The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1920-05-13
GOOD HARD ROADS.
Lower Farmers Marketing Costs and
Consequently Lower Price of
Products to Consumer.
In Minnesota 'Babcock Plan Would
Prove of Incalculable Value
to People in General.
The highway is coming into it's owl

LIE ASHWdy Is coming lHtO us own
in America.
Neglected, abused, undervalued, sub
jected to cheap remedies for decades,
at last the country road is being ac-
corded the treatment it deserves. At
a 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 unprecedent-
ed scale. They pay by promoting the
social life of the people, by encourag-
ing outdoor recreation, and by helping
relieve the congestion that is making
maelstroms of municipalities. But,
more important still, they pay in dol
lars and cents, for poor roads add
heavy toll to the buying and selling Of
farm products toll far in excess of
the expense of adequateImprovement.
This is a lesson cities as we'll as
rural districts are learning. In the
bureau of public roads, United States
department of agriculture, which adj
ministers the federal aid road act, is
centered supervision Of all highway
construction which federal funds help
carry on. At the close of last year
project statements had been approved
calling for federal aid to the amount
of $110, $40, 773-a sum which indicates
how fully the nation is convinced that
better roads mean better business.
The total federal funds available to
aid the states in their road building
programs up to July l, 1920, will be
$169, $50 ,00O-and this totalis exceed
ed by the combined expenditures of,
state, county, and municipalities.
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 a 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 these surfaces the horse will
haul on 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 a certain fixed amount
day, then, with given load, his eff
fective radius of travel from a given
point on macadam road is from three
to five times the radius Of travel 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 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 ac-
curately what the saving would be if
all highways were improved in the dis
tricts represented by these replies, a
specific instance makes the benefit
plain. A farmer in southern state
had to haul a ton Of barbed wire %
miles over unimproved roads. He
found that with a two-horse team his
maximum load was 500 pounds, and
that three days were required to make
one round trip. TO haul one ton,
therefore, required IL days to make
one round trip. Allowing Sc day
for man and team, the cost was $72.
After the roads in this region were inn
proved the same team could draw a
ton to the load and make one round
trip in two days at cost Of SIP. The
ton-mile cost under old conditions was
$3.18, and this cost was reduced to
So cents by the improved road.
The lowering Of distribution costs,
it is now recognized, is one Of the most
important problems in reducing living
costs. While business is searching for.
more economical methods Of handling
goods, the farmers have not been neg