The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-06-05
Public Roads.
Road Making.


Eugene Stone, Esq of Woodford county,
who attended tue late Highway Cummiss-
toner's State Convention at Springfield, con
tributes the following excellent suggestions
J to the FL Paso JOurndt, concerning road
making:
AT tue highway commissioners conven-
ton al Springfield, last week, 1t was decid-
ed 10 request the Legislature TO pass law at
their session next winter making the cash
system of working roads universal through.
out the State, ami abolishing the labor sys
tenn and also doing away with road over
seers, Commonly called pathmasters)
| Without doubt such Il law will be passed
AS II is long step In the right direction.
Only by this method can roads be worked
with any regard TO system. AT present
there are many systems OF road making
(often road spoiling) as there are districts
In the township. For instance this year
labor tax has been levied or twenty cents
on each one hundred dollars of personal
and real estate in FL Paso township. This
according 10 the assessed valuation, VIII
amount To about / 100 dollars worth of labor
that will be done (or rather supposed to be
! dOne) on the roads in FL Paso township
This amount does not include tile, tiling,
cuIverts, or bridges, which must be paid
for by sep rate money tax. There Is not
an intelligent man in the .oSnship but
who knows that 5000 in cash carefully en-
pend I'd for skilled labor, will show more
ana better results in working roads than
the whole Sll00 worth of forced and I'M
willing labor grudgingly given, and with
out any intelligent system and where each
man seemingly tries To do as little as pos
sible and yet get in his time. There are
many exceptions of course, bud every one
knows that this is too often the way road
work is done During the past year the
commissioners have paid cash for clearing
up and repairing bad places in the roads
! and have proved to their satisfaction that
$40 in cash will 90 further and do more
than $50 of the assessed labor tax. The
question is simply this; Will land owner
| pay say 80 cents in money and have good
roads, or will he rather spend from two to
! four days with his team working roads in
payment of his poll and property tax, and
still have impossible roads three months
out of each year? This is all there is to it,
| With the cash system carefully admins
tered, thrice the amount of permanent
work can be done with half the amount of
taxation that is at present levied. Most of
the road labor consists in blowing and
sCrapng pile of dirt. and next year pillow.
ing, scraping and piling il somewhere else
The trouble is the work is not permanent,
but with the best intentions of commission
ers and overseers, must each year, be done
over and over again. With first thorough
system of drainage and then put On to the
road twelve inches of Mackinaw gravel,
| (Which can be had tor the hauling) roads
can be made right here in muddy Illinois,
that will not require 81 per mile for repairs
for 30 years to come and that will be just
as good and dry and hard one hour after a
heavy rain as roads are in August. Tiled
and graveled roads are bound To come, so
are iron bridges. The writer expects to
see within 10 years all the main roads in
FL Paso township thoroughly graveled or
macadamised As soon as this is dore all
road taxation will cease or the tax will be
so slight as to be unnoticed, and the roads
will be passable for any loads at all times
OF the year But until this is done, road
taxes will be constantly increasing burden
and roads will be but temporarily bettered
The road commissioners of Illinois should
wake up to the fact that they are living in
this blessed year of our Lord 1886 and
that the people are confidently expecting
them to mend their ways"