The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1920-05-14
GOOD ROADS
BY J. Ogden Armour. J

The country is entering period of
road building. Projects which were
planned during the war are being
put into effect The federal govern
ment has made large appropriations.
to be spent conformity with appropri-
ations by the various states Good
roads have become a watchword of
postwar progress
There is occasion for reflection in
the fact that the greatest of ancient
empires was conspicuous for its road
the railways and telegraph of an age
that did not know steam and cleo
tricity. They We're the pathways OF
The imperial cour;ers and the impe-
rial lesions. These roads We're the
sirders that held the empire toseth-
er. 1t is customary, today. to adj
mire the Romans for their practical
sagacity. nowhere better eNempliiied
than in their road-huidins.
In a manner history repeats it
self in our newly bestirred zeal for
constructing good highways. What
to the Romans was a national ne
cessity. has become for rs an urgent
need and this by virtue OF a mod
ern invention The motor car. !
look for much advancement to grow
ont of the motor age. and | am
certain that this advancement VIII
be contingent upon the attention We
give to the Improvement Of our
roads.
Those of It's Who have made ohser-
yations for Two decades have seen
wondrous changes resulting directly
from the use Of the pleasure auto
mobile Once the city was the city.
and the country was the country. To-
day they merge into one another.
The city man knows the country as
never before-iS glad to have access
to it and to live in it when possible.
ne StuhliS ultltt hitt"S 'lit n.y. ub'A
fragments it often Small villages Of
yesterday have become the rural ME
tropolises that one finds here and
there. everywhere. This is all good,
for ii is Well that a nation be knit
together III the spirit Of mutual un-
Outstanding and in reciprocity Of
advantages.
But there are better arguments for
good roads than those which apply
merely to the pleasure car. We are
told. on the authority of the gov
ernment that farmers lose 100000
yearly in marketing their crops. be
cause of bad roads. That is too
much to waste. We should contem-
plate this figure in connection with
the high cost of living.
There is no more serious problem
before us today than the matter of
reducing the cost of getting the pro-
duets OF the farm 10 the table of the
consumer. One step. at last. in the
solution is plain--better roads.
As an instrument of economy the
motor truck has not vet come into
its own. Efficient servant as il is in
certain restricted realms, il now
awaits the further deyelopmen; af
lnterurban and country HIGHWAYS 10
lt5cI inc of fnr
ment. 1t has power aud speed that
put il outside the class nf the horse
drawn vehicle. ana a nimbleness and
feSiaillty which gives Il a certain
advantage over the RAILWAYS. II i
my expectation 10 see it assume more
ana more the function Of Tho short
maui as its own peculiar urorirca.
ID Part relieving the railways If those
duties which they are least able tn
perform: and in part, expanding the
Weld Of our national TRANSFORMATION
system.
| say, therefore all speed to the
good road movement. It will chaan-
Ell our methods Of distribution ami
help to bring the people of our com
Try closer tc each other I CONNER
It's common sense and practical WIS
dom. 1t may lie less spectacular
IMAM some Of orr other national is
sues. but it strikes deep into the
roots OF Fundamental progress.
announcements that prices rae de-
Ginning and the actual prices IIIns-