Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-04-09
ANSWER GOOD
ROADS ARTICLE
Roy TiliOtson, One of the Progressive
Farmers of Frankville Heartily
Favors Good Roads.
MIR. FLASKERUD'S
ARTICLE ON SUBJECT
Says Fixing Up Dirt Roads is Like
Cleaning House, Do it Several
Times Year

AS Mr.. o. A. Flaskerud read with
so much interest our County Engin-
eer's article on "Iowa's Proposed New
Road Bill" so 1 perused Mr.. Fiaske-
rude's article condemning it,
If remember correctly there were
quite a few farmers that were op-
posed to the Rural Free Delivery
system of mail, and I know of some
even today that have no mail box
out, that live less than a half mile
from mail route, but I am willing
to wager that if bill should come
up, the passage of which would
abolish the mail routes, there would
be a greater roar of protest from
the farmers, than was heard at the
time of the sinking of the Lusitania.
The farmers have enjoyed the
benefits Of daily mail delivery for
good many years, and are not will
ling to go back to the day when the
average farmer knew about as much
about what was happening in the
world, as a sailor marooned on q
desert island.
Now, l ask, why be opposed to
everything new, simply because it
costs money?
Why does big corporation keep
putting share Of it's profits back
into the business? For more prifits
of course.
Why does a farmer buy new up
to-date machinery that costs so
much money, when his grandfather
got along without it?
What would be the effect on the
food situation today, if instead Of
using new and up-to-date machinery,
the farmers of the United States and
of the world had nothing but the old
cradle to harvest their grain, and
had to use a flail to separate the
grain from the straw?
All these up-to-date machines that
are being used on Iowa farms today
have cost money, and late years lots
of it, but the farmers are still buy
ing them.
So why fight the good roads bill,
simply because it costs money.
Did you ever in your life, Mr..
Flaskerud, buy anything that was of
much use to you, that didn't cost
something?
Supposing for example that it
would cost a farmer, along whose
land the new road ran, or even -
he lived within a mile or two OF it.
from twenty to thirty dollars an
acre, which certainly seems high
enough, would not his farm be worth
that much more the day the new
road was completed?
And furthermore, the benefits re-
sulting from a good hard surfaced
road, certainly ought to offset the
cost of building.
Now Mr. Flaskerud says that the
cost of the upkeep of these roads
would be no small sum. If I know
about the road proposition,
the cost of the upkeep of our dirt
roads has been no small sum either.
Fixing up a dirt road is a whole
lot like house cleaning, it has to be
done at least once or twice a year,
and sometimes oftener, and also
dragged after every rain.
And when it rains we will all
"cuss" the mud, and when it done
rain we "cuss" the dust.
Now Mr.. Flaskerud also says that
the only persons who are advocating
hard surfaced roads are auto and
auto truck dealers, engineers, the
people who have road machinery and
to sell and the dealers in
bonds.
l think that if he lived where Mr..
Peter Bakke lives on the Frankville
road, and spent lot of his time
helping, not only autoe9 but teams
with loads of produce to feed the
world, to get out of the two soft
spots that have been there for rnarly
a month, he would hear quite a few
in favor of COOL roads,
no doubt some of them spiced with
a little profanity.
AS to engineers reaping such a
handsome profit from the wages they
would receive for laying out these
roads, it looks to me that as long as
We are hiring engineers as it is to
keep our dirt roads in passible shape,
we might just as well have them at
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