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Show : " i in a f Itimds wild I'Hrm Values. MOK. T was with much Interest X a. that I -ead lu the Tribune O T O Farmer of tbo Brownlow )S bill for the Improvement of TOW highways nnd the editorial comments upon It. It is manifestly true that the public highways, high-ways, like public education, should be maintained by the State, for the welfare wel-fare of thn State Is largely dependent upon the Intelligence of Its people, and the ease of communication created by good road". Coming ns nn agreeable uunouuccuient, too, Is the fact that tho National firnnge, nt Its recent nniiunl session, adopted resolutions faxorlug the bill. I certainly hope the various State granges will follow the Tribune Farmer's suggestions, and adopt strong resolutions favoring the bill. Tills will have a two-fold effect. It will call the attention of the members of tho order to the bill nnd Its many advantages, drawing out their support, and It will eausi Its favorable consideration by the members of Congress. There is also a great need of education educa-tion among the people us to the udvnn-tages udvnn-tages to bo secured by good roads. This luck of truo appreciation of the value of good mads to ttie people of the farms, and of tbo rural communities, communi-ties, has hindered fmornblo legislation In the East. A law recently passed by the Maine Legislature affording Stnte aid to towns lu building permanent perma-nent roads has not been taken advantage advan-tage of by ninny of tho towns that would bu much hcnclHcd by such roads. Dr. Jordan once said that we often heard people say thy could not nfford this thing or that thing, but that he had always noticed that what people really wonted they could nfford lo have. So, ns soon as our country people peo-ple really want good roads, there will be no objections to the raising of liberal lib-eral sums of money to secure them. It Is not often considered that every article produced for the tnnrkets of tin-world, tin-world, either In Its raw form or as a finished product, Is transported over the public highways. Wo see reports of the enormous earnings of the railways rail-ways of tho country nnd wonder nt them, but if wo could see the earnings of the carriages, of the materials they handle, over our country roads carefully care-fully computed nnd placed nlongslde of them, they would dwindle Into Insignificance Insig-nificance in comparison. The vnlue of our farm lands Is large-ly large-ly dependent upon their nearness to mnrkets or shipping points, and when-over when-over nny time Is saved In the transportation transpor-tation of their products by tho Improvement Im-provement of the hlghwnys, they are placed practically that much nearer the market. Indeed, there nro deeper, more potent, reasons for generalizing our system of road building nnd placing it under one head. The country home, with Its boys nnd girls, with Its purifying nnd rellnlug Influences, with Its means of affording rcmuneratlvo occupation for the young. Is the standard of excellence nnd tho bulwark of snfety for our country. As our hlghwnysnro Improved, Im-proved, as tho means of communication communica-tion are mndo better, the country homes will Increase, they will resound more than ever to the voices of happy childhood nnd the hum of Hint creative industry which Is ut the foundation of all tho Industrial resources of the country. Yes, push along the Brown-low Brown-low bill, and nt the same time set In motion tho ball that shall awaken and cnthuso the people as It goes, so that when tho bill becomes n law thcro shall bo n readiness to take full advantage advan-tage of Its provisions. B. Walker Mc-Keen, Mc-Keen, of Freyburg, Me., In the New YorK Tribune. An IiniiorlMiil Vlclorr. Tho friends of tho road olllce In the Department of Agriculture have scored an Important victory In securing In the Senate an Increnso of .f 15,000 In tho appropriations for road Investigations and experiments, Including tho build ing of object lesson roads. This Is National aid on n small scale. But It is of great Importance from an educational point or view. Heretofore Here-tofore the object lesson work has been conducted lu the following manner: An application is Kent In by somo experiment ex-periment station or agricultural college, or by road olllcliils or public spirited citizens of some progressive community commun-ity asking the Government to co-oper-ato lu the building of a short stretch of road. The Government usually fur-nlshes fur-nlshes nothing more than nu engineer or an expert to make plans und supervise super-vise the work. Itoadmnkliig machinery Is usually furnished free of charge by tho manufacturers for tho sako of the advertisement It gives them. The railroads rail-roads also lake n baud nud transport the machinery free. The Institution or community making the application lias to foot tho bills for labor and materials. Axoug the benefits (lowing from such work aro (I) that It gives nn excellent ex-cellent opportunity to Investigate and test the various local materials; (2) that it gives tiio people of that locality a lesson lu the methods of road building and in tho use of road materials and machinery, nnd (3) that the building of n short pleco of road usually loids to the building of a largo mlleago of Improved Im-proved rond In tho vicinity. To have Undo Sam como Into a community and help build n good road, bo It ever so short, seems to arouse great popular Interest and stimulate local effort. It Is claimed by thoso who know most about tho rebuilt, of the work already done that in no other direction does tho Government aeeomplNa o much with 0 little outlay |