Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-02
Domestic and Social Side Of
Question Cited by American
Highway Association.
FAIR SEX CAN GIVE AID
IN OBTAINING LEGISLATION
Better Routes for Vehicular Traffic
Held One of Most Important
Needs of Country Folk.

There is a domestic and social side
as well as commercial and industrial
side Of the good roads movement
which should be developed to the full
est extent. in the opinion of the Amer
lean Highway Association. For this
reason the association is enlisting the
active support of the women and chill
dren who dwell in the country dis
trict especially in spreading the gospel
of good roads. They know. it is said,
better than any others what bad roads
tive communities and how utterly drab
and hopeless is life in the country
with the present means OF communi-
cation between themselves and al
most their next-door neighbors. and
themselves and the social and business
centers with which they are supposed
to be. or ought to be, in intimate
touch
"The theorists and philosophers"
said an official of the association the
other day. ARE always talking about
the delights of country life and rail-
ing 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 confusion and the artificiali-
ties and dehumanizing influences Of
crowded centers of population. These
philosophers never lived amid the soli-
tudes of the country, far from human
associations. without many or any of
the influences of civilizations: shut in
with life and Indictment to other eff
fort than that merely Of digging a liv-
ing out of the earth.
Walking in the garden in the cool
OF the day is beautifully poetic idea.
but 1t did not turn out very much to
the records show. But what about the
next day and the next, and what about
the roads that lead from the gardens
or the fields to the market places,
the products they have made in the
sweat of their faces? And the totlsome
ways through mud and morass and
over impossible hills they must at
tempt II they would receive for all
their labor even small recompense!
Human Side Of the Problem.
This is the commercial side of the
problem. 1t has been fully discussed
In all its bearings by eminent men who
know how to mix cement, how to 'neRo-
tiate hills, what to do with forbidding
swamps. and exactly what traffic this,
that or the other type of road would
bear. and there is nothing more impor-
tant; but this article is intended to deal
with human and not the technical side
OF the road problem. with the hope that
the women who live in the country dis
tricts may be persuaded to make their
influence felt with the men who control
IN the political affairs Of the land, and
VINO have made a mess of it II the high
ways are to be regarded as proof of
oerstood. 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
mas oeen any system; the wish now is
70 make the work so broad that it will
take In the interests and welfare of the
women who live in the country and
whose happiness depends in the most
intimate way upon the Improvement of
the highways.
1T was largely with this object in
view that DR.. T. N. Carver Of Harvard
University was engaged by Secretary
houston OF the United States Depart
ment OF Agriculture to make a study
life. SO that many Of It's hardships
might be removed and it's vital asuects
SO changed that men would seek the
freedom of the farm rather than the
al eihSidi cAClteInentS OF the town. In
an especially well considered report on
The Organization Of Rural Commu-
nifty DR.. Carver insisted upon organ
ization OF each community 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 under the description Of
business needs and five under the
description of social needs" Under
the former classification are better
farm production. better marketing IA
cilities. better means Of securing
farm supplies, better credit facili-
ties, better means Of communica-
ton by the building Of roads and tele-
phones; and under the social needs are
enumerated better educational facili-
ties, better sanitation. better opportu-
mites for recreation. the beautifca-
ton of the countryside and better home
economics. These needs are to be sup
piled by community action, and 1t will
be observed that, however varied the
activities. the whole fabric is based at
last upon the means OF commune ca ton :
that Is to say. upon the building and
maintenance Of the public highways.
For how can there be better marketing
facilities. or better means Of securing
farm supplies. or better educational ia
cilities. or better opportunities for rec