The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-02-15

vided they were stones and stones
only. Flint Essex and SUSSEX, he
said, made an excellent road, if only
broken properly small; limestone
(Wilts. Somerset, and Gloucester con-
solidates soonest of all, but is not the
most lasting; the pebbles of Shrop-
shire and Staffordshire were also good
and the beach-pebbles of Essex, Kent
and Sussex were some of the best ma
terials in the kingdom; but the whin-
stone or granite Of the north and of
Scotland he pronouced the most dura-
BILE.
Even in the breaking of stones Nc
Adam made a revolution. He saw
that ablebodied men standing up with
heavy hammers wasted the greater
portion of their strength. He made
his stone-breakers sit, so that all the
force of the blows took direct effect
on the stone; and the result was that
he found small hammers did the work
perfectly well. and thus was enabled
to confine it to old men past hard
labor, women, and boys. which re-
duced the cost Of the broken stone by
one half The size to which. the stone
should be broken he determined in a
practical way by the area of contact
Of an ordinary wheel with smooth
road. This he found to be about an
inch lengthwise; and therefore he
laid it down that "a stone which ex-
ceeds an inch in any Of its dimensions
is mischievous that is to say, that
the wheel is pressing on one end Of it
tends to lift the other end Of the road.
In practice he found it simplest to fix
weight of six ounces; and his sur
veyors carried about scales to test the
largest stones in each heap. He
would allow no large stones even for
the foundation of his roads, for he
found they constantly worked up
wards by the pressure and vibration
of the traffic. The Who'll road was
small broken stone, even over swampy
ground.
But there is nothing new under the
sun; and Mr. Cripps, Surrey magis-
trate stated in the same year that in
Sweden. where the roads were ''more
beautiful than any he ever beheld." ="
MeAdam's system (quite unknown to
him) had long been in operation-the
roads being almost perfectly fiat, and
the granite for them being broken
even as small as walnnts. Telford,
too, "a gentleman" as the entertain
ing Mogg observed, ''whose works as
an engineer continue to panegyrize
his name,," had been at work in north
Wales, laying the Holyhead and other
roads of an elliptical section which
was almost fiat.
McAdam, having expended so much
of his private resources for the public
benefit. found himself embarrassed
about 1920, and petitioned Parliament
for his expenses and some reward.
He was for some time sent about from
post to pillar between committees, the
Treasury, and the Post Office, and re-
peated his petition in 1923. when at
length a select committee was ap-
pointed to consider his case. They
reported that he had essentially bene-
fitted agriculture, commerce. and man
ufactures, by the ease of traffic he had
introduced; that he had reduced horse
labor and the consequent expense of
horses. had diminished the, wear and
tear of carriages of all kinds, and had
increased the comfort, convenience,
and safety of the public generally
They added that wherever he had
gone to work he had brought down
the poor rates by finding employment
for "the surplus laboring population" -"
and had abolished the odlous impost
of statute labor. In fact, he had full
filled the expectations of the commit
tee Of 1911. who prophesied a minimum
saving Of five millions whenever the
roads shonld be put in good order.
This committee of 1923 also reported
that the system of appointing a large
number of noblemen, gentlemen.
farmers. and tradpsmen as commits
sioners of roads" had failed. The
result was that McAdam was voted
81 900; and surveyor-general of
metropolitan roads having been ap-
pointed in 1927, he got the post. He
died in 1886
McAdam had no special or tech
nical education; and yet by force of
"ability and indefatigable pxertions,' ~
to which all bore testimony. he dis
covered what no professional engineer
(if in some particulars we except Tel
ford) had been able to descry. One of
the man. definitions of that elusive
term genius" is transcendant ca
pacity for taking trouble. In this
sense McAdam undoubtedly was a
man of genius.