The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-11-24
WHAT GOOD ROADS DO.
Increase School Attendance, Improve So
cial Conditions, and Enlarge Bust
ness Transactions.

/ y
A Is per cent increase in the proper.
ton of the available children attending
schools took place following the construc.
ton OF good roads in eight counties stud
led by the office of public roads and rl.
raj engineering of the department it is
shown in a recent publication of the of
fee, department bulletin No. 1893. The
improvement in roads was followed also
in several of the counties the report
shows, by consolidation of number of
the little oneroom schools into graded
schools, which give the pupils better ed
ucational advantages; by development
OF various industries; and by social inn
provements due to easier intercourse.
These improvements are related to in
creases in land values and decreases in
hauling costs, effects also traced to the
construction OF improved roads. The
studies were made in Spotsylyania, Din
widdie, Lee, and Wise counties, Va;
Franklin county, n. Y. Dallas county,
Ala; Lauderdale county, Miss. and
Manatee county, Fla.
In Spotsylyania county, Va, the aver
age per cent of the enrolment before the
roads were improved TO II per cent after
Several small schools were consolidated
Between 1909, the year preceding the
building of good roads, and 1913, the
year following their completion, the ship
ment of forest products, the principal
products OF the county, increased more
than 10 per cent. The increase during
this period in the poultry business in the
county was II per cent, and in dairying
ITO per cent.
In Dinwiddie count, Va, the average
daily attendance of children for 10
schools on the improved roads was 63,4
per cent of enrolment in 1928, while
the average attendance for all other
schools in the county was 56 per cent.
Several school consultations have been
larger school buildings have been
and pupils have been trans
ported to school at the expense of the
system since the road inn
provements were made. Truck garden
ing and dairying, which were profitable
only within three miles of the princi- |
pal market town of the county before
The road improvement, are now carried
On profitably within seven miles.
In Lee county, Va, q considerable in
lustry has been built up following the
-oad improvements in the shipment of |
AN bark, extract wood, and pulp, prod /
lets which could not be profitably hauled /
,yer the unimproved roads. The i'm
proved highway system has attracted
buyers of farm products who travel
rom farm to farm and furnish a new
ash market for the farmers. There
las been 25 per cent increase in bug
.ies sold by county vehicle factory.
In Wise county, Va, social conditions
ave been bettered since the good roads
we're constructed, many farmers along
he improved highways having built new
zones or improved old ones, adding sani
ary convenienees School attendance ha.
increased materially, but since compul-
DRY attendance regulations went into
feet about the time the improved roads
fere completed, the influence of the two
actors could not be determined sepa-
ately. Several school consultations
ave been made.
Automobile registrations in Franklin
ounty, n. Y, increased from 81 be-
ore the road improvement in 1912 to
50 after road improvement in 1914, and
wo automobile bus lines connecting dis {
mt towns in the country were estab- !
shed as soon as the improved roads
ere opend.
There has been notable stimulation
f dairying and general Investigation
n the farms of Dallas county, Ala, since
lie improvement of the roads of that
,unty.
In the section of Lauderdale county,
iss., where most of the roads have been
approved, the school attendance in
eased from II per cent of the enroll
ent in 1912, just after the road work
srted, to 81 per cent. Several school I
have been effected.
In Manatee county, Fla, which pro-
ices chiefly fruits and vegetables, these
'oducts could not be hauled over the
ndy roads before the improvement was
ade, except at prohibitive cost. In the
lie year. 1928. following the compile
On OF the good roads, the area in veg
ables increase about | 500 acres. The Y
oducts of the county. the study shows,
e now hauled to railway points much