Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-02-08
WORK OF THE ROADS
Nations Most Profitable and Neces.
Sary Task.
ESSENTIAL TO WHOLESOME PROGRESS
Best Possible Method of Developing
Civilization Is by Means Of First
: Class Roads,, Without Which Worth
While Progress Is Out of the Cues:

ClOn. 'e ~ - =
Manufacturers Record, Baltimore, Md.
Not all the power and wealth of the
nation if thrown into the expansion Of
railroad facilities could possibly within
the next ten years provide adequate
transportation to meet the needs Of the
country in that time. -;
The automobile and motor truck
have come into being as a part Of the
great economic and social revolution,
which rightly used will mean as much
for national advancement as the deve!-
opment Of our railroad system, perhaps
even more.
We have come to point where mo-
tor trucks and automobiles are the in
dividual property of one man or a small
group Of men and where there can be
no such abuses as the country suffered
from in times past by the mismanage-
ment of railroads, nor such disastrous
results as we are now: suffering from
in the complete domination Of railroads
by labor unions, aided by the National
government in the passage Of the
Adamson act.
What the sea is to world commerce,
free and open to every ship that spreads
it's sails or every steamer. that fires Its
boilers, good highways will be to the
traffic, passenger freight. Of this
country. The highway must be devel-
oped to meet the rapidly expanding
motor vehicle traffic. It must be built
on firm foundation, so solid and en-
during that 1t may stand the tremend-
Gus pounding Of the heavy motor trucks
which are to do much Of the traffic
that railroads are no longer able to
handle.
A few years ago Florida began a
campaign Of highway building. 1t then
had possibly the most intolerablc, i'm
possible roads of any state in the Un-
ion. They were either bottomless
sand waste or Of bottomless mud. To-
day one can motor for a thousand miles
over unbroken stretches Of splendid
highways throughout Florida, and it Is
literally true that within a thousand
mile trip one would zever be out OF
sight of other cars, and often a dozen
others would be In the range of vision
for greater part of the time. Florida
has built thousands Of miles Of such
roads and it's appetite has been whet-
ted for more.
These roads have developed motoring
By the. tourists ana by the local people
to an extent that few would ever have
deemed possible few years ago. A
horse drawn vehicle is rarely seen on
any Of these Florida roads. Motor
trucks are in evidence everywhere.
Motor busses carry passengers on reg
ular routes Of $50 miles Or more. The
vast citrus fruit and early vegetable
business Of the state is now handled
almost exclusively from the farms to
the towns and the railroad depots by
motor trucks.
What Florida has accomplished in
the last five or six years in revolution
izing its entire business through the
building of good highways can be done
in every other state in the Union when
ever there Is spirit Of broad enter
prise matching that Of the people Of
Florida 1t is probable that Florida has
spent more in proportion to wealth and
population on good highways than any
other state. But the success which it
has achieved has intensified the reali-
zation in that state of the value of
highways, and so Florida keeps on in
its campaign building new and better
and wider highways.
There is a spirit abroad throughout
the south for highways which augurs
we'll for the future. But not all south
ern and western states have yet realiz-
ed that the building Of highway is an
investment which immediately brings,
not once only, but annually for all the
years to come, a profit perhaps as great,
as the original investment.
1t must be fully understood that mo-
COr lTalHC VIII ueSSlop oli q ihi 6Si
scale with heavier cars just as "a idly
as good highways are provided, and
that the people, farmers, merchants
and manufacturers tributary to these
roads are the ones who reap the profit
therefrom. Their life is boadened, their
ability to do business is. increased, the
opportunities of the farmer and his
family for social life, for educationai
advancement, for church attendance
are all greatly increased. The farmer
becomes a city man in one sense in that
he is within easy reach Of the city at
any hour of the day. The physician is
made available and thousands Of lives
are saved annually by the ability Of the
physicians to travel at rapid speed to
the bedside of the sick and suffering.
The merchant and manufacturer have
broader opportunities for business.
Indeed. from every standpoint. every
argument is in favor of the building Of
GOOD highways, and building SO per1na-
nently and solidly that they can stand
increasing traffic for years to come.
No one can make the mistake Of COM
munities in road pioneering work who
oooopto6 np,.tt,inr in, tho xyav of an inn