Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-11-23

Macaulay says that of all inventions,
the alphabet and printing press alone
excepted, those inventions which abridge
distince have done most for the civiliza-
ton of our species.
A nation, or an age of civilization, is
perhaps more easily judged and under
stood by the character and extensiveness
of its roads, than by any other symbol of
progress.
Intercourse between communities, and
the development of commercial life, have
afforded the necessity for regularly
adopted routes of travel. and more or
less systematically prepared roadways
from the time before the building of
those famous highways between ancient
Memphis and Babylon, over which the
untold wealth of the valleys OF the Eu-
pirates and the Nile found means of ex-
change, where the magnificent cities of
Ninevah, Damascus and Tyre, the earli-
est great commercial centres. sprang up.
and over which the splendid armies of
Xerxes and Alexander the Great passed
in all the pride and glory of those early
days.
The roadways of which the earliest
traces appear, were well constructed, as
is evident from the remains found, but
they were limited in number, laid out
generally in direct lines. and had the ad-
vantage in their construction of all the
resources of the rich and powerful ma
lions which built them.
AS the world has grown older. and
civilization has spread and ripened, in
tercourse has increased, commerce has
pressed out its foot in every direction.
from every centre, multiplying and rami-
flying its paths in as bewildering ex.
tent as the threads of the spiders web.
Various necessities and circumstances
have governed the building and mainte-
nance of roads of different times and
people.
The old countries where war has been a
constant factor, have looked after them
as a matter of national policy and mill
tary necessity, and have the result in the
finest and most durable ways in the
world.
The old military roads of the Roman
Empire constituted a system the superior
of which the world has never seen, in its
scope, and the thoroughness with which it
was perfected in all directions. The old
: world-conquerors" were good road
builders for their day, though Blake
crushers and the respective merits OF
Trinidad, and rock asphalts. anc Wheel.
ing fire brick, were matters of which
they never dreamed and those of us
who have had occasion to form intimate
acquaintance with American country
roads in spring, have more than once
found ourselves in positions to heartily
wish that some of the rural road makers.
who worked out their taxes by blowing
up the mud from the bitches, and plas-
tering it over the middle of the high
ways, had had some good experience in
the road gangs under the centurions OF
julius CRsar's army.
An eminent writer says: 1.-The road
is that physical sign or symbol by which
you will best understand any age or peo-
ages, for the road is the creation of man.
and the type of civilized society"
The Romans were. without doubt, the
best road builders in the ancient world
Their good highways was one of the
gress anj civilization. When they
conquered a province, they annexed il
by good roads, which brought them in
easy communication with the great cities
of the Roman world. When their terri
tory was 80 lar S6 THAI d uuHuTtu miiliOLs
of people acknowledged their military
and political power, their capital city
was the centre of such network o.
highways. that it was then common
saying, I" All roads lead to Rome"
The best roads in the world to-day arr
those Of England, France and Germany
the excellence of which is due to the fact
that those countries were first to awaken
from the long sleep of the dark age, and
the growing rivalry between them ne
cessitated attention to their roads, fol
the proper prosecution of both their mill
tary and their mercantile interests. II
each country they early came under thu
national supervision. the results of whicl
are seen in the most splendid highway
ia existence. costing the least to maintain
and in every waythe most satisfactor,
and econom ical for those who use them
Up to the advent of railroads, most o
the settlements in this country wer
along our water fronts, and on our Sc
coasts, lakes, and rivers. The invention
of steam, and the development of tn
railroad, seem to have taken all our eneI
gies and resources, to the neglect of on
roads and highways, and now that W
have more miles of railway than tn
whole of the Eastern Hen1isnhare an