The Panola Watchman. (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 16, 1912 Page: 2 of 8
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IK BEST ROADS
AT LEAST COST.
«iWm Expert Mvk
Wf J. C. PENNY BACKER. Jr., in World’s Work.
So shrewd a judge of invest-
mots m General Du Pont of
Delaware believes in the pay-
ing qualities of a good road.
Be plans to build a highway the
length of Delaware and earn the
interest on it by exploiting the
100 feet of the right of way not
actually used by the road. He
believee that the increased earn-
ing power of the 80-foot strips on
Both sides of the road will pay
fee interest on the oost of Its con-
•traction.
So much for a business man’s
.judgment on the value of a good
send. And notwithstanding that
be is right, maqy and many a
sent inunity that builds good roads
is disappointed in the results.
'Dm season is a lack of knowledge
-of bow to build and the lack of a
nyeteen of maintenance. Even a
good road gone to ruin is a bur
Sen to the taxpayer. A good
nead well maintained is a great
benefit—in some casee it actually
lowers the tax rate.
Can the public improve, main-
tain, and administer its hugs
system of highways, 2,260,000
(shout ten timee the mileage of
nil our railroads) so that it may
salute the claim so often made
feet publie ownership means
wastefulness and incompetence?
Intrinsically, the road ia of far
greater potential value *e a pub-
bo property than as s private
property, but it is only by good
management that the potential
value may beoome real. How
etoee is the wrong way to the
right way, and how widely they
diverge after the start has been
made is best shown by oases.
SAVING A COUNTY THOUSANDS
Pike County, Ala., in 1904,
same to a realization that its bad
roads oould no longer be endured.
The first thought of the people
was of the macadam road and
they had visions of “smooth rib-
bons of stone stretching from the
county seat to the boundaries of
fee county.’’ Road building
rock was not available in the
eounty end they expected to haul
it by rail. The bond issue had
already been arranged for on
this basis when it occurred to
Judge A. C. Edmonson that it
•might be wall to seek the sdvios
of an engineer from the United
States Office of Public Roads be-
fore beginning construction. He
knew that the Government maifi-
Mined a corps of the best informed
highway engineers in the United
States whose services are given
free to oountries and commun-
ities to help in solving their road
problems. The request was made
and Mr. W. L. Spoon, a trained
Specialist on road conditions in
the South, was sent to Pike
County. He carefully inspected
the roads, the materials at hand,
and specimens of the materials
proposed to be used. Ha studied
transportation rates, weather con-
ditions, traffic both actual and
possible, and ths finances of the
country. Mia report was sub-
stantially as follow*: “Your
roads should oost you from $800
to $1,000 a mils instead of from
$5,000 to $6,000 a mile which will
be the oost if you undertake to
build macadam roads. You have
in unlimited quantities along
your roadsides an ideal mixture
of sand and olay for road build-
ing; the sand olay road under
the conditions whioh exist in this
oounty would be equal to or bat-
ter than a macadam road, while
the materials for maintenance of
your sand clay road will always
be at hand and ready to be ap-
plied at slight oost.”
Mr. Spoon’s advioe was taken.
On July 13, 1907, Judge Edmon-
son wrote to him that $143,000 in
bonds had been authorized, of
whioh $100,000 had been sold.
With the proceeds one hundred
and fifteen miles of splendid road
had been built at a oost of about
$868 per mile. If the oounty had
made the mistake of building
mscadam roads it would have
paid for the mistake about $500,-
000 in the beginning, represent-
ing the differenof in ooet, and
frqm $10,000 to $15,000 a year
thereafter, representing the Dif-
ference in cost of maintenance.
If every county and community
made sure thet the type of road
eeleoted was ths type best adapt-
ed to the conditions to be met,
millions of dollars would be saved
to the people of the United States
every year. Pike County’s ex-
ample doee not mean that ths
oheapest type of road should be
Rhercon-
ditions. There are hundreds of
examples of cheap roads con-
structed to withstand exception-
ally heavy traffic whioh are rap-
idly going to piece* and will have
to be rebuilt. In Pendleton
County, W. Va., a rather droll
example of false economy oc-
curred. It was neoessary to put
in a long fill on a road leading to
the oounty seat. As logs wsre
about the most plentiful com-
modity at hand they were used to
make the fill. The road was “a
thing of beauty” but not “ a joy
forever” for it had scarcely be-
gun to serve its useful purpose
before a forest fire swept along
and merrily licked up every
vestige of the log fill.
a COSTLY EXPERIMENT
FRAZER HARDWARE
COMPANY
gridge Beach Stoves
Lincoln Climatic
Paints, Simmons Keen Kut-
ter Tools and Cutlery. Pull
line of Heaters, both wood
and oil. Coffins, Caskets
and Burial Robes. A com-
plete stock of Hardware,
Queensware& Mill Fittings
\
"S* Trouble to Show Soods.”
FRAZER HARDWARE GO.
Down in Taxes a fsw years a-
go a prosperous and progressiva
oounty built itself a system of
maoadam roads. Thors waa no
diffioulty in financing it; there
waa no doubt that ths traffic waa
heavy enough to justify a hard
road, and there seemed to be no
fault in the method of construc-
tion, but something waa wrong
with the roads—after a few days
of traffio they were no more than
stretoheeof looee stones. After
the damage was done n specimen
of the material was sent to the
United States Office of Publio
Roads. A fsw tests showed that
the stones was almost entirely
lacking in oementing value and
would not bond sufficiently to
form the monolithio crust so es-
sential of the maoadam road.
The oounty had built several
miles of road with this material
and had contracted for large
quantities. The experience oost
several thousand dollars. To
save just such waste, to give
expert advice to all is the objeot
of the Office of Publio Roads.
Its laboratories are recognized
abroad as the foremost in the
world, so eminent, indeed, that
the British Government submit-
ted to it 300 specimens of road
materials from England and of-
ficially asked that they be anal-
yzed and tested. Not only do
these laboratories investigate
road building rock but they main-
tain special laboratories to test
and analyze oils, tare, asphalts,
and all other materials for road
improvement. This work is done
without charge.
The first reason why our im-
proved roads do not always show
the profit that they should is
that they are often constructed
in ignorance
In the board room of the ’Friaoo
Linee at 71 Broadway hangs a
map of the territory served by
railroads comprising that system.
The map is of many colors and
carries a bewildering collection
of symbols and lettering, all,
however, having a definite pur-
pose, whioh is to show the pro-
ducts upon whioh ths
railroad must Suspend
for its freight traffic. Eaoh sec-
tion of oountry is studied to de-
termine what it produces, how
much it produces, and bow much
more it can bo mado to produoe.
In other words, the railroad con-
siders not merely actual traffic
but also potential traffio, and
We will sell your farm if you list it
with us, at a reasonable price.
List your Lands with us if you want to
sell. Our methods get results. We will
maintain an office in Carthage.
Commonwealth
Land Company
407 Juanita Building
Dallas, Texas
Room 2, Thompson Building
Carthage, Texas
are entitled to first consideration
as to time and type of construc-
tion. It does not occur to very
many road enthusiasts that there
is a neoessary relation between
the traffio and the financing of
the road. Suppose they decide
to build ten miles of road at
$15,000 a mile. The annual out-
lay would be $750 a mile for
interest, and, assuming that the
road would be ao durable as to
require little outlay for mainte-
nance, the maintenance over a
long period of years might be
eetimated at $100 a' mile, making
a total of $850 a mile. 8uppoee
the road ran through a oorn
growing oountry and that 60 per
oent of the land waa productive
and thet the road was used by
the farmers for one mile on eaoh
side. The territory served would
be twenty square miles, of whioh
twelve square miles, or 7,680
acres, would be produotivo. Corn
will produce about one ton to the
sore, so the traffio from thmt
source could not exceed 7,680
tons with the maximum haul not
exceeding ten miles. The annual
cost of the road would be $8,500
or a little more than $1 a ton.
There would of course be other
uses for the road, put the point
to be emphasized is the necessity
for having a bat-ia upon which to
every extension of the road and
every tfur, track, and siding | ^rmYne*the' jurtffiabV'outlay,
must firs^pe justified by a show- The fKJCond rea8oQ that aome
ing of potential traffic This is q| OUp good roadg are failure8 a8
true not merely of a single raii-l^y inve9tmenU i8 that
road system but of practically all aro nQt adapted to their
railroads. But our oounties and | dut|es
Aside from construction and
traffic, the maintenance of roads
seems in most cases to have been
a haphazard affair. An inoident
reported by Mr. Cuttis Hill,
8tate Highway Engineer, of Mis-
souri, ii typioal of conditions
prevailing in n great many of the
states in the safeguarding of
road funds and their expendi-
ture. Mr. Hill taye that before
Missouri adopted the state and
oounty engineer system, road
overseers ware required to make
only annual statements and these
need not be itemised. Tbe Re-
states have not taken the bint.
In Prance n traffic census it
taken at intervals of four years
to determine tbe character and
volume of tbe traffio, its distribu-
tion. and its effect upon the road.
This enables improvements to be
made where they are needed and
in a measure suggests the kind
of improvement required. But
ourr<>ed officials have not fol-
lowed this wits example. In this
oduntry we pay little attention
to the classification of roads with
referenoe to traffic before plung-
ing ahead with the buildihg pro-
gramme. Such a classificAtion
would determine the roads whioh
lowing was a common example:
Received $224. Spent $224.
John Smith, Overseer,
District 15.
Since county engineers have
been appointed, conditions have
vastly improved. One ccunty
engineer upon assuming office
found a contract for $125 worth
of lumber to build a bridge over
a small stream. He oanoelled
tbe contrret and built a oonorete
culvert for $25. The present
Missouri law oompels every over-
seer to make a monthly itemized
statement to the county engineer.
If this systematic accounting
savee Missouri 20 per cent., aa it
seems, the same ratio applied to|onwhio11 th* Uni^ State* Office
the whole country would mean
an annual saving of between 20
and 30 million dollars.
A year or two ago a Govern-
ment engineer reported on a $70t-
000 soad in one of the Southern
States, built properly and with
dun regard to conditions prevail-
ing but allowed absolutely to go
to ruin for lack of maintenance.
This is one of many thousand
cases. American engineers are
equal to any in the world. Our
methods of construction are a-
breast of the latest and best of
any land, and in labor saving
machinery and equipment for
the construction of roads Ameri-
ca leads the world. The rock
crusher, whioh has supplanted
the old laborious method of
breaking rock with a hammer, is
the invention of an American.
It is our woeful lack of mainte-
nance that we lag behind every
other civilized nation. Our coun-
ty officials seem to think that a
good road is everlasting and
proof against the ravages of
traffio and the elements. France
maintains her supremacy as a
good roads nation by her tireless,
watchful oar* of her roads.
Every mile of her main roads ia
inspected daily and every defect
repaired as soon as it; occurs.
What is needed in every oounty
is sk’Med supervision and a well
trained road force which will
make its whole objeot in life the
ears and betterment of the pub
lio roads. Systematic and con-
tinuous maintenance is absolutely
tbe key to a system of good
roads.
In Alexandria County, Va., the
traveler, after floundering about
through heavy mud, finds him-
self on a smooth, well-kept 10-
mils stretch of earth road, com-
posed of the same materials as
the other roads but otherwise
bearing no resemblance. He
sees a workman steadily clean-
ing oat the ditohes, filling up
depressions, cutting weeds, and,
at one side, a split log drag which
has just been used on the road.
This is a .“demonstration road”
of Public Roads is giving a thor-
ough test to the patrol sy steed of
maintenance. The oaretaker
gives his whole time to the work
and to him the road is a pet, a
child, upon whioh ha lavishes bis
whole attention. To him it rep-
resents his life work, for he is
expected to live near the road
and to give his service to it
every day. Such oare lengthens
the life of the road and reduces
the burden of taxes, for such a
road is everlasting and does not
have to be rebuilt.
There is no doubt that the pub-
lio desires good roads. From
one end of the country to the
other the demand is insistent.
The knowledge of how to build
a road and what kind of road to
build to meet any given condi-
tion may be.had for the asking
from the Government.
An understanding of mainte-
nance is the (great problem—an
understanding not only among
road builders but among all tax
payers, for onoe they eee the
saving of proper maintenance
they will see that their roads are
profitable.
I want yon to know bow much
good your Hunt’s Care bee done me.
I bed raftered with Itebing Piles fif-
teen yearn, and when I was traveling
through Texas a man told me of
jour Hunt’s Cure. I got a 50c box
and it cured me.
BU-
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Park, R. M. The Panola Watchman. (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 16, 1912, newspaper, October 16, 1912; Carthage, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth885931/m1/2/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sammy Brown Library.