[Illustration: WELL-BUILT CONCRETE ROADS BRING THE MARKETS AND YOUR
NEIGHBORS NEARER, INCREASE THE VALUE OF THE FARMS AND START AN
EPIDEMIC OF NEW FENCES WITH CLEAN FENCE ROWS]
At the mention of this amount of milk, all the farmers looked at each other.
"How many cows does it take to give that much milk?" asked one of them.
"Just one," replied the banker, "and, besides this one, there are several others that give almost as much.
"While I wanted you to inspect the new buildings and see the cattle and machinery—that is not the main reason I asked you to come to Brookside to-day. We are fortunate to have with us Mr. Barth, of the Portland Cement Association, whom I have asked to speak to you briefly on the advantages of good roads."
"It has been a great pleasure for me to be permitted to be a part of this gathering here at Brookside Farm," said Mr. Barth, "particularly as the subject I have to discuss bears directly on the possibility of such gatherings.
"Good roads, my friends, like good manners, commend themselves wherever used. It is very noticeable along improved roads the tendency of the farmers to improve the appearance of their homes and other buildings. In fact, the presence of good roads seems many times to stimulate latent self-respect into practical expression. Social institutions, such as schools, churches and public amusements, are more or less dependent in the country upon road conditions. Think what it would mean to you to have a consolidated school where the more advanced grades and even high school subjects could be taught, a building containing an auditorium, where you could meet any season of the year. I have attended many concerts and even listened to grand opera singers, but I want to say right here I've never had my heart stirred by music before as it has been stirred here this afternoon. Think of the advantages to a community of being able to develop the talent displayed here—what it would mean to you people yourselves to be able to get together, especially in the winter, and sing. What a great benefit and uplift it would be in any community.
"Now, good roads make consolidated schools possible and give you these advantages.
"Take the benefits you now derive from rural free delivery of mail— the happiness and home comforts it has brought; nothing contributes so much to its efficiency and regularity as good roads.
"It is a matter of common observation that when any community has passed from a condition dominated by bad roads to a condition which is characterized by good roads, land values in that community advance. The cost of hauling farm produce to market is probably not so much increased by the grades as by the bad condition of the road surface. The trouble with unimproved earth roads is that they are muddy for many months in the year.