Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1916-12-28
WISCONSIN FARMERS
LOSE BY BAD ROADS
Millions Go into Mud and RUS
Every Year.
FARMERS HAUL 100000
TONS EVERY YEAR
Dairy Farmers Travel 100000
Miles Year.

Wisconsin is spending approximately
ten million dollars year on her roads
or highways S., 100000 under State
Aid Law and 100000 by the towns
The highways are one Of the biggest
public propositions in the State Of Wis
consin. AS matter of fact, consider
ing the extent of their use, they are
the biggest proposition. We build
court houses and prisons and asylums,
and even the state capitol, but none
of them come home to each of us SO
much as the roads and the school
house Charles Sumner once said that
good roads and good schools were the
forerunners of all progress.
Someone has said that there are
one hundred and eighty thousand rea-
sons why we should have good roads
in Wisconsin-because we have that
number of farms in Wisconsin. In
addition to that, there are 5000 rea-
sons why we should have irst-class
roads-better than the average state.
These 5000 reasons are the 5000
cheese factories and creameries which
we have in the State These require
more trips to market than needed in
the average corn or grain state.
In the dairy industry alone it is es-
4~I 4I1ot 20, iYnI :
900 miles a year.
Every one Of these farms is produc-
ing grain, dairy products, live stock,
running into millions every year. Our
dairy products alone are valued at
over a hundred million dollars year,
which means that q hundred million
dollars worth is hauled over our roads
every year as a result of dairy farm
ing
AS matter of fact, each farm is a
big producing factory and to operate
profitably it must have switching facil-
tiles for it's freight-roads over which
to transport its product to the ware
house, where it is put on he rail lines
and carried to the markets of the
world
The State Dairy and Food Depart
ment and State Agricultural Commits
sioner give us some interesting figures
on the big freight business the farmer
must haul over the road.
In 1915, approximately 1000, 1000 tons
of dairy products were hauled to and
from the creameries, cheese factories
and cOndenSOrieS-milk cream, whey
and buttermilk.
Taking the tonnage of thirteen of
our big agricultural products, barley,
oats, wheat, rye, hay, potatoes, sugar
beets, beans, peas, clover-seed and
timothy, we find this runs to about
100000 tons Add to this the other
haulage from farm to market, and it
easily runs between fifteen and twenty
million tons. The average haul will
be about six miles
Take out your pencil and PAPER and
figure the loss on this tonnage caused
by bad roadS-the loss per ton per
mile. What are the services of a
farmer and his team worth per hour?
What would you charge for your
team and hired man per hour? How
many hours do you lose on the road
by bad roads? Isn't your load cut in
two by poor roads? Are you making
two trips to market, where you could
with good roads double the size of
your load and make one trip. Are
you not wearing out your teams, and
wagons and harness, and even your
self-driving over poor roads?
How often have you been prevented
from driving to market when the mar
ket was good by bad roads and how
much have you lost by it.
You begin to see why we have roads.
Don't you think we need better ones?
Are you going to keep on driving
in the old rut? If the farmers Of
Wisconsin lose two hours a week in
going to market by bad roads, they
are losing 10000 working deAS year.
Think this over, and you will come
to the conclusion that if the money
you are losing on bad roads every
year is spent in building good roads
1t would build good roads throughout
The State of Wisconsin.
Don't you think that after all good
roads are an investment rather than
an expenditure-tha the taxes you
pay for them bring you a bigger in
vestment than any investment you
make in taxes?
Wisconsin is famous for its splendid
tarms-behind the fences is the high
est type of efficiency. Isn't it time
that we got this efficiency between the
fences also?