Southern good roads . inu- -isexcessively high. The diilereuce in the cost of Iransportatioi, hy railand by dirt road is as 1 to :!(l. (_)f course, tliis differ-ence is not all (liir In l),i(l r lads, hut it is fully Iwiccas great as it \ul(l l)c if tlic standard of oui |Mil)licroads were pui upon a paiity \\illi llial of our Iail-roads. This IXcessivc cost is not only a Imrdcn upon agri-culture, hut it is a tax upon the consuniei of its pi-o-duit. The value of farm pioducls is cuii|iute(l at $11,, and as only t wo-thiids of this amount isconsumed at horn ?, the lialaio-e Inis t:i
Southern good roads . inu- -isexcessively high. The diilereuce in the cost of Iransportatioi, hy railand by dirt road is as 1 to :!(l. (_)f course, tliis differ-ence is not all (liir In l),i(l r lads, hut it is fully Iwiccas great as it \ul(l l)c if tlic standard of oui |Mil)licroads were pui upon a paiity \\illi llial of our Iail-roads. This IXcessivc cost is not only a Imrdcn upon agri-culture, hut it is a tax upon the consuniei of its pi-o-duit. The value of farm pioducls is cuii|iute(l at $11,, and as only t wo-thiids of this amount isconsumed at horn ?, the lialaio-e Inis t:i he uuirketed,and the a\eia,ue haul for this |>uip >se from the farmto the railroad is Istimated al D miles. Of the J, )().11(111miles of road o\cr which this haul must he niaile, ahout175,000 miles ha\e heen imi)iMveil ; the mnearly 2,000,OOO miles, is still unimproxcd dii-t !? lail. These roads aiv at hest imlifferent, fre(|nentl\ p isi-tively bad, ami sometinns almost impassable. ,nual-. Sand Clay Road. Pineliurst. Norlh Carolina ly ;jOO,()()(),000 tons of farm products are hauled ovmthese roads at a cost estimated b;,- the S(Mretar.\- of Ag-riculture at 23 ceuts per ton-mile. If these roads wereimproved, he estimates that the cost would he reducedto less than half that amount. According to consular reports the cost of hauling inGermany, France, and England, whei-e the roads aremaintained in tlie best pissilde condition—indei^jl. onmy trip to Pjurope a few ,vears ago 1 did not see a roadthat was not macadamized—is freipiently as low as 7or 8 cents per ton-mih. So, if it costs the farmer, as cah-idated by the de-partment. .$800,000,000 to market his product over uirpresent roads, ^:]00,00O,OO0 couhl be saved annually ifthey were put in reasonably good comlition, and, if inas good condition as those aliroad. a nuich laruei- sum—probalily $400,000,000, When I first read this estimate of the Secretai-y ofthe probable saving to the farmer fr mi good roads
Size: 1673px × 1493px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorvarnerhe, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1910
