Good Country Roads

To au impartial observer it would seem as i f thero were no excuse for the badoeee of modern American roads. Neither prefcept nor rxamplo has been withhold from the mea who have their building and maintenanoe in charge. Any intelligent fanner can sit down in his barn and nguro out on the clean head of a barrel, in tifteen minutes, the benefit that good roads would do him. Why more farmers don't do it, and why the few who do don't act in the matter, dou't get up and rustle for good roads as earnestly as they rustió for good government on election day, is as unexpla-inablo as the proverbial Chimwo puzzle. Take the case of Market Qardener John Smith, who lives ten miles from the city of Cleveland, for instance. Now Mr. Smith has a farm of fifty acres, on which he raises, . clusively, vegetables and fruits fo . .ie city market. He has forcing beds by the dozen and biis orchards are modela in their way. He is a practical man in the true senss of the word. Consequently he makes nionoy. Yet it is a very easy matter to prove to Mr. Smith that he inight make a good deal more. In fact it has been proved to him many times that the bad roads between his farm and Cleveland shave fully $2 of profit off every load of produce which he sends to market. And yet he does nothing. Do you suppose that if I should go to Mr. Smith and show him that his way of raising celery was wrong; that he lost $500 a year by not pruning his trees properly; that there was a waste of a good round suiii in the way he pulled his onions, he would go on wasting and losing money in these ways? Not at all. As Boon as he found out these ïnistakes he would correct them, and when he applied the extra $200 or $300 or $500 to his bank account in the fall or used it toward lifting that mortgage he would be well satisfted and would probably thank me for my trouble. Yet, strango as it may seem, I can prove to thi.s same practical, sensible John Smith seven times a week that by permitting the roads in his locality to be rough or sandy or muddy he loses just so inuch hard cash every year, and Mr. Smith will only smile and go on trusting in Providence to get his goods to market in good condition through sand and mud and over obstacles that would have made the ancient Roman rend his toga or would have caused the old time Aztec to believe that his favorite god, ChacMool, had gone back on him, deapite the juicy human morsel which had been offered in sacriflce the day before. He regards the progress of railway building, the erection of telephone or telegraph lines or the dredging of the nearest canal with great interest. He will work himself into a white heat over a discussion of the tariff; but when road improvement - a subject which has ten times as great a bearing on his prosperity as any of these - is spoken of he becomes bored at once and goes off to feed the pigs with a disgusted look on his faco. Mr. Smith from the first day of May until the last day of October sends at least one wagon heavily loaded with tha product of his farm to the city market. In order to get the load there early enough he has to start it from the farm as early as 2 o'clock in the inorning, for it takes three long hours to travel over the ten miles of intervening mud, sand and stones. After a rain or when from any other causo the roads are in a worse condition than usual the loads have to start as early as 1 o'clock or even at inidnight. When the load finally gets to the city the horses are tired out completely, the driver is weary and disgusted with life, much of tho freshness has been jolted out of the load, and as likely as not a particularly deep rut or two has caused some part of the wagon to break under the strain. Often the farm yieldsenougu for more than one load. Mr. Smith sometimes has as many aa six teams, wagons and drivers on the way to the city at the same time. In the lat ter instances the evils are multiplied six times, that is all. Now what adrantages would accrue to My. Smith if the roads between his farm and his market were hard and smooth instead of muddy, sandy and rough? Well, in the first place, the tempers of his men would be saved from a good deal of uimecessary pressure. This would make their lives happier, they would be better citizens, and would b more apt to vote for Mr. Smith's candidato when November comes along. They would not be so tired when they got back from the trip to the city, for if the roads were good the trip could be mada in half the time which it takes now. If they were fresh and energotic when they climbed down off the wagons after the drive home they could do considerable other work for Mr. Smith. They would have an hour or two more to do it in, moreover, beeauso of the saving of time. It is quite reasonable to suppose that this would enable Mr. Smith to carry on the business of his farm with one man less than he hires now - a saving, counting wages and board, of $30 a inonth at least. Then again over a smooth, dry road horses can draw more than a quarter larger load than over a wet, rough road. This has been proved time and time again. Thus, if the roads between Mr. Smith's farm and the city were good instead of bad the saving of time would enable him to get along with one man less. The lightened draft would enable him to get along with one team less. Much of the damage to wagons would be avoided. His men would be happier and his horses would last longer. It is difficult to put this down in dollars and cents. The following table somewhat approximates it: Wages, etc., of one man slz months at $30. . .$160 Wear and tear on wagons, etc 60 Saving in horseflwth CO Total $280 Besides these would be tho added comfort when Mr. Smith takes his family out ilriving for pleasure, as he does Occaelonally, and the better prices which his fresher, lesa jolted produce would bring when it was placed on sale.