84 



which he can secure by dispatching his crop opportu- 

 nely, he is the more willing to lend a hand in filling in 

 the bad parts, or contributing to those who do. 



In the best of times as our farmers are well aware 

 in the years of bad weather, the loss in additional 

 charges for carting is no small item in the final figure 

 of his profits; the present system, of carting make's a 

 call of many millions on the total budget for expenses. 

 By normalising the labours of the farmer, thus permit- 

 ing the roads being used rationally, elevators contri- 

 bute towards reducing the costs of transport, and by 

 permitting the farmer to undertake it himself puts 

 money into his pocket. At a low computation, what it 

 would save him and his "peones" in money idled away in 

 his slack moments in the "boliche", by giving him oc- 

 cupation during the slack time following on the wheat 

 and linseed harvesting and before he starts on his 

 maize picking, is s,ome millions of pesos without exagge- 

 ration. It would 'give him, too, a definite interest in 

 his horses, and contribute to the establishing of a breed 

 of horses adequate to his needs, without mentioning 

 the capital he would accumulate in wagons and har- 

 ness . 



NATIONAL SCHEMES. 



If we turn to the other side of the question of what 

 can be done by the State to improve our roads, it is 

 undeniable that whenever roads come up for discus- 

 sion, all remedying is generally confided to the author- 

 ities. Nevertheless, in reality it is always done by 

 some energetic member or members of the local muni- 

 cipality. Whenever the central authorities take a part 

 in the discussion, up come too, the schemes for the to- 

 tal renovation of all and sundry "caminos nacionales, 

 provinciales, municipales, vecinales", etc., and as such 

 plans generally carry with them ideas of such roads 

 similar to those enjoyed by Europeans, they are ac- 

 companied by calculations for expenditure to the tune 

 of millions. The magnitude of the expenditure is in 

 proportion ot the magnitude of the task assumed, so 

 that normally by the time the figures have been gone 

 into, the real task is forgotten, if ever it gets further 

 mention at all . One thing that is commonly lost sight 

 of when bringing up European roads as a comparison 

 is the fact that there the roads have little in common 

 with fences, and nothing whatever to do with the boun- 



