Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1892 — THE COUNTRY ROADS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE COUNTRY ROADS.

OURS SAID TO BE THE WORST IN THE WORLD. A Movement to Secure a Good System of Highways, Partly Under National and Partly Under Local Supervision The Economic Side of the CaseI A Remedy Proposed. (From Harper's Weekly. Copyright, 1892, by Harper <fc Bros. | The common roads and country highways in the United States are worse than those to be found in any other country in the world pretending to bo civilized and enjoying a stable form of government. As it has long been an axiom that the common highways < f a country are at once the means and the measure of its civilization, it is somewhat strange that in this country, where we boast of enjoying a higher type of civilization than is to be found elsewhere, our rpads should always have been so wretchedly bad. Even in the colonial times the necessity to make better the condition of the common roads was seriously felt, and in those paits of the country settled by particularly longheaded people, as, for instance, in the neighborhood of Boston, there have always been pretty good public highways. But, as a rule, all over the country, from then till now we have been content with dirt roads, which in the winter are muddy quagmires, and in summer streaks j of dust This is not because these local authorities would not like to have good roads, but it is because they have no means with which to do much better : than is done, and if they did have the I means they lack the requisite knowl- | edge, without which no dec< nt roads can be built or managed. The farmers have always had to pay for building and repairing roads in th s country, even when these reads happened to lead from one town to another, very naturally these people, alreafy j overburd ned by direct and in lirect taxation, have felt very indisposed to take any action which should add to that already hc4ivy burden. Any effort to secure their co-operation in road improvement must provide that the cost of such improvement shall not fall entirely upon them. Uni ss this ..be male en-

tirely clear, from the farmers there will always be active and stubborn opposition. It has been suggested that the American roads be pla-ed under a system of Government supervision, and be divided somewhat as the French roads are: ‘ First, national roads. These to be built and maintained by the General Government, and be located with reference to military and postal requirements. Second, State roads. These to be built and maintained by the several States, and connect the various localities of the States, and be planned with reference to the national loads. Third, county or neighborhood roads. These to bo built and maintained by counties and townships, and be located with reference to the classes just mentioned. Those who advocate this idea say that if our common roads were improved by some such plan as this, we should soon have them in charge of competent and educated engineers. The national roads would probably be in charge of army engineers; the State roads in charge of engineers graduated from the agricultural and mechanical schools; and the neighborhood roads in.charge of local men, who, once having had the example Bet them of how good roads are built, would be entirely competent to do what is usually necessary to be done in making a read of lessir importance. But even under such a plan as this, each county‘’should have au engineer to design the difficult work, determine upon the location of routes, and inspect constructions and repairs:

The Location oi Highway*. "When a railroad is contemplated between two distant points, careful surveys arg made by competent engineers before a route is finally selected. All the preliminary lines which have been Tun are carefully put down on a map, estimates are. made as to the cost of building and maintaining each, and further calculations elaborated as to the traffic whieh each of the lines would be able to secure and accommodate. When the roads which traverse parts of the United States were originally laid out, they were planned without reference to any great system which should at once .answer immediate requirements and last for all time. When the population became denser, and roads, being more traveßd, were found to be inadequate, there was an effort made In all such places to build permanent roads, but In the majority of eases the old haphazard Location of the reads was deemed to be good enough, and these tracks through the forests and over the prairies were adopted as permanent highways. As traffic again increased, these roads were again found to be inadequate, and the ’statesmen of the eountry saw very plainly that the poor roads which prevailed nearly all over the United States seriously menaced the prosperity of the people. Then began on a large scale a plan of highway improvement by which various States should be connected with each other. Before these great national roads assisted by the Government had been completed, ths railway came Into being, and -the attentioe of men was directed to making these new iron highways. The great systems of cdtnmon roads were negfooted, and the care and construction of eeoatry roads passed back to each ooanty sad township, and so they have remainqd, neglected, unrated ior, a boavy & ea tand sad all that land ptwdneaK and the great contributing

vigorous yduths and the most sturdy maidens. This system of properly locating and building common highways having been abandoned some half-century ago, it has been incumbent upon this generation to take up the work where it was then loft off. In locating the railroad an engineer needs to bear in mind that the railroad must be approached wherever there is to be a station. Stations are usually several miles apart, and, therefore, this part.of his problem is so simplified that he can locate his road with regard < ntirely to the general topographical features of the country, and then establish the stations at such places as may be easy of approach. But the engineer locating a common highway must bear in mind that his road must be- accessible on both sides as far as it stretches. See what a difference this makes! The railroad tn- i

gineer, in running up a valley, can hug high hills on one side, with a turbulent watercourse on the other; but such a location would be out of the question for the highway engineer, for those who are to use his road must be able to reach it easily from the farms on either side, and that without going out of their way. And in the matter of drainage, which is of even more importance in building a highway than a railroad, the task is more complex. The railroad runs over low ground with an embankment, and at convenient places lets the water through with a trestle or an open culvert. Such expedients are not permissible in locating highways. The highway engineer must select his route so that he can take the water beneath the road-bed in covered drains or bridges or covered culverts, and he must see that the water which is to go below will be concentrated at such places as he has provided for its passage, for it would never do for any moisture to get below the stone with which good highways are covered. Now, as to grades on highways, the engineer must display even greater care and skill. It is poor location to have deep cuts or high embankments on a highway, while the railway engineer can do as much of this as he chooses and his company has money enough to pay for. If lie chooses to go under a range of hills, he puts a tunnel through, and there he is on the other side. But these devices, which so simplify the work of the railroad builder, cannot be resorbed to by the road-maker. If he is obliged to go over a range of hills or cross a valley, he must so locate his linos that he can do both and still in each instance keep within a reasonable distance of the natural surface. And yet he must not make his grade so steep that heavy loads cannot be hauled over it easily, nor must he make his road very much longer than a straight line between the points from and to which he is building. The Economic Aspect. The condition of the common roads has a very interesting economic bearing of a direct nature, and an indirect one not less important. In the matter of the earning capa dty and value of horses and other draught animals the common roads have direct effect. If a horse can

do one-third more work qn a good road and be in a working condition one-third longer than he can on a bad road, then his earning capacity, and hence his value, is increased just one-third. This assumption is based upon a very low estimate. In all probability, if it were possible to make an exact calculation, it would be found that the earning capacity and the total length of serviceable life of draught animals would be

more nearly doubled than increased only one-third. The census enumerators of 1890 found that there were in this country 14,:U3,837 horses, valued at S6B each; 2,351,027 mules, valued at S7B each; and 36,849,024 oxen, and other draught animals, valued at sls each —making a total of 53,393,888 animals used on the roads, at ,a total value of $1,721,535,798. All these horses and mules work at some time on the roads, and indeed much the greater part of the total work done by thorn ti upon country roads and city streets. If all

the work done by them was upon the roada, the increased valuation, based upon the above hypothesis of earning capacity, would be $573,845,266, but as all the work is not done on the roads, it is only fair to reduce this by one-half, and then we would have, by a general improvement of the roads of the country, our property In horse and mules and other draught animals increased in value $2,860,922,633. I have no figures showing the value of carriages, buggies and other road vehicles in this country. To put their value at $500,000,000 would bo placing it very low. and there would be no chance to say that the estimate or guess was exaggerated. Taking into consideration the cost of repairs necessitated by reason of ba 1 roads and the shortened serviceable life to such vehicles, I feel safe in assuming that with good roads these vehicles I would last one-half longer, and their

| value, therefore, be Increased at least | $250,000;000. Taking these two sources ,of increased valuation together, we should have an enhanced property val- ' nation of $536,922,633, all brought about ! by the Improvement of the common I roads. Mr. Isaac B. Potter, the chairman of the National Committee on Improvement of the High-ways of the League of American Wheelmen, has assumed in round numbers that the draught animals in use in the United States are worth $2,000,000,000. He says: “Busy or idle, thes? animals must be

fed and cared for every day. They are boarders that you can't get rid of when the busy season is over, and it stands you in need to keep them at work. Two billion dollars make a large sum invested at 5 per cent, interest. It would produce nearly $2,000,000 per week. Then you throw away more than 16,000,000 of horses and mules alone, and to feed and care for these it costs the modest sum of $4,000,000 per day. A little while ago a very clever and intelligent

citizen of Indiana estimated that bad roads cost the farmer sls per year for each horse and mule in his service. This means a loss in the aggregate of ! nearly $250,000,000 per year; add wear and tear of wagons and harness, SIOO,000,000; depreciated value of farm lands, $2,000,000,000; total, $2,350,000,000. "Making the utmcst allowance in favor of the farmer, and granting l the necessity of the liberal use of horse power in the maintenance of agricultural traffic, it is easily certain that the farmers of this country are keeping at least 2,000,000 horses more than would be necessary to do all the hauling between farm and market, If only the principal roads were brought to a ; good condition. If you estimate that all these horses are fed an ordinary army ration of hay and oats, it requires 14,000 tons of hay or fodder and 750,000 bushels of oats per day to ieed these unnecessary animals, which themselves have a money value of $140,000,000. The value of hay and oats fed to these horses per day is about $300,000, or something like $114,000,000 per year.’’ These are large figures. Now let us see what it would cost to do the necessary work so that such savingsxould be made. It has been estimated by the authorities of the State of New York that with $10,000,000 the roads in the entire State could be put in a very good condition. The roads in New York are not better than they are in other States. They are a good deal worse than in Borne of the New England States, for instance, and I therefore assume that this estimate can be followed as a guide in determining what would be needed to complete in the whole country excellent roads, which, once constructed, could be cheaply and easily maintained. Considering the area of New York and the density of population, and using these figures in the problem, I estimate that $4( 0,000,000 would give us a good system of ■ common roads all over the country. This is a great deal of money, but it doesn’t seem great compared with the values which would be enhanced by

its vrtso expendltai<e. And right here 11 may bejioted that the cost of maintaining and repairing a highway properly constructed in the first instance ought never to be greater for a year than 1 per cent, of Its first cost. In the two items of horses and vehicles, as I have shown, the increased value of these properties would more than pay for the improvement; but it is not the greatest value, by any means. The effect upon the horses and vehicles used on roads would be more Immediate and more direct, and therefore I huve 4 called particular attention to this phase of the subject. The enhancement of the value of real estate would be so great that the items I have mention) d would seem so insignificant as not to be worth discussing. In one neighborhood alone —that of Union County, New Jersey—the improvement of the roads has changed values so greatly that men who a few years ago were struggling farmers, with earnings so scant that it was ditlieutt to make two ends meet, are now not only well-to-do but absolutely rich. They can sell their crops at good pn fits; they can grow more profitable crops; they can get these crops quickly and cheaply to market; and their lands, for which atlow prices it was formerly almost impossible to find purchasers, are now in demand at prices which, compared with the old oncer of things, seems fabulous, and the mere mention of which suggests a most unaccustomed condition of opulence.

Th© Social Side. These are a few of the direct economic ! problems in which the, roads are factors. There is another one worthy of mention of even greater importance. It is hard to put any money estimate upon the value of an improved social condition; indeed, it is impossible. But our La 1 roads have so seribus aS influence upon country life and the happiness of the men and women who lead rural lives that in all probability a purely social aspect of the case is more important than any other. One can scarcely pick up a newspaper now. days without reading that in farming communities it is most difficult to get competent and trustworthy agricultural laborers. When any thoughtful observer sees in the great cities how the families of the men who do what is called laborers’ work are lodged, when he sees them huddled together in great, badly smelling tenement houses, he marvels that they should prefer this to life in the country, where fresh air is free and wholesome food is cheap, but there can be little doubt there is a preference for. this kind of existence in cities, even though it be a fact that work is harder to got there than in the country, and not a bit more regular. Not only is this the case with laborers, but we find, whenever we choose to inquire, that the best youths born of country families early begin to feel a hankering for town life. If they staid at home to till the soil or fields there would not be this scarcity of agricultural laborers which has just been noted; but no sooner does an adventuresome youth in the country begin to feel the down upon his checks changing into whiskers than he is fired with an ambition to go to some city and become a member of the great bustle and strife which the close competition of men with m< n produces. This doesn’t mean that he ?s afraid of the hard work that has to be done on the farm, for none but a fool would believe that a man to succeed even moderately doos not have to work just as hard in town as in the country, and farmers’ boys are not fools—at least they have not proved themselves to be in America —for the great majority of our distinguished and successful men have been recruited not from the colleges and universities of learning, but from these very fields which now suffer because there are not men enough to cultivate them. Among those who conspicuously advocate the idea that the national government should take a part and lead in this matter of rea l improvement is Gen. Boy Stone, of New York, the engineer and inyentor. The restless activity of General Stone’s mini has been directed to this problem for many years, and he has recently secured the co-operation of several prominent statesmen in Washington in a project soon to be formulated in a bill to be brought before Congress. This bill proposes the formation of a National Highway Commission, which shall examine the whole subject, formulate a plan for a National School of Roads and Bridges, and make an exhibit at the World’s Eair.

NATURAL LIMESTONE ROAD IN BERMUDA. [From Harper's Weekly, by permission. Copyright, 1892. by Harper & Bros.]

A SAMPLE SCOTTISH ROAD—THE APPROACH TO GRANTOWN. [From Harper’s Weekly, by permission. Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Bros.]

COUNTRY ROADS-FRENCH STONE. [From Harper's Weekly, by permission. Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Bros.]

STUCK IN THE MUD ON THE MAIN HOAD, TWO MILES FROM CLEVELAND, OHIO. [From Harper's Weekly, by permission. Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Bros,]

COUNTRY ROADS—AMERICAN MUD. [From Harper’s Weekly, by permission. Copyright, 1892. by Harper & Bros.]