The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-02-09


the fifty thousand or SO that Lee mas
put into its roads is q prohtapie m
vestment, and why another nunoIeu
thousand dollars will be proltabiy IN
vested. A hundred thousand invested
and a million dollars of value created
is a mighty short cut toward MAKING
money.
The Main Thing.
however is not the main thing.
The men who have been figuring the
benefits Of good roads say hat they
can save a dollar or more in hauling
on every acre they cultivate and save
| il every year. That means they more
| than save all their road tax and a iol
| more besides. The farmers who have
fertilizer to haul, crops to haul to
market, wood to haul. journeys to
make to town or elsewhere IN the
country, save in time and in the IN
creased loads they can put on, mucn
more than they pay in road tax, Wnlle
the same is true Of the IN
town. Land values are increasing,
! taxes are earned by the greater eff
! cheney the good roads create, and Lee
| county has come to see that good
roads are an essential part of the ma
chinery OF carrying on business eco
| nomically.
Road Improvement Fixed Policy.
Lee county has finally gone on rec
| ora DIS Sd Ing lid liz SOO0 AOd0 10
a part of the policy of the county
henceforth, and in another half dozen
years this county will become famous
for the work it has done in road inn
provement. The men who crowded
ahead in spite Of the protest Of the
doubling neighbor will be remembered
gratefully, and the roads will be
known all over the State as models
When spring opens the extension OF
the road from Moore county will come
into Lee county. and Sanford will be
put in touch with all the country from
Lee county to Florida, and with every
place that has a good road. The
road will be emphasized in Lee cOun-
ty, and Chatham and Wake counties
will build the links necessary to put
them on the through route, and while
the Capital to Capital highway is To-
Gated through Fayetteville and HOke
county another loop will bring a road
through from Raleigh to Pinehurst
which will be a cutoff Of nearly fifty
miles in the journey by automobile
from the North to the South and Lee
county will be open to the traveller
who is OF a sightseeing expedition
from all parts Of the United States.
Lee is a little county and a new
county, and it has had a lot of expense
on it's hands. But all that signifies
nothing, for the whole thing is that
Lee COUNTY Udt, lIlIoSI1Su out Tie WIS
dom of building good roads and after
a most determined trial has come to
the conclusion not that it cannot af-
ford to build good roads, but that it
} cannot possibly afford not to build
: them. 1t has determined that the
I good road is a piece of machinery that
pays so we'll that the county can not
I go on with the old roads and thrive a.
} it can with the better ones
One of these days Lee will have it's
I roads extended to the county lines in
all directions. By that time many
t other roads now in process of con-
$ struction will be meeting other roads
! that are built or building, and it will
I not be more thar another year or
. two until the people Of North Caro-
: lima will be BILE to go from one end
8 Of the State or from north to south
: of the State, by a varied choice OF
routes, and from any one county to
any other. Already several long roads
4 are almost finished, and many shor1
I connections that are to be made be.
Q fore long will unite other pieces that
U will help to make continuous lines.
{ Auto Farmers Town Wagon.
: This same thing that has brough,
I Lee county in with a bond issue of a
s hundred thousand dollars will slim
e ulate rOad building in every county,
and it is not more thar two or three
years until North Carolina will be
e famed all over the country for the
excellence Of its highways. The mul-
tiplicatiOn Of automobiles which has
n followed the extension of good roads
is nothing yet as to what is to come
Y The continual cheapening Of cars is
q making it possible for an increasing
numbe of farmers as well as towr
folks to nav their automobiles, anG
these vehicles are finding a deserved
place in the utilities of the State
There are two or three good cars tina,
cost now out little more han a goo
o horse and buggy and harness, and the!
, get over the ground SO much fastel
g that the automobile is bound to b,
g the farmers town wagon for every
things but heavy hauling. The mar
n who lives ten miles out, for instance
ID and can get into town and back ant
d transact a little business in an hou