The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-03-05
Or in Other Words 1t Properly
Has Its Important DomeS-
tic and Social Features.

WASHINGTON, Mar. 4.-There is a
she" side as well as HE" side. or.
TO put 1t in another way. domestic
and social side as we'll rs CONNER
cial and industrial side of the good
roads movement which the American
Highway Association would have de-
veloped to the fullest extent For this
reason 1t would enlist the active sup.
port of the women and children who
dwell in the country districts espe-
cially in spreading the gospel u good
roads. They know better tia any
others what bad roads mean 10 ihcm-
selves and their respective communi q.
ties and how utterly drab and hope
less is life in the country with the
present means OF communication be-
tween themselves and almost their
next door neighbors and themselves
and the social and business Centers
with which they are supposed to be,
and ought to be, in intimate touch.
The theorists and philosophers are
always talking about the delights of
country life and railing against the
drift from the farms TO the cities and
wondering in blind sort of way why
it is that the men would not prefer
the independence OF what they call
Gods out OF DOORS" the quiet and
peace remote from the fret and con-
fusion and the artificialities and de-
humanizing influences OF crowded CEN
tiers OF population, These philosophers
never lived amidst the soltudes Of tho
country far from human associations
without many, or any. OF the infiu-
ences OF civilization. shut in or shut
out from the world throbbing with
life and Indictment to other effort
than that merely of digging a living
out of the earth. "Walking In the
garden in the cool OF the day" is Il
beautifully poetic idea; hut it did not
turn out very much to the advantage
OF the human race. as the records
show; but what about the next day
and the next and what about the roads
that lead from the gardens. or tho
fields. to the market places where men
are paid more or less for the prod
ucts they have made in the sweat OF
their faces? And the toilsome ways
through mud and mnrass and over im-
possible hills they must attempt II
they would receive for all their labor
even a small recompense!
Human Side.
This is the commercial side of the
problem. 1t has been fully discussed
in all It's bearings by eminent men
to negotiate" hills, what TO do with
forbidding swamps and exactly what
traffic this. that or the other type or
road would bear, and there Is nothing
more important; but this article Is in>
tended to deal with human and not tho
technical side OF the road problem
with the hope that the women who
live In the country districts may he
persuaded TO make their influence felH
with the men who control in the po-
lltlcal affairs OF the land and who
have made mess OF it II the high
ways are TO be regarded as proof OF
their fitness to rule. 1t must not be
understood, however. that there Is
any politics OF the partisan sort in the
good roads business-that has. in fact.
been the curse OF the system. so far
as there has been any system; the
Wl5u u1N IN " MAKE lIlS huEh SO
broad that 1t will take in the inter-
csts and welfare of the women who
live in the country and whose happl-
less depends in the most intimate
~ay upon the Improvement of the
highways.
1t was largely with this object In
view that Dr. T. n. Carver. OF Har-
ward University, was engaged by Sec.
rotary Houston of the United States
Department of Agriculture to make
study of the conditions relating to
country life so that many OF Its hard.
ships might be removed and its vital
aspects SO changed that men would
seek the freedom Of the farm rather
than the artificial excitements of the
town. In an especially we'll consId-
cred report on THE Organization OF o
Rural Community" DIR. Carver insist.
ed upon organization OF each commu,
nifty to deal with its principal needs
OF which there are ten in the average
rural community in the United States.
Five OF these needs are included I'M