Evening journal., 1915-06-26


manent roads within two years after the road inn
provemsn began. the annual tonnage the roads
in Agricultural and forest products increased about As
per cent The dairy and poultry products showed an
increase Of practically l4o per cent Careful nvesti-
CATION showed that the increased tonnage and decreas
ed cost Of hauling the improved roads showed
yearly profit OF s41Ooo more than 40 per cent of
the entire cost of the road Improvement.
Upon one road alone distance Of twelve miles the
expenditure for road improvement was $4,000 and the
saving in the cost OF hauling estimated TO be fully
s4 600 per year or so per the total expendi-
ture
It rs a well established fact that market prices vary
considerably throughout the year, With the unreliable
road conditions many sections of the United States
farmers arc forced their crops, not when the
market prices are favorable. but when the roads
will permit.
The United States Department Of Agriculture esti-
that the Of he United States losing
annually s250OOOOo0 account Of the inaccessbility
of their products times Of the year. due to
bad road co ditions. Mr. Williams adds
Investigation shows that there many counties
rich in agricultural products but burdened with bad
roads, where the annual incoming shipments greatly
exceed the outgoing With improved roads such coun
ties could only be self supporting but could ship
products TO other markets
Several years ago the price Of potatoes in certain
in surrounding territory had quantities potatoes
hand but could get them TO market account Of
bad roads While the roads continued ia such condi-
tion. as many as ten carloads Of produce including
potatoes wheat and other supplies. shipped in
to feed The town.
II Is a mstter Of common observation, Mr Williams
asserts that any community passes from con-
don dominated by bad roads to characterized by
good roads. land values in that community advance.
Prior TO any road improvement in county Of Ala
bama, the average price Of land from s6 to SIS.
per After "a per cent Of their roads we're i'm
proved the value of the land increased SIS to s25
per
The United States Department Of Public Roads re-
fers farm in Virginia of hundred acres which
was offered for sale at $500 Later. the road upon
which tho farm was located improved, and although
the farmer fought tho road improvement. he has since
refused $4,000 for the farm
Another tract of one hundred and eighty acres along
the road supposed TO have been sold for So
0OO The purchaser refused the contract but later af
ter the road improvement and without Improvement
upon land he paid $4,000 fer the same tract 1t is
true that road Improvement Will not Improve the fer
tliy or quality OF the farm. but is also true that
good roads will improve the site value in its relations
to markets. schools and towns.
Hard surfaced reduce the cost Of delivery be-
tween farm and market.
Recently Governor OF one Of our important States
contendsd that team OF horses would draw more upon
a dirt road than upon hard surfaced road when In
reality a team will draw upon good gravel road five
times more than through sand or mud and ten times
more upon good mncadam. . ,-. t .., ,e
One the States having only four per cent. of per
manent improved surfaced roads within its borders
has of the best systems Of dirt roads in the coun
try due in part the favorable soil in portions of th
State and fer about threeourths of the year favor
able climate; also to the interest shown by the farm
A..
but Notwithstanding these facts this State Engineering
Department estimates it is costing their abou
eleven million dollars per year TO move their surplus
product from farm TO railroad They slso estimate
that ten per cent of the roads carry fully seveny-hv
per cent of the total trafhc.
If the ten per cent were improved. and the cost 0
transportation reduced only one-third it would
saving of three three and onehalf million dollars
substantial increase in profits to their farmers an
Notwithstanding these facts, their State Legislator
has so TAR stood against the farmers by blocking goo
road Legislation.
Three millions of dollars would go a long ways tc
ward paying for the permanent improvements Of the
| heavy-trafhc roads.
Road improvements increase the possibilities of IN
markets by increasing the from which they ma
| draw their supplies.
We who live in towns often fail to realize the Unfit
ence of road conditions upon the social life of rur'
communities.
II is only fair TO say that the National Congress
Mothers and Parent Teachers Associations, with Il
branches forty States Of the Union, = welding
powerful influence for good roads
They believe that the wife Of the farmer of modei
means. who rises at four to ive in the morning do
her own cooking, washing ironing and sewing, shou
be assisted N finding ways and means for intellectu
improvement in order that she may bring up h
family Of boys and girls to be useful members of s
ciety.
A farmer whose wife had recently been commtt
10 an asylum. in discussing the matter with his phys
clan said: ~ do not know what made my wife
insane; she had nothing TO bsther her she has liv
in quie. place. Why. she has not been out Of Il
kitchen hardly for eighteen years"
Experts have found that insanity is social cont
ton with distinct relation TO good roads. Two Stat
we're recently astounded by report Of an Investigate
made within their borders TO the causes of nsani
In both States the road conditions were miserable a