The Ordway new era., 1920-01-09
Improved Highways will
Lower the Cost of Living

replaced by the cost of motor trans
port.
But where municipal retail mar
kets have been established, the cost
of food products has been material.
ly lowered. Tho farmer drives in
with his produce and sells direct to
the consumer. Many cities are de-
veloping such municipal markets,
where those who cannot afford to
pay the high prices charged by the
retailer. and made necessary by the
rumber of hands thru which the pro-
and-carry plan.
The recent government seizure of
food products, under the wartime
food laws, has turned the attention
of the public toward cold storage
methods. The food hoarder is
threatened with jail; the food con-
troller or packer" is being con-
demned and drastic laws being advo-
Gated to regulate monopoly and the
Withholding of products from the
market by storing them.
Until production gets back to
normal. and supply and demand are
to some extent regulated by the
completion of the reconstruction
period thru which we are now pass
ing, we cannot hope for greatly low
cred prices. But we can turn our
minds toward the construction of
the necessary works which the pres
ent high prices and unstable con-
6itions have made us realize played
big part in bringing about the sit
uation which now confronts us.
The Federal Government and the
states have realized this and we see
evidence of their activity in the great
road-building plans now in operation
or under consideration, the vast a.
mount of money set aside for road
construction purposes, and the ae-
tive advocacy of suitable legislation
to bring about a nation wide sys-
tenn of improved highways.
Conspicuous among the highway
legislation before Congress. is bill
now pending in the United States
Senate. which was introduced by
Senator Townsend, Chairman of the
Committee on Post Offices and
Post Roads. 1t is proposed in this
measure to create a vast system of
highways under federal control and
maintenance. This system will en-
brace not less than two per cent
and more than five per cent of mile
age in actual use in each state in the
Union.
What will such system when
completed mean to the people of the
United States? For one thing it
will bring our food producing areas
nearer to our manufacturing CEN
ters, and the vast numbers of peo-
pie engaged in manufacturing will,
with proper legislation designed to
bring about the condition, pay less
for the food they eat and for every
thing that is produced by nature to
feed the wheels of industry.
The man who lives on the high
ways and raises food products there.
will benefit by highway improve
ment because of the lessened cost
to him Of transporting the product
he raises to the local market. Or,
II he transports his product direct to
the consumer in the city via the
municipal market or direct to the
home, he will have the benefit of the
profit now paid to the railroad COM
pany, the middleman, the cold stor-
age plant and the retailer. In this
way the farmer can get much more
for his products than he receives at
the present time, and still sell them
to the public at an even lower price
than he did before the war,
From this brief survey 1t is clear
that the improvements of roads
! should be the concern of every per-
son, whether he be laborer. farmer
merchant. banker. doctor, lawyer or
otherwise. living either in the city
or in the country. The improve
ment of highways is definite, fun.
damental step toward decreasing the
high cost of living.