Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1916-01-14
STANLEY'S GOOD
ROAD POLICY
The Address of Governor A. O.
Stanley, Before Ky. Asso-
citation, Sept. IS, 1915
COUNTRY MORE ATTRACTIVE
Back to the Country" Problem Will
Never be Solved Until the Country
is Made More AttractiVe-Build
Roads and You VIII Lose None Of
the Sweetness of the Farm.

Observation-Disclosures of Governor A.
Owsley Stanley before the Kentucky
food Roads Association, on Septem-
Der Is, 1915.
Ladies and Gentlemen: I am
deeply grateful to my good friend,
Bob McBryde, for his very kind
reference to me. We should all be
grateful to him for his years OF
;ireless, patient and unrequited toll
n behalf of this great movement,
,Iithout expecting, without receiving,
my other recompense than the graft
.ude of his ceuntrymen and the well
are of his country. With tongue and
Zen he has presented with marked
ability every reason which can be as
;igned for this great work, and he has
answered every objection which the
gnorant or penurious might advance
The people of Kentucky have yet to
earn the debt they owe this great
journalist for great work nobly done
am not here today to attempt to
entertain you with anything that ap
Iroaches a formal address. | am not
lere to make a speech; if ! am elected
Governor of Kentucky, my time vii
lot be given to saying things, but tc
Icing them. (Applause) This is IL
is essence matter of business as
veil as sentiment, and to the fisca
,ide of this problem / shall in the
main address my few remarks.
You cannot build roads, however
,dvisable 1t may be. without money
TO say that you are in favor of goot
roads is like saying you are in favo
If good health, or good morals, goot
atmosphere, good looks, or good any
hing else, Nobody not driyelini
DOL favors good roads just as he ia
;ors good health, or good weather
We all favor good roads who hav
ense enough to travel over them
The question is, not whether it is de
irable to have better highways il
kentucky, but how We shall obtail
hem. We all want them if We cal
afford them, because We must buy an
pay for these roads ourselves. w
will receive some aid from the Fed
eral Government, but the Federal Gov
eminent and the State Government
alike tax the people for the money, S
1t least every dollar that is put i
good roads comes directly or indirect
" out of the pockets of the peOpl
who enjoy them. Then the question
% which an intelligent citizenshi
should first address itself is, not shal
we donate, but should we invest tn
money toward this good work?
YOU go out to get money to build goo
roads on the same principle that yo
20 to get money to educate the Oh
nese, or save the heather, you wi
not bald many miles or road. To &c
this money, YOU must in a way, tax
| il from the people, with their cOnsen
by taxation. But the people are nc
going to tax themselves to build tn
roads unless they are convinced tina
| it is a good iura trnent. And wheI
| aver the people find that they ar
| making mC@4y Ey expanding none
uiCa he 70. DIS you will get the none
just as quickly as YOU would secure
from a ia, Eer you have convince
| that he would make money by buyin
edition CT 1000 acres to his farm
| H. is fer sale nearby. There is n
| trouble to induce men to spend none
where they are certain or reasonabl
| ce,;.i,. OF a safe return. How is tn
expenditure of many thousands OF do
'a-s for good roads safe investment
Money and Results.
am separating 1t from its mor'
and aesthetic, its sentimental side.
m talking to you about the prophet
expending money for roads as
ould talk to a farmer about III
,pending of money for land. AS
would talk to the manufacturer OF II
propriety of spending money for m
chinery. As | would talk to the mil
owner for spending money for ii
! nile. or an option upon so many acre
of coal land A great mistake tn
farmers have made is in not making
business-like calculation as to the co
/. of production, which bears dire
relation to the advisability of co
structing good roads. A short tin
ago Charles L. Schwab, former pre-
| dent of the United States Steel &c
poration and now president OF Z
bethlehem corporation, the most 81
ed of all the great industrial maste
i of finance, made this startling stal
ment: "One-third of the cost OF Z
production of all steel products is Z
I cause of transportation" and one
the secrets of Schwab's phenomen
success was that he never calculat
the cost Of anything made OF ste
from a needle to a thousand tons
armor plates, that he did not calcula
the cost of laying it down F. o.
i, to the consignee. The farmer do
, not calculate. He calculates the &C
] of the production in rough way,
!, taking cost. of the land, taxes, lab
and tools. When he calculated VIII
5 it cost him to get in fifty bushels
Il wheat on his wagon or a thousa
! bushels of corn in his bin complet
his calculation. But he has not es
T mated the cost of that article to
: entirety, for no man comes to his
4 for corn or to the thresher for
!, grain. Until he has calculated
cost of transportation he has not ma
, an accurate estimate of the cost
I production. What Is the actual val
! Of q free public highway? Let
tx1 ~ O. -