The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-04-09
GOOD ROADS

1
The country is entering period Of
road-building. Projects which were
planned during the war are being put
into effect. The Federal Government
has made large appropriations, to be
spent jointly with appropriations by
the various States. Good roads have
become watch-word, of postwar
progress.
There is occasion for reflection in
che fact that the greatest of ancient
empires was conspicuous for its road
building. The Roman roads were the
railways and telegraph of an age that
did not know steam and electricity.
They We're the pathways of the i'm
perial couriers and the imperial le-
gions. These roads were the Orders
that held the empire together. 1t is
customary today to admire the Rom
ans for their practical sagacity, no.
where better exemplified than in their
BODYBUILDING.
In manner, "history repeats it,
self" in our newly bestirred zeal for
constructing good highways. What to
the Romans was national necessity,
has become for US an urgent need; and
this by virtue of a modern invention
the motor car. look for much adj
vancement to grow out of the "motor
age" and | am certain that this adj
vancement will be contingent upon the
attention We give to the improvement
of our roads.
Those of US who have made obser-
vations for two decades have seen
wondrous changes resulting directly
from the use of the pleasure automo-
bile. Once the city was city, and
the country was the country. Today
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. The
country man knows the city and FIRE.
quents it often. Small villages of yes
terday have become the rural metrop-
olises that one finds here and there,
everywhere. This is all good, for it
is well that a nation be knit together
in the spirit of mutual understanding
and in reciprocity of advantages.
But there are better arguments for
good roads than those which apply
merely to the pleasure car. We ar,
told, on the authority of the Govern
ment, that farmers lose $500, 10000
yearly in marketing their crops, be-
cause of bad roads. That is too much
to waste. We should contemplate this
figure in connection with the high cost
of living.
There is no more serious problem
before us today than the matter of re-
ducipg the cost of getting the products
of the farm to the table of the consum-
er. One step, at least, in the solution
is plain-better roads.
AS an instrument of economy the
motor truck has not yet come into its
own. Efficient servant as it is in GER
tain restricted realms, it now awaits
the further development of interurban
and country highways to reach the
measure of its full attainment. 1t has
power and speed that put it outside the
class of the horse-drawn vehicle, and
a nimbleness and fexibility which
gives it a certain advantage over the
railways. 1t is my expectation to see
it assume more and more the function
of the Short haul" as it's own pecu-
liar province: in part, relieving the
railways of those duties which they
are least able to perform; and in part,
expanding the field of our national
transportation system.
| say, therefore, all speed to the
good road movement! 1t will cheaper
our methods Of distribution and help
to bring the people of our country
closer to each other. | commend its
common sense and practical wisdom.
1t may be less spectacular than some
of our other national issues, but it
strikes deep into the roots of funda-
mental progress.