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Show 1(11 ROADS MAY BE BESTJWORKED .Tl.sr.UTOIlY HVhTHM OF 111(511- ways qvith rnAsnUiit o! llu-rj- Itontl la Worth tin Same linotint or Imprmcment Nor I i:crr Itonri Worth ImproilnR H-ITiH.lltirci H-ITiH.lltirci Should IU lctrrnihirl Ily the Amount or Trairif. There nro n little moro thtn 2,U2G,O0O miles of public roada In the United State. Not eren Ibe wildcat enthusiast enthusi-ast ever drenined ot t'irnlne all thco tnllca Into utrctchea of amooth, hanl lurfaceil )ilchwa)a. Such an undrr-taking undrr-taking would he a financial ImpoMl-bllltj- and a weatc of money ercn If the necc!ary fundi could be raited. What la nctualljr proponed, on the other hand, la well within thn resource of Iho country nud would aanv not wnite, innnrr. Of these 2,22rj(00 mllci It haa licen e-itlmated that npproxlmalely one-llfth cnrrlca fotir-flfthi of Hie highway Irnf-fie Irnf-fie of the United State. About 220.000 mile of rond nro nlrefldy Improved, ao that Iho Improvement of nnolher Quarter million of mile would put tn good condition n nyatetn of hlgbroAda over which nonld pam tho irrent bulk of trntlle Furthermore In many Mellon Me-llon of the country the Improvement A UIIAVKI. H04D IK AI.AIUUA 7UATBrilTM in rtmroMM ADuniAiar. that li required by no menna rnll for tho limit cxpcuslvo atirfnrea Intended only to support the heavlmt (raffle. Alone the MMilhcnstcni senlwntd, for example, good xnnd clay rotdit (tin bo built nt n cost na low ns $1,000 per mile or le. In tliec eeetlon, aay the aiieclallsta of tho dciwrtmcnt of Agriculture, It would le nlumrd to lay down surfaces thnt cost f2.Vxx n mile, though these very aurfnoc mny prove n tcnl economy In evnten of heavy loiiiliitlon, Tho task of creating, therefore, n thoroughly sntlifnctiiry system of highway high-way for the Unit cd Htntra U by no means nri hoielesa n ono as It might sewn nt first night. Wo have. In fact, gone u lonR way toward achieving It for tho (Nsiplo who have lMcomo really Intomtcil In tho question. In 101.1 omethlng over f'.W,000,000 was ex-KmIcd ex-KmIcd In money and labor on the rond of the I'ultcd flntcs, nn lucrenso of limn than 170 ir t-nl uv.-r tht total of T.0O0.(kk) In loot. If this Increase, or mi) thing like It. continues In tho noxt leu years nnd If there Is Iho snino Increase In the Kclentlfle nppllenllou of the money progress will Iw more than satisfactory. It Is, however, ns necessary to scnd Iho money wisely ns to lutvn tho n'oney to spend. Not every roiul Is worth tlio Kiimo iimouut of Improvement, not every ev-ery road Is worth Improving nt nil. The classification uf highways In nccord-mice nccord-mice wllh their truffle requirement Is, therefore, a noeessary preliminary to n pner campaign of Improvement. In most sections such n classification would rewl tho fact thnt from 0 to 10 per rent of the mileage couslt of main trunk line used hem lly by traffic originating boUj In nud out of the louutry nnd forming links that can Im forged Into a chtilu of great Importance Impor-tance to tho state or even to tho nntloiu An additional mileage, ranging from 10 to 20 per ccut of the total, will bo found lo consist of Hecondary roads lupor-tant lupor-tant for market truffle. The remainder will bo inudu up of feeders nnd neigh-iKirlioml neigh-iKirlioml ronds which It Is, of course. Imiwrlnnt to Imve na good na jiosslble, hut on whit h It would b bad business to H'iid largo Hums of money. The amount f money thnt It Is good Imslnwt to spend Is determined by the ninount of tralllc over the rond ex-praiMitl ex-praiMitl In Ion mile and the cost of ImuUiig por ton mile. A ton mile. It may bo said, U one ton tf produce hauled ono mllo. Ten tons of produce hauled one mil Is oxproMvil na ten ton inlUm. and one ton liauled ten miles U nlso ten ton mlk. lly Improving the road tho cost -of hauling w ton mile s preatly reduced If the trairie Is sulll-clontly sulll-clontly heavy this reduction will amount to mn. h moro than lh- Interest on the bond nnd will iive an ample 1narln for Hi., redemption of the prin. clival. In other wonls. the ronininnlir will make money out of Its Inveslment In goml roods. If tho traffle is not suf. flelently heavy or not likely to I uimle 80 by the lu.wvetnnt the wiving will not be great enough to pay i10 cost of the Improvement. |
