Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-08-23
THURSDAY. AUGUST %, 1917.
HARD ROADS, MARKETABLE
PRODUCE.

PRODUCE.
As never before, hard. surfaced
roads are going to mean prosperity
to the farmer No small part of the
great American problem OF feeding
the rest of the world rests on the ser
vicability of our country highways.
Says the Engineering News The diff
ference between mud roads and hard
surfaced roads will be the difference
between crops rotting on the ground
and in farmers cellars and crops on
the way to the worlds markets.
Never before have the railroads
been so tied up with the transporta-
ton of industrial products The
building of the many army canton
ments and the immense shipments of
lumber and other construction mater
ial required for them is but one item
in the transportation business which
the establishment Of these canton
ments will bring about.
The time is soon at hand when i'm
mense crops, greater than ever in the
history Of the country must be NOV.
ed. Railroad men in the industrial
centers of Pennsylvania and Ohio
are stating that they themselves do
not believe the railroads by fall of
this year, will be able to handle any
thing like the business which will
be expected of them. For several
years they have pleaded poverty and
lack Of adequate terminal, track and
equipment facilities, so that today in
the agricultural sections of the coun-
try the railways are little, if any. bet
ter prepared to handle business than
they were during the depression per
iod Of four or five years ago
An officer of a large railway com
pany operating in Western Pennsyl
vania has stated that by fall the com
pany will not be able to take ship
ments for distances of less than forty
miles. The difficulties experienced al
ready by contracts all through the
East in obtaining cars for moving
their plants and in getting shipments
of materials of any kind whatsoever
are too well known to need repeti-
tion. These same conditions may be
expected by the farmers when they
are ready to ship the enormous crops
which have been planted
The contractors have met the sit
nation in many instances by using
great fleets of motor trucks, and in
many large Industrial cities in the
east they have ceased altogether to
depend upon the railroads for gravel
and broken stone supplies. Gravel
and stone plants which are so far
from cities as TO be dependent upon
the railroads for moving their output
have been obliged to close down be
cause ii is impossible to operate them
so internationally as cars can be Sc
cured.
II WAS pbIHltu but Il low NttkS ago
how number Of manufacturing con.
Germs have adopted motor trucks for
long distance haulage. even so far as
from Akron, Ohio to Boston, Mass
The solution Of the problem of NOV.
ing the farmers crops distances of
forty miles or less is inevitably 20.
Ing to fall upon motor trucks and
teams. The prospects are that motor
truck owners in the cities will find "A
legitimate and constantly increasing
business in moving farm products,
just as today they are engaged in
moving every other kind of freight
between cities
This can be done and IS now done
only where there are hard paved in
terurban roads Fortunate, therefore,
is the agricultural community which
is connected with the great indus
trial and railway centers by paved
roads. Highway engineers thmout
the East have fully appreciated this
and reports from them made to this
journal early in June emphasized the
necessity Of continuing road building
The Ohio Highway Department has
steadfastly stood out for an extensive
roadbuilding program even against
opposition from Washington, and in
the face OF discouraging conditions.
The wisdom Of this move is already
being felt In Ohio, and it will be in
every agricultural state. It is not so
much a question of whether the roads
can be built as cheaply and efficient
ly today as they We're yesterday. but
II is question Of whether the crops
which the farmers have been Undue
ed to plant are going to be used or
are going to rot
II the pinch Of railroad congestion
has been felt by such shippers as the
great industrial concerns, how much