Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1920-05-19
Farmers Marketing
Costs Lowered by
Good Highways
Vast RoadBuilding Program Under
, Way Because America Realizes the
Saving Which Good Highways Make
Possible-A Rig Factor III Buying
and Selling.

The highway is coming into it's own
in America.
Neglected. abused, undervalued, sub
jected to cheap remedies for decades,
at last the country road is being &C.
corded the treatment it deserves. At
cost of hundreds Of millions, the
United States is rapidly overcoming
the economic handicap which highway
neglect has so long entailed.
This StupendOuS movement, the scope
of which the public even now does not
fully comprehend, is founded on sound
business considerations Good roads
pay. If they did not, the Nation would
not now be constructing and planning
them on an unprecedented scale. They
pay by promoting the social life Of the
people, by encouraging outdoor recrea-
ton, and by helping relieve the con-
gestion that is making maelstroms of
municipalities. But, more important
still, they pay in dollars and cents, for
poor roads add heavy toll to the buy
ing and selling of farm products
toll far in excess of the expense of
adequate improvement.
Unprecedented Road Program
This is lesson cities as we'll as rural
districts are learning. In the Bureau
of Public Roads, United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, which admins
tiers the Federal Aid Road Act, is cen
tered supervision Of all highway con-
struction which Federal funds carry
on. At the close of last year, project
statements had been approved calling
for Federal aid to the amount Of $110,-
S40,773-a sum which indicates how
fully the Nation is convinced that bet
ter roads mean better business. The
total Federal funds available to aid the
States in their road 7Rlilding programs
up to July 1, 1920, will be $3.50, $780, 900
and this total is exceeded by the
combined expenditures of State county,
and municipalities.
Better Roads, Better Business
The business considerations back of
these vast Investments are not far to
seek. Better roads mean cheaper and
quicker hauling 1t has been estimated
for example, that on level, muddy
earth road the amount which one horse
can draw in an ordinary wagon varies
from nothing to maximum of 800
pounds; on smooth, dry earth road,
from 1000 to 1000 pounds; on a gravel
road in bad condition, from 1000 to
1900 pounds; on gravel road in good
condition, about $500 pounds; on a
macadam road, from 1000 to 5000
pounds on brick road, from 5000 to
5000 pounds.
If the speed of travel 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 moderately muddy earth
road. Assuming that one horse is cap
able of a certain fixed amount day,
then, with given load, his effective
radius of travel from given point on
a macadam road is from three to five
times the radius of travel from that
point on a 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 cost of hauling
on an unimproved 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 accu-
rately what the saving would be if all