MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
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46 V -2 million bushels of oats, 1% million bushels of barley, 6 million 
bushels of rye, % million bushels of buckwheat, 25^2 million bushels of 
potatoes, 6 million bushels of beans, % million bushels of peas, 6^ 
million bushels of apples and one million bushels of peaches besides 
numerous small fruits. These, added to 900, 000* tons of sugar beets and 
2% million tons of hay, make a grand total of 8 million tons of farm 
products, a large percentage of which must be hauled over the country 
highways before reaching the local markets. In addition to this a 
large tonnage from the forests and mines also passes over the country 
roads, so that it is doubtless within the truth to say that fully 8 mil- 
lion tons of freight are annually hauled, a greater or less distance, over 
the country highways of this state, to say nothing of their use for 
other purposes. 
Lord Bacon said: “There be three things which make a nation great 
and prosperous, a fertile soil, busy workshops and easy conveyance for 
man and goods from place to place.” We have taken a brief inventory 
of the products of the soil and now begin to realize something of the 
magnitude of the transportation problem of our state from the 
farmer's standpoint. As most of the goods from the mine and factory 
are usually delivered to the railroads direct, with little or no wagon 
haul, that phase of the problem may be overlooked in this discussion, 
except as above noted. 
The waste in the expenditure of the present large sum annually going 
into the up keep of our highways due to poor and antiquated methods 
together with misdirected work, added to the waste caused by the trans- 
portation of our products over roads much poorer than they should be. 
present a field for the conservation of a part of our resources large 
enough to demand serious consideration from the best citizens of our 
commonwealth. 
The transportation facilities of Michigan at present are: 1620 miles 
of coast line on the Great Lakes, 8,592 miles of steam railways, ex- 
clusive of second tracks, sidings and proprietary lines. (1909 Report of 
Michigan Railroad Commission), 992 miles of interurban electric roads 
and approximately 70,000 miles of public wagon roads outside of the 
corporate limits of cities and villages. This equals 1.23 miles of high- 
way for each square mile of area and one mile of highway for each 36 
persons, according to the 1900 census, the figures for 1910 not being avail- 
able. 
The cost of transporting freight on the Great Lakes has been re- 
duced on long hauls to about one mill per ton mile, on the steam roads 
to about 5 mills per ton mile, while on the average rural highway, 
with animal power, it still ranges between 20 cts. and 25 cts. per ton 
mile. On the best English highways, with power tractors, the cost 
has been reduced to about 5 cts. per ton mile. 
The average length of haul for farm products in the United States 
was determined by the Department of Agriculture as 12.1 miles. Pro- 
fessor I. O. Baker takes exception to this and determines it for the 
state of Illinois at 4.8 miles. Michigan is not so thickly covered with 
railways as is Illinois, and if we assume the average haul for this 
state at 5 miles, we shall certainly be giving our factor of ignorance the 
* A later report from the secretary of Michigan Sugar Company shows that 1,079,400 tons of beets 
were grown in Mrch gan in 1910. 
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