Good Highways

The iniproveinent of country roada is a subject that concerns everyboly. It is important to transportation interests by land and by water, as well as to farmers, manufacturera and traders. The development of the American railway system and of facilities for water carriage lias been so rapid and so attractive to inyestors that too little attention has been paid to the means of delivericg ireight f rom f;inn or workshop at doek or station. There is little in the novelties of modera traffic to vary the oíd rule that the cbaracter of the roads of a country should afïord a fair test of its prosperity. Especially where a respon is penneatcd by water courses, as is the state of New York, with its rivers and canals, or Louisiana with its bayons, the parity between ancient and modern conditions in this respect remains substantially unimpaired. The f;iüi]iti?3 that lic close to the hands of producers are the most important to the welfare of a community. It is of no greater convonience to the farmer to have cheap freight from the station nearest his farm to a great market tlian to be able to carry his crops cheaply to the shipping point. He may have a choice between coinpeting freightage routes by land or water, but he must haul his products over his neighborhood highway. The eost of delivery at wharf or depot falla directly upon him, and if the roads are so bad that he is compelled to spend much money for repair of vehicles, and lose much time and wear out animáis in slow and hard travel, his proflt is gTeatly dimiuished before the property his labor has created passes out of his hands. The New York State Association for the Improvement of Roads has been in session recently at Syracuse. lts purpose is to promote a system of "common roads" under the auspices of the state. New York, with farms valued at $1,000,000,000, producing annually crops worth $120.000,000- more by one-half than the worth of the entire agricultural product of New England- is in respect to country roads the most backward of all the old northern states of the Union. The association asks the expenditure of $10,000,000 for road improvement on the system conternpiatea oy tne Kicnaruson bill of last session. The taxation f or the ' outlay is to be extended over a period of eighteen years, and the agricultural population of the state is to bear only its proportionate share of the oost. The association seems to regard the matter chiefly from a farmer's standpoint. In fact, it concerns all other industries of the state as well. The slow growth of manufactures in the interior i of New York has been generally ascribed to the effect of the low rates of through transportation lines. The picture has been overdrawn. The neglect of common highways has been responsible for the check to our manufacturera in almost equal degree with the preference given to long haul railway freightage. It is always well to deal with an evil at its root, and the origin of the extravagant outlay required for New York mañufacturers lies in the initial expense of transporting materials and supplies to the mili or shop, and finished producís thence to the freight depot. The advantago of better f acilities for light travel on business or pleasure, and the new demand created by the rapid development of bicycling, are perhaps minor considerations in the road qnestion, but they are well worthy of attention. Indeed, American wheelmen inay be counted on as active and efficiënt missionaries in the cause of highway improvement. At one session of the Road Iinprovement association there were shown photographs representing respectively the condition of an ordinary country road in France af ter a storm and that of one of the best roads in the state of Pennsylvania under similar circumstiinces. Photographic representación of vehicles that traveled over those highways under like conditions were also exhibited. This object lesson of the value of a well kept road to the producer was followed by the passage of a resolution urging the enactment of a measure known as öenate bill No. 30, which substantially embodies the provisions of the Richardson bill of 1890. The question of country highway improvement should beseriously considered by metropolitan commercial bodies devoted to trade and transportation. These organizations have given much attention to discussion of canal, river and railway transport. They have an equal concern in the more primitive but always necessary carriage over the common roads t.hat are feeders to the rail and water routes.