Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-24

Jaw AAASSGAAA6 ANfSDAo VIZ s@sA
ment in Wisconsin, and il
therefore Of interest to al
those who are working for {
similar development in the
state. His speech follows:
THE road problem is rooted deep ii
the fundamental philosophy of human
life. 1t is merely one phase Of the
problem of transportation, of com
munication. Communication, the inter.
change of ideas and of goods, is one
of the foremost factors that has made
for human progress.
The first narrow pata through q
forest or across an open stretch repre-
sents one of the greatest strides toward
human advancement. Worn perhaps by
the foot Of a savage, it meant not only
the beginning of commerce but Of human
society. It ~inaugurated intercourse
it supplied a channel for the ebb and
flow of ideas. The next great step was
the development of the wheel, and it
has been happily said that the first
revolution of the wheel was the great
est revolution in human history.
"All human progress depends upon
communication, upon the rapidity
EGdCuCu anu lHLCuSlIy VI t1U hlSdilo "
communication. Any student of history
will observe that all great steps for
ward have been preceded by the de-
velopment of some new means of
communication which has been the
compelling cause of these steps-the
art Of printing, the development of the
steam engine and its application to
water and land transportation, the
telegraph, the telephone, wireless and
finally the motor vehicle.
CAS- q matter of fact, IN of the
great struggles of the ages has been
The want to overcome distance, and all
of the ingenuity and effort spent to
develop new means of communication
has been a struggle to overcome this
fundamental obstacle.
An Economic and Social Factor
"For years oil our thought in the
matter of transportation has been de-
voted to the railroad problem of trans
portation-the haulage to the railroad.
1t has been aptly stated that it costs
more for the farmer to haul a bushel
of wheat from his farm to market than
it does to haul it from New York to
Liverpool by boat.
THE United States government q
lew NSalS oEo had "i SAi
vey of a group of eight counties where
the roads were poor but which had
decided through bond issues to build
good roads. The surveys were made
before and after the roads were built.
The result brought out was that under
bad road conditions it cost 80 cents a
ton mile to haul produce to market
md 10 cents a ton mile on the good
roads-a difference of IL cents a ton
mile. A great increase in land values
resulted, the school enrolment in
creased from &c to 76 per hundred
pupils and the level of the social life
was raised.
In Milwaukee county, Wisconsin,
where they have built a system of 200
miles of concrete roads. the cost in
the haulage of milk by the big delivery
companies has been cut % per cent.
The milk is now collected from the
farmers at central stations, in some
instances hauled in by truck, and in
others loaded into huge copper lined
tanks mounted on trucks. -Four times
the load is carried and it is delivered
in better condition. We have a great
dairy state and some years ago when
the month Of June was exceedingly
wet the delivery was SO badly ham,
pered in certain sections that the
~deteriorated and there was a
falling off of one cent a pound for
the price secured for butter.
Tests made at the University of
California with a dynamometer showed
that on a level paved road the pull Of
a team hauling 1900 pounds recorded
SO pounds, and on a stiff mud road
654 pounds, a difference Of 81 pounds
representing in wasted energy. Tests
made with motor trucks showed that
the gasoline consumption on a loaded
truck running on an earth road
was double that used or a paved road.
1t a Ills miles IN n gallon of
gasoline or a paved road and SIS miles
on a dirt road.
Still Minds Stagnate
",Nor Is the vary of roads confined
to the economic factor. 1t is a factor
in developing education. We in Wis
consin have 10000 one room schools
scattered over the landscape. I sub
NIT that the type of education given in
these schools is not what We owe the
youth Of America. With the develop
Inent of good roads has come the de- |
of the consolidated school.
school districts are organized
into one resulting in a larger taxable
Of grades schools with a number of
teachers. This is a highly important
that must not be overlooked.
'"The road is a great social factor.
Still waters stagnate. Still minds,
minds without reaction, without the
Of contact with other minds
llso stagnate. / met an old timber
in the woods of Wisconsin some
ears ago, one Of the silent type and
asked him what he did all winter.
he said, I'm winter we. sit and think.
md som times we just sit.' His mind
rom the lack of stimulus had become
usfy and Starnant To me fhc rreatast