FARMERS AND ROADS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 18

FARMERS AND ROADS

CAR AND PROSPERITY A STRIKING STATEMENT An influential American magazine years ago, while the motor-car was only simmering in the minds of inventors and was largely a dream of what some distant future might hold, published an article, "Good Boads the Way to Progress." It was a real contribution to the agricultural welfare of the United States and carried conviction. Since then the motor has come, and with the motor ■ good roads have teen found a necessity. Anyone,, however, who is still under the misapprehension that super-roads are only for the motor, and are not a contribution to real wealth and prosperity, will find their misgivings largely dispelled by' perusal of such statements as one made by Mr. Page, of' North Carolina, in hearings before the Inter-State Commerce Commissioner ■on inter-State operation of motor-trucks and buses. Mr. Page said:— "The building of our State system of highways in North Carolina during the last five years has linked together our great trunk line railroads and our •waterways into an effective transportation machine. "Our 6500 miles of State highway «ystem—4soo miles improved, plus the secondary.feeder roads —are the means by which much of the raw materials get to the factories and thence to the rails; Conversely, they are the means of distribution of our imports and food products to our people. "In this period of five years from 1921 to 1926 North Carolina hap probably made greater progress agriculturally, industrially, and socially than any other State in the Union in a similar period of time. '' One of the most important factors in the metamorphosis has been our highway improvement programme, involving the building of 125,000,000 dollars' worth of highways since 1919—most of it since 1921, when we issued 50,000,000 dollars in bonds, and later 35,000,000 more to build a State system of highways. "What has been the result? Has it helped or hurt industry, agriculture, the taxpayer, the 4000 miles of trunk line railroads, and 1000 miles of short lines in the State? A few facts will help us to understand what has happened since 1920 and 1921. "We have increased the number of our farms by 13,000 during a period when the number of farms for the country as a whole (United States) fell off. "We have built consolidated rural schools valued at 35,000,000 dollars. To these each school day are brought 100,000 pupils in 2000 school buses, operating 40,000 miles—largely on the State system. "We have developed 40 co-operative 'iarja. marketing associations, many of them stimulated by our.State Department of Agriculture, and engaged in shipping car-load after car-load of poultry, eggs, hogs, fruit, and vegetables that we formerly never grew for outside sale. "Roadside markets and city curb markets have stimulated the growing of truck produce on our farms, and are the outlet for the farm surplus. The farm women are the merchandisers of this surplus, and with the first available cash money most of them have ever had are putting modern conveniences into their homes, dressing themselves and their children better, painting their houses, and beautifying their yards. , "We have recovered our lost p\i■vinees —those sections of the State to the far east and west formerly foreign to the State so far as transportation connections of any kind were concerned. To reach some of these points in our own State involved rail travel through one, and sometimes two adjoining States. Our highways were out of the question for travel to these places. To-day the roads have gone through and we have put every part of the State within reach of every other part—almost from sunrise to sunset over the whole State highway system. "The true value of bur property has multiplied eight times since 1900, while the entire country (United States again) was increasing the true value of property by four times." Mr. Page goes on to analyse the figures showing the State's prosperity, and to demonstrate how great a factor the highways have been among several contributing to the general result. Beading between the lines there is food for thought among farmers as to the part secondary industries may play in their prosperity, with local markets for both the main and subsidiary products o ftheir holdings. The motor can be a source of revenue instead of as is now too often the case, only an added drain —and a heavy one—on the farmer's bank account.