The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-12-13
of riding :, automobiles, it is not

merely an interest in the very much
more important matter Of affording
the farmers of this country and the
residents in villages the means of
ready access to such neighboring
markets as they need for the eco
nomic benefits, but it is also the in
terest in weaving as complicated and
elaborate net of neighborhood and
State and national opinions togeth-
er as it is possible to weave. 1t is
of the most fundamental importance
that the United States should think
in big pieces, should think together,
should think ultimately as whole,
and I feel, in my enthusiasm for
good roads, something Of the old op-
position that there always has been
in me to any kind of sectional feel
ing, to any kind Of class feeling. The
reason that city men are not more
catholic in their ideas is that they
do not share the opinions Of the
country and the reason that some
countrymen are rustic is that they
do not know the opinions of the city
and they are both hampered by their
limitations. I believe that the devel-
opment of great systems of roads
is, psychologically speaking as well
as physically speaking, task of
craftsmanship. I believe that it is
the proper study Of the statesman to
bind communities together and open
their intercourse SO thatit will flow
with absolute freedom and facility.
No one argument ought to be
omitted; every class has its argu-
ment for good roads and putting
them all together they form an ire
sistible mass Of arguments, but the
result of the whole reasoning to my
mind is simply this: The United
States has up to this time, simply
let II energies Of it's people drift.
It has thrown the reins on our necks
and said: 'sNow here is a continent
of unexampled richness; do what you
please with it, we will try to see
that you are restrained until you
get 80 powerful that we cannot re-
strain you. We will try to see that
you do justice until you 80 combine
with one another that justice is i'm
possible, but we are not going to
lend the aid of the government to
the actual task of development"
That HAS been the general atti-
tude of our government up to this
time. It cannot be that attitude any
longer. ! remember having q very
interesting and, for me, enlighten-
ing conversation with a mountaineer
once in North Carolina. he. was
very hot against the excise taxes,
which made is practically impossible
for him, without becoming q crimi-
nal, to make whiskey out Of his
corn, and ! discussed it somewhat
minutely with him in order to get his
point of view. His point Of view was
simply this: He had a little farm
that was a fertile pocket in re-
mote part of the mountains. 1t did
not pay him to take his corn to
the market as corn, because by the
time he got to the market, the very
horses that were hauling it would
have eaten it up, but he could pro-
fitably get it to the market as whis-
key, and his point was simply this,
that it was unreasonable for the gov
ernment to forbid his getting a mar
ket for his corn in the only way in
which it was possible for him to get
a market. Now, while we might say
that it was not desirable that there
should be any market at all for the
product that he wished to seel, new
trtheless the illustration will point
my moral, namely, that it is not
worth while producing util you can
release what you produce, and that
the only way Of releasing it is by the
most facile means Of intercommuni-
cation and transportation.