OCR Text |
Show GOOD ROADS LOWER EXPENSE TO FARMERS Good Roads Reduce Greatly Troublo of Transporting Crops to Market Cause of Distress. "Boforo tho war In Kuropo affected tho rates at Boa It edst tho Amorlcan farmer moro to haul a bushel of wheat nlno and a half miles to tho railroad station for shipment than It cost tho buyor to ship tho samo bushel of wheat from Now York to Liverpool, a dlstanco ot 3,000 miles," according to a bulletin issued by tho Amorlcan Highway association. "Tho nvorago coBt of hauling a ton of farm produce, or a ton of anything elso, ovor tho nvorago nv-orago country road Is about twenty-throo twenty-throo cents a milo; 70 ycnrB ago tho cost of tho samo servlco was 1? cents. Tho cost of hnuling over tho rallroadB Is less than one-ninth as much as It waB 60 years ago. Tho cost of hauling by railroad has almost reached tho vanishing point; tho cost of hauling on tho country roads has gono up as tho roads havo gone down. "By enroful calculation, Logan Waller Wal-ler Pago, director of tho United States ofllco of public roads, has reached tho conclusion that with wlso and equlta-bl equlta-bl road laws and good business man- agomcnf It would bo ontlroly practicable practica-ble for tho pooplo to savo themselves on tho two Items of. hauling and administration ad-ministration tho enormous sum of $290,000,000 yearly. Tho railroads In tho United States carry about 900,000,-000 900,000,-000 tons of freight annually, and of thiB vaBt tonnngo at loaBt 200,000,000 tons nro hauled over tho country roads to tho railroad station or to tho canals for shipment. The Immcnso volumo of mining products aggregating millions mil-lions of tons is not included in this estimate but only tho agricultural, forest and miscellaneous products hauled by wagon over tho public roads, nor Is tho cost of hauling back and forth between tho farms nnd tho mills. "Tho mnln cause of agricultural distress," dis-tress," sayB tho bulletin, "a Bubjcct of perennial alarm to 'popular favorites,' is not so much tho wages of tho workers work-ers or tho Infertility of tho soil or tho prices of tho products, but tho cnor-mouB cnor-mouB drain of getting tho stuff to markot, tho waste of tho roads in tho wear and tear of machinery, tho Bacrl-flco Bacrl-flco of teams, tho Inofllcloncy of servlco serv-lco compelled by lmpasaablo highways. Tributary to every markot town or railroad station thero aro what Mr. Pago callB 'zonoB of production.' From tho first of thoso zones all products prod-ucts can bo delivered to markot at a ,lf I Ml J l Ml VPJ HHflBH &$ ' flisiiiiiH I iSjUr HiiSJX 'ftssBBBSSBBBBBBBBa BBBBBBKSshKBsKx. fPSBBnBBBBBBBBBBBBBBsl LVLvHSSSEun&' 'jHIsbSBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB t; " - , lll,IM1Whl ' ' ' Shaded Road In the West. profit, and from tho rest ono class of products after another must do eliminated elim-inated becauso of the prohlbltlvo cost of hauling, and beyond Ho vast torrlr torloa that cannot bo cultivated without with-out tho building and constant maintenance main-tenance of roads suited to whatever train c thoro may bo dovoloped. "It has bcon demonstrated that as tho roada from tho market towns havo boon improved thoro has been a great Incrcaso of tholr business and a corresponding corre-sponding Improvement In tho condition condi-tion and opportunities of tho rural population, larger prosperity of tho Individual farmer, greater traffic for tho railroads, better supplies and lower low-er prlcoB for tho consumor. It does not pay to raiso crops that cannot bo markotcd readily and cheaply. Millions Mil-lions of dollars' worth of field and orchard or-chard crops havo bcon utterly wasted becauso of exponslvo and Inadequate facilities for markotlng. ThlB Is ono of the hard problems with which tho United States department of agriculture agricul-ture Is trying to deal through tho greatest exports in tho land, and thoy have found that tho building of good roads Is essential to tho success of their planB." |