THOMAS TJ. TAYLOR—ECONOMY OF GOOD ROADS. 
83 
town will offer the lowest price of the market; but the moment another 
town is brought into competition by the introduction of good roads the 
highest market price is sure to be offered. 
* See Jenks’ Road Legislation for American States. 
Some years ago it was estimated in Berlin, Germany, that $25 would 
be saved per horse annually by improving their pavements. In other 
words, the people'were paving that much per annum for not improving 
their streets. Prof. Ely, of Johns Hopkins University, thinks that a 
conservative estimate for Maryland and the adjoining States would be 
$15. This means that the farmer is paying each year $15 per horse for 
the privilege of using bad roads. This is the toll road in every sense of 
the word. Every bad road in the country is a toll road that exacts more 
tax than the annual gate fees would amount to on a turnpike. The 
State of Texas has no provision in her laws for toll roads, but here they 
are, without any legislation on the subject. How long will the farmers 
of Texas pay this toll? Let us take the estimate of Prof. Ely and see 
wdiat it means for us here in Texas. We will confine our calculations to 
the more populous counties of the State. It is a fact that many of our 
horses in our oldest counties are range horses, and it is another fact that 
his estimate of $15 was not made for a black w r axy region. To be within 
the safest of bounds, let us say $5. The following table, in which the 
headings will sufficientlv explain themselves, will give us an idea (al¬ 
though a rough one) of how much our poor roads are costing us. The 
data are taken from Commissioner Rose’s Texas agricultural and statisti¬ 
cal report for 1894: 
County Ho. of Horses. Wealth. 
$17,118,025 
10,910,400 
10,120,000 
8,822,725 
Grayson 
Collin 
Fannin 
Hunt . 
These four counties have a total valuation of property of $46,971,650. 
There are 98,000 horses. A county official of Hunt county says, in a 
letter to the writer, that there are 9000 farm horses in that county. In 
this group there would be, then, according to this, 42,000 farm horses, 
giving a cost annually of $210,000, about 45 cents on the $100. 
Every time a farmer repairs his wagon, his harness, his buggy, etc., 
he is paying that much tax in labor and money to bad roads, for which 
they return nothing to him, but are continually calling for more. Every 
time he buys these, he is paying part of the price for the privilege of 
driving over bad roads. Our farmers may complain that they can’t stand 
the tax to make and maintain good roads. Let me say here that the in- 
