The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1920-05-13
HOW GOOD ROADS
REDUCE LIVING COSTS

subjected to cheap remedies for de-
cades,at last the country road is being
accorded the treatment it deserves.
At cost of hundreds of millions, the
United States is rapidly overcoming
the economic handicap which high
way neglect has so long entailed.
| This stupendous movement, the
scope of which the public even now
does not fully comprehend, is found
ed on sound business considerations.
Good roads pay. If they did not, the
Nation would not now be construct
ing and planning them on an unpre-
cedcnted scale. They pay by promot-
ing the social life of the people, by
encouraging outdoor recreation. and
by helping relieve the congestion that
is making maeltroms Of municipali-
ties. But, more important still, thew
pay in dollars and cents, for poor
roads add heavy toll to the buying
and selling of farm pronucts-a toll
far in excess of the expense of ade
quate improvement.
This is lesson cities as well as ru-
raj districts are learning. In the Bu-
reau of Public Roads, United States
Department of Agriculture, which ad-
ministers the Federal Aid Road, is
conferred supervision of all highway
construction which Federal funds
help to carry on. At the close of last
year, project statements had been
approved calling for Federal aid tn
the amoust of $11O,84O,773-a sum
which indicates how fully the Nation
is convinced that better roads mean
better business. The total Federal
funds available to aid States in their
road-building programs up to July 1,
1920, will be $169,75O, O,OOO-and this
total is exceeded by the combined ex-
pesditures of State, county, and mu
inequalities.
The business considerations back of
these vast Investments are not far to
seek. Better roads mean cheaper and
quicker hauling. 1t has been estimat-
ed, for example, that on level, mud
dy earth road the amount which one
horse can draw in an ordinary wagon
varies from nothing to maximum
of 500 pounds; on smooth, dry
earth road, from 1000 to 1000
pounds; on a gravel road in bad con-
dition, from 1000 to 1,5OO pounds;
on a gravel road in good condition,
about $500 pounds; on a macadam
road, from 1000 to 5000 pounds; on
q brick road, fsom 5000 to 5000
pounds.
If the speed of tavel is the same on
all of these surfaces, the horse will
haul on a good macadam road from
three to five times as many miles
day as upon "a moderately muddy
earth road. Assuming that one horse
Is capable of certain fixed amount
day, then with a given load, his cffec-
tive radius of travel from given
point on a macadam road is from
three to five times the radius of trav-
el from that point on moderately
muddy earth road-and earth roads
are moderately muddy many months
in the year.
Several years ago information Sc
cured by the Department of Agricul-
ture from $500 correspondents indi-
Gated that the average costof hauling
on an unimprovcd country road was
22.7 cents a ton-mile. Today, with
price levels much higher, the cost
would be even greater.
While it is difficult to estimate ac-
curately what the saving would be if
all highways were improved in the
districts represented by these replies,
a specific instance makes the benefit
plain. A farmer in Southern State
had to haul ton of barbed wire %
miles, over unimpt owed roads. He
found that with a two-horse team
his maximum load was 800 pounds
and, that three days were required in
makinA one round trip. To haul
ton, therefore, required ~ days to
make one round trip. Allowing Sc a
day for man and team, the cost was
$72. After the roads in this region
were improved, the same team could
draw a ton to the load and make one
round trip in two days, at cost Of
$l2. The ton-mile cost under old con
ditions was 1918, and this cost was
reduced to SO cents by the improved
road
Take the saving in the cost of haul
ing wheat as another example. if the
construction of narrow, single-track
roads with improved surface will re-
duce the hauling cost per cont.
ton-miIe and if the AVERAGE yield of
wheat in the vicinity of these roads