The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-05-02
Assembled at Sutton from In.
terror Counties of the State
of West Virginia.
ION THE ROAD QUESTION
Advancing An Able Argument
in Favor of Good Roads
in the State.

VI MoTSanIOWnt Stats road engineer,
addressed road officials OF Braxton,
Clay, Calhoun, Gilmer, Lewis, Mich
olas, Upsaur and Webster counties
mere today He sad in part:
I'VE have found reasons in most
all affairs OF government to divide
our thought and energies, thus
wasting part OF our abilIt yin OPP
posing each other, but upon tae sub
lect of better roads. cheaper trans
portation, greater church and school
attendance, more prosperous citizen
ship and happier homes We are all
agreed, and as an advocate of cam
paign for these issues upon which
We can all unite am glad to be able
to address, you today
Good Roads, Why? When i
pronounce this subject see a
smile upon your faces, because you
have an answer, but before l com
plete what have to say to you, l
trust you will join with me and with
your noble governor who has de-
clared May 2S and 20 legal holl lays
for the purpose of getting better
roads in this state, in trying to prove
reality deeper than can be given in
mere words.
+. rming Cond .tlors.
why should We have good roads?
should not be the question of today,
but can we afford to continue having
bad roads? is the question / want you
to answer. First, am going to ask
the farmer to go with me for a few
minutes and look at the condition OF
the farm as 1t actually is. We have
within this state 1914 ,0S0 acres of
land; 10, O26,542 classified as farm
land. and 5,521,75S acres as Inn
proved farm land. This is divided
!ntn 1855 farms, There are 81 500
miles of road in this state; 31t7 acres
or 305 farms per acre. In 1919 we
farmed less than IL per cent Of our
total area, 32 per cent OF our i'm
proved land ana only about IL per
cent of our Nprm land and pro-
Iduced from these farms about forty
million dollars woTta of crop, or
about one-half what II took to feed
the people OF the state. ,t---s-s,s ~
4 Z Another forty million went from
the people of the state to farmers OF
other states; while 6S per cent OF
our improved land and SO per cent
Eot our entire farm land area lay idle.
During this period we depleted our
local area at the rates of 1000 acres
per month. Two billion feet of gas,
three-fourths of which went beyond
the state, twelve million barrels OF
Ioil, practically all of which went be-
Iyond the state, and eleven-twelfths Of
the coal we produced went beyond
the state. These three natural re-
sources were worth approximately at
the mouth of the we'll and mine
4 $50 900, 600; thus we ate up all we
produced UPON the farm, 500 acres
OF coal per month, six million barrels
of oil, 10 billion feet of gas, and
am almost inclined to say we used
the residue in buying clothes.
Food for Thought.
4 Now, Mr.. Farmer, scratch your
head and think minute. In 1910
We had 62.S,071 acres of. farm land
less than in 1900. During that per-
cd our population increased 81 per
cent. Our rural population in
creased 20.9-10 per cent, while our
4 urban population Increased SIS per
cent. There Is reason for these
conditions, and the reason, gentle
men, is the road that leads from the
farm to the market
''It is shame to admit that the
people of ireland can grow potatoes,
haul them over their roads to market
load them on the train, haul them
to the dock, load them on board ship,
transport them across the Atlantic
ocean, unload them from ship to
train, haul them inland $50 miles
and sell them in city in this state
for less money than man living
i sixteen miles from that city with the
condition of roads that we have can
deliver them from MS cellar to the
City; thus let them lie and rot. while
our consumer pays the Irish farmer
the transportation III ireland, the
ship company, the doe1t hands. the
railroad and the drayman, all OF
which money except what the dray-
man gets and a portion of what the
railroads receive go. beyond the
state to increase the taxable intertst
Of other communities, thus decreas-
ing ours, while the farmers crop
sixteen miles away went to waste.
waste.
Affects Us All Daily.
| mat man loss, my Fellow Citi-
zens, though in another county OF
this state, Affects each one of us here
today, and the amount of money
sent out of the state for food stun
that could be raised within the state
4 is daily affecting all Of us. Some OF
you may ask, how is that? Gentle
men, 1t means simply this: If the
farmers of West irginia would keep
within the state the forty million
dollars that annually goes out for
food stuffs, in ten years this alone
with Its increase would amount to
over 500 million dollars OF, taxable
property added to our present -e-
sources or practically fifty per cent
to our present wealth which would
materially decrease our tax rate ana
also benefit everybody in the state.
But here IS one county in this
state the records OF which speak
louder than can. The average land
value in this state in 1910 including
the timber, coal and all its minerals
was $20,65 per acre, but away over
In the eastern Panhandle the county
j - "a. g