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Show ,t o I, J GOOD ROADS AND THE H )i COST OF LIVING. Bh No matter how heavy taxation for war purposes may PM be, the community must keep up is ordinary every day B facilities for doing business. Good roads are the fore- fl K most of those facilities. They are a part of the general B y .B scheme for national preparedness. The country can not fl ' I rB k cint unless it provides highways over which our bbL'JbbbbbbbbL KcbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbI produce can be hauled at the least expense for truckage. One of the items in cost of living is the expense of hauling produce over bad roads. Whenever a community improves its roads, it can put its products on the market for less money. If it gets the same prices that other people peo-ple get, its producers are able to do business for the minimum mini-mum expense and they prosper correspondingly. Labor, horseflesh, gasoline, and motor trucks cost high. A pair of horses working on a smooth, hard road will do the work of two pairs on a bad road. The cost of help is likewise cut in two. Many places that are some distance from the railroads, yet are able to get their farm produce to market cheaply by having good road over which to draw it. They get all the advantages of inexpensive living that go with the country, and at the same time pay only a reasonable charge for hauling. It is a sound basis for prosperity and can't be beaten. Rough uneven pavements in the business portion of towns also add to the wear and tear and expense of doing business. Horses haul loads over such streets with difficulty, diffi-culty, and can not draw heavy weights. It takes more gasoline for motors, and increases the strain on the machinery ma-chinery of a truck. All these expenses are finally settled by the consumer. But because people do not get it in tangible form like a tax bill, they do not realize that they have to pay it. These are things to ponder when the time of year comes for work on the roads, and when some people peo-ple are inclined to growl about the heavy highway bills. |