The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-07-27
Good Roads in
Ellis County, Kan.
The Value of Good Roads From an Eco
nomic Standpoint are Immeasurable
OF the Three Branches of Our Economic Life
Production, Transportation and Consump-
ton, Zach is Dependent on the Other
(By R. Kenneth Evans)

realized, we considered the highways
and the highway work more or less
of joke. Men simply met and put
in their required hours to comply with
the law, but today the highway prob
lem has become a serious matter
the biggest and most serious before
the American people at this time.
In those days few hundred dol
lars spent on the roads was consider
ed by the taxpayers as a waite of
] money. When the automobile came
and the business man began to see
( the necessity of roads, the farmer or
! the taxpayer still contended that they
were only working for the bettement
+ of these roads SIMPLY for the pleasure
Of a few. But as time passed by and
the farmer discovered that the auto
mobile was a necessity, and that in
. order to keep up with the advance
ment and progress of others he must
have q car also, then he also discover
: ed the necessity of better roads.
Even though practically every bust
ness man and farmer drives a car to-
day, he does not realize what a tre-
mendous big business the road game
is; and it is up to you and me and
everyone interested in better roads to
! still spread the propaganda and edu-
cate the people to this big game that
we are playing.
In the five years from 1879 to 1888
inclusive when the engineers and the
financially interests put through the
/ greatest years of railroad building,
the American people ever saw at a
cost of $500, O,OOO,OOO.OO, great
many people thought that it would
wreck the nation, but instead of the
nation going broke, it was the most
wonderful investment ever made, for
| 1T was the means of welding our
states together. 1t is now estimated
that within the next five years the
American states will build 100000
miles of roads costing at the very
least $780, 0,OOO,OOO.OO. Can any
reader conceive what a tremendous
sum of money this is? What efforts
are the people making to meet this
situation?
In order to spend this vast amount
of money we must have at the heads
of our various state highway depart
ments the very best road men that
each state can produce. That does
not necessarily mean that they must
/ be engineers, but they must be men
of good sound judgment and men who
have posted themselves in the road
business, for the time has come when
the American people are demanding
a dollars worth of value for a dollar
spent. Until such time as We can
show the people that they are getting
one hundred cents on the dollar, we
will find the same opposition in the
work that has been experienced in
the past.
There is a great deal of road work
going on in Kansas at the present
time, which is spread out over the
entire state, with much paving being
laid in many localities. Practically
every county has a federal or state
aid road built somewhere within its
borders but these roads do not al
ways connect with one another. It is
very necessary that one county join
on with its neighbor and continue
these stretches of road across the
state. Let everyone help the high
way commission and give them CO.
operation in bringing about this re-
suit so that when we start in one part
of the state we will be able to follow
that trail continuously across the
state.
A great many counties want to
build a road that will benefit their
particular locality and bring all the
traffic to some particular town, when
possibly this road does not connect
with any state road coming through
the county adjoining. Let US forget
our selfish motives and build roads
for the state of Kansas and not en-
tirely for the particular county.
This is year when every taxpayer
would like to see his taxes reduced,
and every county board in the state
would like to comply with his wishes.
But can we afford to suspend opera