DATE BACK TO DAWN or HISTORY
6riIIian Editor and Orator Makes an
Eloquent Appeal for an Iowa
Road Good SOS Days
in the Year.

In opening his address before the
big Good Roads meeting this after
noon. Mr.. Joe Long, of Des Moines,
editor of the Road. Maker" and ora.
tor of the day, said that the popular
impression regarding the good roads
question was that il was an out
growth of the automobile industry,
and that il was not On unusual thing
for some citizen to make the claim
that he was the original good roads
booster. This, however, the speaker
claimed to be a very erroneous i'm
preston. AS matter of fact, brick
roads, set in asphalt, connected Nine
vah and Babylon and the principal
cities in the valley of the Euphrates
before the dawn of history. Moses |
led the Israeltes out Of Egypt over
paved roads. Darius devoted of the
wealth and energy of his great en-
pire to constructing magnificent
system of stone roads, one of them
LOO miles long, over which the first
postal system was established. Every |
one Is more or less familiar with the
road building activities of Rome,
which constructed over $4,000 miles
of the finest roads ever built, connect.
ing every part of the then known
world with the Eternal City.
Few Americans are familiar with
the fact that one of the greatest roads
ever built was constructed on this
continent by the South American In
dams, magnificent highway, 100
miles long. passing through Peru,
Ecuador and Chile, paved for Its en-
tire distance twenty feet wide and
crossing mountain gorges on bridges
thousand feet above the stream.
Every great nation of ancient and
modern times has constructed an ade'
quate system of surfaced highways,
and it is not an unusual thing for
someone to inquire why it is that
the United States has not built eN.
tensive highways. This is only an.
other case of where we take certain
things for granted without ascertain
ing the real facts. The United States
is the greatest road building nation of
history, and in three-quarters of a.
century has constructed five times the
mileage of first class roads built by
Rome and has invested in her main
road system more than any FIVE ma
tionS in history, but we have built a
different type of road. Where other
countries have constructed stone
roads we have laid two iron rails
| over which passengers and freight
! can be moved at speed and economy
never dreamed Of by the people Of
| former ages. These are our main
roads and do not differ in anything CX.
Cept efficiency from the roads of for
mer times. 1t Is true, however, that
all our energies have been devoted to
this division of our highways and il
is only in the past few years since our
main road system has been fairly
completed that the constructive
forces have been directed to the not
| less-important. local or rural transpor-
tatiOn system. When we refer to the
rural roads as the other half of the
| transportation problem VIC are safely
within the fact, because moro
| than onchalf the expense of moving
| the products Of this country is repre-
scented by the transportation over the
! rural highways. While we have rr-
duced the cost of hauling over our
main roads TO less than one cent per
ton per mile, the lowest cost In all
| history, we are paying today heavier
| charge for rural transportation than
any other civilized people. In elm
| mating this great waste, every man,
woman and child will share in the
benefits and highway Improvement is
therefore neither an automobile qucs-
| ton nor a farmers problem.
The construction of an adequate
system of 365-day.in-the-year roads
will be an immediate and direct bene-
ln1,
chant, every farmer and every man,
woman and child, no matter where
situated or in what vocation they are
| engaged.
| Discussing the possibilities of road
construction in Iowa, the speaker
made the statement that One-third OF
the farm products of Iowa in single
| year would pay the entire cost Of a
$12,OO0-a-mile road past every section
Of land in the state. If the entire
cost of $10,000a-mile road was
charged to the land within one mile,
! 50 cents per acre per year for twenty.
! five years would pay for ii, pay 4 per
cent interest on the deferred pay
ments and allow $1,000 per mile for
maintenance during that time. As
suming that the rental value of land
would be increased $3.50 per acre.
IL situated on paved road to market
| it would mean that the investment
would pay 300 per cent per annum
and the principal be wiped out in 25
years. The construction of roads can
| be amply justified as an investment
which will pay larger dividends than
any other at the present time, yet,
granting that such system of roads
did not add one dollar to either the
value or the return from our Iowa
farms. he held that the expense would
still be justified as a means of giving
to the farmers boy and girl the same
educational advantages enjoyed by
| the common laborer's child In the city
and at the same time keeping around
them the influences of home life; by
giving to the farmers wife and daugh-
tiers the same social advantages that
the women of the city enjoy and of
which they are now deprived by bad
roads at certain periods of the year
and the possibilities of bad roads dur.