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Northern Advocate, 9 December 1893, Page 7

The Present System of HJgTiway Repair* Ing Is Labor Thrown Away. As a general thing,- the country roads on this continent bate been so badly located. that to build costty pavements upon the present lines and previously provide elaborate systems of drainagewould be a dreadful waste of money. As it is ordinarily beyond the means of country people to do more than improve the present condition of their roads, this . is the task that they should undertakers soon as possible. In beginning bhc v a t^sk, the first step to be taken, in my Jon, is to stop doing that which hj*\ beeu the custom of this country — that toy working the reads. Working the roads, as it is usually practiced in this country, consists in Calling out in each road district . a gang of men who "work out" their road tax under an overseer elected by the people. The labor done is worse than thrown away, for it is rare indeed for either the overseer or the men ttnder him to have any clear comprehension of what is needed. Fortunately for the well being of our roads, these men do not work very hard, but rather choose to regard the few days on the road as a kind of holiday outingV a picnic frolic, and a means of getting, rid of a certain amount of tax. If they really worked with all their might, they would make the roads almost as impassable in the summer as they now are in the winter and early spring. With some kind of a glimmering idea that ditches on each side of a road are good to have, they- plow up these ditches, together with the sod that grows down into theni r and pile all of this muck in the middle of the road. This material, it may be said, has a indst excellent fertilizing value, and if it ' were put upon the fields instead of in the : rodds it would amply repay the farmers who carted it away. But in the roadsit is a sad and an immediate hindrance to • travel. Luckily the friendly spring rains usually wash it back into the: ditches, where it stays until there is] some more tax to be "worked out."| When these rains are not sufficient to] • wusk away these impediments that havej been deliberately placed in thd roads,! the consequences are very dusty roads ] during all the dry season. j In some neighborhoods a little more; . ambitious than those generally to be found they mend the roads by placing, gravel and broken stone upon them, j , Then the overseers say that they are macadamizing the roads. Without i thoroughly draining the roadbed, to put ■ either broken stone or gravel upon it is j merely a waste of money and labor, and ] the ambitious neighborhoods so doing j prove in the end no wiser than those ■who !•• cover their roads with muck. But it is j within the means of every neighbor-^ hood in the United States to materially improve their roads at once— improve them so much that where the traffic is ' not extremely heavy and continuous the roads will be in tolerable order nine"! months in the year and very much bet- • ter than at present, even when the frost is coming out of the ground at the beginning of spring. And this can be done in three or four or five j r ears without spending one penny more than is now spent in the hurtful methods mentioned, j — Harper's Weekly. i

Maintenance of Highways, A After a road is once improved it must^ not be assumed that it will forever remain in a first class condition without paying any further attention to it than to have a Bemiannual gathering of the old men and young boys of the road dis- ' trict to work(?) out their respective road , taxes under the supervision of the road supervisor. . f On the contrary, it will require a good deal of care, and unless needed repairs , are made at- the proper time the new 7 . road may not prove as great an improvement as was expected. Parties who have . traveled in Europe tell us about the .- :- splendid highways of. that country, but.,, the fine condition of those roads is not , due alone to a superior quality of ma-i: ; terial or to a faultless method of con-: ; struction, but largely to the constant : care bestowed upon them by a force of men specially trained and employed for .r this purpose. From the foregoing it .will j ,- } be seen that if we want to have good „-- roads continually, we must abolish pur ', , present road system and adopt such ■/..■ methods as will give satisfactory results. . — Goodßoads. ... •■ :J .. :

Facts to Remember. . . - - Increase of railroad mileage seems to \ lessen interest in highways, but it should not be forgotten that. nearly all railroad.;' freight has been previously carted over". •> highways. The use of springs on freight wagons greatly diminishes the ;* • . ■or falling force . . in road depressions, prevents ruts and. . preserves roads. The efleots of wheels of large diameter '. , and width of tire is to greatly diminish spot pressure, and the breaking of tie road surface is thus obviated. The reduction of cost of transit of. per- ... sons and freight by lower prices for literies and for hauling would be beneficial, and as transportation is a large element of cost to every one not a producer good roads would much cheapen living. The cost of transporting products or of hauling to market is by tenfold the highest tax now paid by our farmers and hucksters. -

The Importance of Good Foundations. It is a curious fact that the Swiss roadways of today are really a revival of Roman engineering, both in method of construction and in selection of routes, , a return being made to it after years of ; mistaken experiments. Consul Adams : . declares that the most important lesson for us from European experience is that ., the worst surface with a good foundation ; affords a better road than the costliest J surface without a foundation. No mat- i ter how much money is laid out on the surface, the result will be. swift ruin un- ] less it is properly supported from benqath. But with a good foundation the biirface may be of gravel, or even of cqmmon soil if nothing better is available.—New York Bun,