NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 741 
Good roads mean progress and ijrosperity, a benefit to the people who 
live in the cities, an advantage to the people who live in the country, and 
it will help every section of our vast domain. Good roads, like good 
streets, make habitation along them most desirable; they enhance the 
value of farm lands, facilitate transportation, and add untold wealth to 
the producers and consumers of the country; they are the milestones 
marking the advance of civilization; thoy economize time, give labor a 
lift, and make millions in money; they save wear and tear and worry 
and waste; they beautify the country — bring it in touch with the city; 
they aid the social and the religious and the educational and the indus- 
trial progress of the people; they make better homes and happier hearth 
sides; they are the avenues of trade, the highways of commerce, the mail 
routes of information, and the agencies of speedy communication; they 
mean the economical transportation of marketable products — the maxi- 
mum burden at the minimum cost; they are the ligaments that bind the 
country together in thrift and industry and intelligence and patriotism; 
they promote social intercourse, prevent intellectual stagnation, and in- 
crease the happiness and the prosperity of our producing masses; they 
contribute to the glory of the country, give employment to our idle work- 
men, distribute the necessaries of life — the products of the fields and the 
forests and the factories — encourage energy and husbandry, inculcate love 
for our scenic wonders, and make mankind better and broader and greater 
and grander. 
The plain people of the land are familiar with the truths of history. 
They know the past. They realize that often the difference between good 
roads and bad roads is the difference between profit and loss. Good 
roads have a money value far beyond our ordinary conception. Bad 
roads constitute our greatest drawback to internal development and ma- 
terial progress. Good roads mean prosperous farmers; bad roads mean 
abandoned farms, sparsely settled country districts, and congested popu- 
lated cities, where the poor are destined to become poorer. Good roads 
mean more cultivated farms and cheaper food products for the toilers in 
the towns; bad roads mean poor transportation, lack of communication, 
high prices for the necessaries of life, the loss of untold millions of 
wealth, and idle workmen seeking employment. Good roads will help 
those who cultivate the soil and feed the. multitude, and whatever aids 
the producers of our country will increase our wealth and our greatness 
and benefit all the people. We cannot destroy our farms without final 
decay. They are today the heart of our national life and the chief 
source of our material greatness. Tear down every edifice in our cities 
and labor will rebuild them, but abandon the farms and our cities will 
uisappear forever. 
Mr. Chairman, the report of the country life commission, appointed by 
President Roosevelt to consider the condition of the farmers and recom- 
mend remedies for existing deficiencies in country life, was submitted 
to congress on February 9, 1909, together with a message from the Pres- 
ident. While the commission purposely avoided indorsing any particular 
bill now before congress for national aid for good-road building, it does 
make certain specific recommendations. 
