Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-12-03
kAMCASTER, PA. December 8, 1889
The County Roads.

The Lancaster county farmers, we see,
have at length got down TO the discus
sion Of county roads, n subject that
should have had their attention and en-.
ergetic action long ago; for II Is certainly
IL matter that vitally affects their inter-
ests, which undeniably will be benefited
! b gpod and free roads. The meeting
~ the society at which the sub
s1ect was discussed was full one
and large number Of members
6 delivered their opinions. We cannot say
that they all appeared to take hold of
the subject very understandingly, or
that they greatly Illuminated 1t by their
remarks.
Mr.. Buckwalter, Of Salisbury, got
right down to the meat of the matter in
his statement that it would pay him
better to haul his milk to the creamery
q 10 cents hundred pounds over good
hard road than mt 10 cents, which he
I now gets for hauling ID through mud.
4 That sufficiently proves the elementary
proposition that the farming interests
demand good hard roads.
The next question Is as to how they
are to he best made hard and good and
who Is to pay the bill. Some of the
farmers who delivered themselves
thought that the Lancaster county ma
cadamized roads were bad roads which
shows how much they have been spoiled
by living all their lives upon such roads.
There Is no other community anywhere
that Is 30 well served by macadamizel
roads as the people Of Lancaster county.
They have so long enjoyed their advan-
tAges that many of them fail to realize
that they are advantages and they
complain bitterly Of their tolls
aud of their quality. Ii they did
not have them they would be in
despair at the mud. But for the hard
roads which are upon every avenue that
enters this town, the winter and the
spring would see empty markets and
stores. The toll charge, as the milkman
Of Salisbury found, is amply returned
10 the farmer aud the merchant in times
of mud and they should be wise enough
to remember this when in the good
weather Of the summer they do not need
their winter friend
1t Is true that our macadamized roads
might be better, but they are doubtless
as good rs the traffic upon them pays for,
and as their original somewhat faulty
construction permits them to be made.
1t is not open to question that for u
cheap hard road nothing can equal the
one covered with broken stones, where
stones are to be had; and the harder the
stones the more enduring is the road
provided its foundation, which IL the
most important feature, hasbeen properly
laid. The need is to lay the stones below
the frost line, to round the surface and
gutter the sides to drain away the
water, and to cover the surface with
hard rocks broken very small. Such a
( road is cheaply and easily made and
such road is needed upon every main
line Of travel in this rich and great
county. Upon this the majority of the
farmers will readily agree but they
may not SO easily see who should pay
the piper.
As to even this, however, there is no
room for great difference Of opinion.
II must be paid by taxation or tolls and
OF tolls we believe the community gener.
ally Is tired. II was very well when IL
was comparatively poor, that public road
should be built by companies, who took
their compensation by charging those
who used them for their use. Ii is fair
enough method but it is behind the
demand IN SO rich a county as this,
: whose pride 1t shuufi be to have me best
roads that can be made, and TO make
them free, as it can well afford to do, are
that no traveller should be stopped by u
toll gate within the precincts of the
richest agricultural county in the
whole country. Away with them
Let the farmers cry with loud
and earnest tone, and demand that the
roads shall be free as well as good. We
zee that Mr.. Levi Reist took the well
worn stand that only the users of the
road should pay for it. That doctrine
10 worn out +; it is the duty of the state to
provide good roads.
As we have often urged, there is IA
great need of state engineering depart
ment, In whose charge all the roads of
the state should be placed. We have
out grown the township road system,
which gives us an occasional good road,
where good supervisor is in charge
but generally bad ones, because the
supervisors are generally bad. They
may be good farmers, but they are bad
road-makers, knowing nothing of the
business. What we need is state enpi-
ncer, assisted by county engineers, SO
that the road making aud layinp
out shall be attended to by men
who understand it. The cost of
making the roads should come out of
the county treasury, and the cost of the
road administration out of the state
treasury or the whole cost might he
assumed by the state without obvious
injustice to any section. Lancaster
county can never complain of her share
Of the burthen, though she be required
70 pay for the care Of her roads out of
her own treasury. She is substantially out
o. debt, with only two mill tax /: and
q some good outlet is not found for her
money, her commissioners will he maxi
tng foolish one
That Great British Syndicate.