The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-03-01
OUR COUNTRY ROADS.
A Suggestion as to Their Improvements
A change Of system Necessary

2 of American country roads and thci
improvements: and, following up Col
PODe's Buffalo address. alluded to /!
, these columns some weeks ago hay,
begun an agitation Of the question o
road improvement with vigOr tina
: promises to give great results in tn,
future in all parts Of the United States
OF course, IA good road Is a Sino 9,td no,
10 the whcclman, and indirectly L
Col. Pope rs Il manufacturer 81
bicyclcs. There is a selfish motive
perhaps, back OF this agitation. then
but il is so bound up with the genera
benefit to the country at large-tO the
tOwnsman and more especially to tn,
country dwellcr-that this very ST.
hshness Of motive is one Of the most
hopeful signs that this agitation will
not. as many such have in times past,
die abOrnin'.'
In this state of Illinois the first
essential necessary to the improve
ment Of our country roads is a radical
change of the system OF road manage
ment and road building. The present
system is a constant temptation to the
waste Of funds. Indeed, while, as a
rule, all highway commissioners are
! looked on with suspicion, whether
rightfully or wrongfuly does not matter
in this discussion, yet, after all, the
misapprOpriatiOn Of road funds is less
| a cause of bad roads than the absence
of "A system as between towns, and of
the general ignorance OF the commits
| si0ners as to scientific method Of
building roads.
In the first place, the system should
be based on scheme of control by one
man, or small body of men, which
shall cover a greater area than single
township--not perhaps that the roads
Of a single township are not in them
selves enough for one man to take care
of, but because in their present con-
dtiOn, which is that Of no roads at
all, it is necessary, first Of all, that the
main lines of travel shall be solidly
and substantially built; after which
the minor laterals can be constructed.
At this time it Is most unusual TO find
the commissioners Of two towns work
ing in unison. They do rot work
together. With reference to each
other the chances are that the roads
will begin nowhere and end nowhere.
Main lines through towns should be
built to meet at town lines and have a
uniform trend to given pOint-thc
market town. As it is, the lines OF
improvement may meet or they may
not If they do, it is probably an ac-
cident, or a result Of natural causes
that could find an effect in no other
way.
But the greatest waste of all Is g-
nOrance of the science of rUad-making
and lack Of backbone to adopt scien-
titic method if it is cOmprehended.
There has been money enough spent
on the roads Of this county in the last
forty years to have paved every foot OF
them with an imperishable pavement.
And yet what has the county to show
for all this money? Probably not forty
miles of solid road tO-day-nothing
but roads without drainage and with
out pound of tOp-dressing save the
black mud which is turned by scrapcr
from the ditch to the surface OF what
would have been a pretty decent road
way if left alone. The dirt roads
(barring the slOughs, which the
changes made by cultivation and the
drainage of the land have dried up
are probably in a worse condition now
JIldIl tlltN Ntlt lDl ytdlS uS', ''ioi'
men began to Improve" them.
The building of roads costs money;
and as that money must be raised by
taxation, it is necessarily slow work,
especially in this state, where, because
of IA fatally imperfect revenue law, the
basis of taXatiOn-the assessment-iS,
by natural causes inherent TO the SyS-
TEN itself, and which can be cured
only by radical reform OF the entire
code, growing smaller by annual leaps.
The greater then is the need of ju-
dicious expenditure Of the funds avail
able. 1t will cost, according to access
TO materials, from 81 800 to $1,000 to
build mile OF good road, such as will
stand through all seasons. When a
set of commissioners, in IA town re-
moved from the materials which
alone can make solid roads at all
seasons, sees cost Of, say $4,000 to
s., 900 "A mile staring them in the face,
in the parlance. they are 'paralyzed.
Their people" will never stand such
an expense. So they go on spending
the 81. 600 to 81, 900 raised for road pur-
poses each year in the same old way
working their own teams on scrapers
at 81 a day to bury good dirt road I'M
der loose dirt. making, in the mean
time. a ditch on each side into which
the storm water gathers. to remain
until by capillary attraction. it has
disappeared from the bitches into
the earth under the center of the road
bed. making mud hole of the entire
road thus ''improvcd' and repaired. >
Then other taxpayers are allowed to
work out their road tax in the same
destructive work. \ few wooden
bridges over lateral bitches and the
commissioners fees eat up the balance.
The years money is consumed. and
instead of a mile, or even half a
mile, of solid, substantial road built
that year in the town, not Il foot OF
it has been made. The next year the
same routine is repeated. In this way
the roads have been worked for the
past forty years: and should this plan
obtain from now until dOomSday there
never will he "A foot of road made,
though millions he spent on the high
ways.
The problem. then, before the pat
rons of the highways is to get the man
apemcnt Of the roads and the eXpend-
ing OF the road money ont of the hands
of lin this county thirty-seven indie