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Show I I BAD R0ADS ATlR II f?fmmZmm ,B untravolod I fciKf I American Is apt to 1 I I 'mvo eomo exaggor- I k. Jk I atc(1 Pnlons of ls LiaH J, I own country; ho In U U J prono to regard ' KwLgdl other countries ns I J Mp5jffj "beck numbers" nnd ! Vrir4H BOmo tnom n 'HMmJiS half civilized. When BHEinHl ouo has traveled In HjHD many lands ho finds ho has much to """it"B learn and often , .from unexpected sources. . There can bo no doubt that the United States 1ms tho greatest opportunity oppor-tunity .ever given to nny pcoplo In the world's history, It has a domain Wished by two oceans and soil of unsurpassed un-surpassed fertility. Tho Mississippi .valley Is tho very garden of tho world. . white tho mountains aro store houses or mineral wealth. Everything man needs of nec'.-ssity and luxury can be "home grown." ir wo did not succeed under such conditions It would bo our everlasting disgrace. Wo have more wealth producing olomonts nnd rooro enterprise In cortaln ways than any other nation. As a pcoplo thero Is I nothing or comfort or luxury that wo may not have ir we will. wlf?neboV0,al' trwnwi,t nation and wasteful to a sinful degree It Is said that ?f ,oouW ,1Ive wo11 "I""1 what wo waste nd It is probably true. Tho groat need or to-day is tho prevention or wosto and the . pre-fler use and conserving or our resources, livery man who keeps nt all In touch with tho affairs or business knows how Important it Is to keep down expenses nnd to muko every stroko -count. Uo knows rrelght charges In tho last ' L7? havo b"on nioro thttn c,lt 1,1 two, nnd this has been posslblo becauso or tho bettor construction or tho road beds and more powerful power-ful locomotives and better management, A railroad that would attempt to do business to-,dy to-,dy upon the basis or 20 years ago would bo a bankrupt in six months. Whllo there has been ft tremendous Improvement in railway operations opera-tions thero has been little, if anything, dono "no Improve wagon transportation over tho highways. high-ways. Good roads aro as Important from an economic standpoint to tho farmer as cheap railroad rates, and equally affect his profits. t There Is no country in tho world outsldo of ; the United States that could Btnnd what wo aro compelled to bear evory year becauso or bad roads. Wo havo tho distinction or being the ; richest country and haying the poorest roads ; c-f any on earth. Whllo wo havo mastorod ninny things and all told havo mado and nro making wonderful rocords, wo havo failed signally sig-nally In dealing with the quostlon of highways. Good roads pay from an ccononilo standpoint f alone, but there Is a hlghor reason Tor good; roads, namely, tho social, othlcal and educa-: educa-: Uonal advantages. It would bo Interesting to know what other t countries havo dono upon this Important niati tor and the illustrations herewith show tho conditions in other countries and also Indicate Indi-cate how highly Important good roads aro ro-8rded ro-8rded In the sovoral countries. Wo got a Ulimpse herewith or tho ramous Applan Way, OHfl of the oldest roads In tho world leadiug frm.,the Home to Southern Italy, built before Cjlt was born. It Is still In uso and serving ,Vm purpose. k i One of the glories of the Roman omplro was ttw construction ot hlghwaya. When Ceasar . lamdod EBSjaud ono of tho first things dono ; wa tt building of a number of splendid 1 HT? f11wl,Ih are In uso to day. A fiopJo wt build good roads also look after LitrwMl cleanliness, so tho Ilomans built not fitly ro but baths. One of the curly lloman I IP!1 y,ba found to day Just off the Strand Lff ' ,1T 1,10 hotel This bath till- uncd" after 2,000 ycarB. As a road builder Napoleon wns almost as famous ns ho.waB as a military gonlus. Tho roads of Franco aro tho best In tho world, in-nugaurated in-nugaurated and many or them planned nnd built by tho little corporal. Ono or tho Illustrations' Illus-trations' shows n road In southern Prnnco whore a mountain la tunnqlcd nnd tho sldo or the rond walled up with masonry. This road Is one of tho slghtB of southern France. It proved a splendid Investment nnd Is visited by thousands thou-sands of peoplo every year. In Norway and Sweden many of tho roads aro built by blnstlng out n shelf from tho solid rock. What Is true of Norway and Sweden is equally truo of Switzerland, whoro tho roads aro uniformly goo and tho ndmlratlou of ovcry traveler. In taraway Australia, and Now Zealand splon-did splon-did roads abound, whllo in our own great country coun-try less than eight per cent, or tho roads nro permanently Improved! Thero Is a reason. Wo havo been working upon tho wrong plan. We havo treated tho roads ob puroly a local and not n general proposition. Highway conditions Influence market conditions and this touches ovoryone. Tho rouds abroad aro generally good becauso tho central government helped to build thorn. The stops to tnko hero to solvo this question nro first slate and noxt nntlonal aid, and not put tho wholo expense on tho township or rond district. In colonial times thoro wore fow cities of any Blze nnd moHt pcoplo woro producers of what they consuniod, Tho spinning wheel was to be found in their homo nnd many hand looms In every community. The "homespun" prevailed. pre-vailed. Thero wns very little travel from ono community to another, Many porsons wore born, grow old and passed away without going 20 miles from their blrthplaco. Produce wns largely n matter ol bartor nnd exchange bo-tweon bo-tweon neighbors. Thoro was no telegraph, no railroads, row newspapers nnd nn uncertain nnd intermittent mall service Po'stngo was from flvo to ten times tho present rate nnd consequently thoro wns llttlo correspondence. The several communities woro solf-contnlnod; their Interest and business was usually bounded by flio horizon. How natural thoa that the yulillq roudg should have only a local significance. signifi-cance. Un('. jiuch conditions what Interest could tho rest ot na world have In themT Tho concopt thnt tho roads bolonged to thoso that used them and It was their duty to caro for thorn was tho logical sequence of tho times. When tho railways come and spread over the country, and cities wero built whero tho wild flowers grow, tho factory plan came in nnd rolognted tho spinning wheel and hand loom to tho attic as relics of former conditions. Thousands upon thousands thou-sands camo upon the scone who did not produce what they consumed; tho food products had to bo sent to them over tho country roadB and railways. In tho span or a slngla human llfo conditions so changed thnt tho neighborhood market of bartor and exchango gave way to a world wldo market, tho fluctuations or which wore hourly flashed across continents nnd tin- ilnr thn nrpnnfl. A mlirhtv nvntnm or distribution hns grown up by which food nnd othor products nro shipped halt way nrouud tho world rrom whero thoy nro grown. Tho cost ot this distribution. Is a prlmo factor In determining tho market valuo of everything of this nature. It nil must pass over country hlghwnys In order to reach the consumer, the facility and cost of performing this Bcrvlco Is In a large degreo determined by tho physical condition of tho highways. 'Therefore, within a fow decades roads ns a purely local matter has grown Into one ot stato and nntlonal Importance. Im-portance. Tho formor conception Is giving way; tho progrcsslvo states have tnken up nnd aro taking up the subject as ono of Interest. Under the now conditions the stato rccog- -nlzes Its duty to tho highways. Stato aid In road building Is tho result. Tho next and final step Is natlonnl aid to supplement state aid. Let us sco by a comparison to what degreo our own country Is able to assist In road building. build-ing. How bettor enn this bo dono than by comparing com-paring tho government debt and Interest chargo per capita? Let us do go. The national dobt or Franco por person la $144; Englnnd, $88.83; Germany, $49; Italy, $82; Spain, 198; Australia, $278; United States, $11.11. Whllo every Frenchman tin S0.0S Interest In-terest to pay per year wo havo 29 cents, Strungo as It may Becm this country needs n larger dobt. Thore Is a denrth or good Be-curltlos, Be-curltlos, Moro government bopds nro needed Key To Photographs iCopyrUht. 1908, by Underwood Underwood.) 1. Norway Road Blasted Out of Solid Rock Which Runs to Vorlng Falls. It Is, 12 Feet Wide. 2. Thorourjhfare Connecting Daramula and Cashmere, India, Which Is Lined with Tall Poplars. 3. Women Doing Men's Work In Constructing Con-structing Road at Darjeellng, India. 4. Typical German Woman Road-Maker at Work Breaking Rock for Thoroughfare. Thorough-fare. Her Wage Is Equivalent to 16 Cents a Day. 5. A French Road Cut In the Mountain Side. This Thoroughfare Was Planned by Napoleon Bonaparte, as n basis ot circulation. Tho government needs roads, Tho rural mail sorvfeo Is costing now $35,000,000 per yenr. It will soon cost $50,-000,000. $50,-000,000. With good roads overywhoro good sorvlco can bo performed nt n saving ot 20 per cout. This means a saving ot $7,000,000 to $10,000,000 per year In tho coat of the service ser-vice and this would pay the Interest on a very large sum of money. Tho government has tho right under the constitution to build roads or help build them. It needs them to uso and It has almost unlimited un-limited ability to help build thorn. If tho government gov-ernment were to lssuo $100,000,000 of two per cent, bonds to assist tho states In building roads that aro used for rural mall delivery, suy In paying one-fourth of tho cost, tho sum would bo Bufflclciit for tho purposo and tho saving In rural dollvery alono would pay tho Interest on the bonds. Whllo tho government would Bavo from $7,000,000 to $10,000,000, tho people would bovo $160,000,000 to $200,000,000 by good roads. Tho great need or this country to put It on a pnr with othor countries In tho matter or transportation Is good country roads. |