Mountain advocate. (Barbourville, Ky.) 1904-1935, 1915-02-05
THE NATIONAL PART IN THE
GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT
An Advocate of the Brownlow Bill Urges the Inn
pOrtance of Good Highways

of perseverance aud strong and un.
selfish desire to aid the millions OF
their ungiltcd but very feeling fel.
low-creatures. must ever be the chief
factors IN promoting the general
welfare Of the masses. Yet the latter
may be drawn by the weighing force
of their surrouu linCs to make nat
ural and heartfelt plaints-often by
their least rcsoutceful members-so
true and genuine and real as to move
the mighty aud start their efforts to-
ward the goal of general bettsrment.
No man sOpoUr in mind and express.
ion that he cannot feel most elo-
quently; and it is the true office of
genious and place to preceive the
actual popular needs aud deyi Use the
machinery to supply them.
So much has already been said
from go many quarters that il scarce
ly need Ice reiterated that para
mount need OF the masses of the
United states country people to-day
is cheap and rapid carriage of
country produce to the city markets
and of city manufactures to country
homes. No unc doubts that cheap
and rapid transportation is the chief
element of natural prosperity; but il
has been too long the idea that
abundance Of railroads. and navigable
waters il a complete answer to the
transportation problem. These two
great means of freight carriage are
an answer to tho problem as to long
distance, but not ~ to short ones.
The question How are we to get
our products conveyed TO the rail-
road or the boat?'' is not only often
but usually the most serious question
confrontiug the country producer.
Gravity and adhesiveness are the
ever present aud rigid enemies of
those who make heavy products in
country places, where they can be
made most cheoPly, and then seek
to convey them to market. Dirt
mikes with water and the most pro-
voking and heart breaking com
pound, and then the producers
wheels are stopped and he must lose |
the profit on his goods and abate his !
plans tor producing more. His team |
cannot draw them out to market /
and So he has TO quit. His goods are
$50 near and yet 50 far from the /
point, aud his heart feels /.
broken and very cloquently he feels |.
though hc cannot say much that !
would -ouud wgll. But he knows /
that he lives ia rural place and |
that his county is not able to do /
much. lie fe5ls that If the roads !
would keep dIier and kind Of wind !
round the hills instead OF over
them IL would bee better, but he does
not know how L. get it done. lie j. /
himself ono Of that short sighted uu.
tutured multitude who to save spot |
OF one rood Of the more productive |
part OF the farm would make the /
county road run over a steep hill in |
stead of around it; and he knows |
that when the Road Overseer ap I,
pointed by the County Court orders |
out the ucighburs to work the |
public roads there is very little sys-
TEN or efficiency about it, and that
ordinary farming plows and hoes
are not fit to make roads with. So |
the ssmi-unnual DIV O k in 9 |
period of "a few days is partly a |
frolic and wholly sham, and after
nliug mp "a few ruts with fresh dilt |
and breaking OF come of the more |
outcropping points of
rocks and casting them into the ruts
along with the dirt each man Is glad
to so home, freed for another six
months from his involuntary and
unpaid seryitude. This atching
over the surface has not improved
the gradient of the road In the
slightest degree nor improved the
drainage So as to keep the water oil
OF il, so ram or two ana nttle
hauling over the road put il in the
same shape it was in before the
county road crew hurried over IT
with their picks and shovels and
ploWs aud garden hoes. The above
sy stem df 1t be called a SYSTEM lie
the one in use to-day over a LARGE
part OF the United States, especially
the Southern and Southeastern
States, including vast sections here
large amounts of agricultural pro
ducts are made that woulc be quad
roupled if cheap means OF getting
them 10 market were at hand, and
where countless millions OF dollars
worth of minerals lie latent awaiting
development, and where vast
amounts OF valuable timber go to
,..ata f,r lack nf tFanRDOrtatlOn.