Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-08
that bottom to the highway exists, either
BY nature or artifcially.
oApBEDs NEEDED FIRST.


Only in a small part of our country has
nature furnished a natural roadbed, as, for
instance, among, the Jersey shales or the
gravel parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and
other parts of the West The artificial
roadbed requires work and expense. This
is precisely what our people are coming to.
So far, except in small sections, we have
been unwilling to settle down to the convic-
ton that we could not mend what we never
had made. The annual tinkering of the
present system is totally waste, because
we have not yet made our roadbeds. A
verv small annual outlay of work and money
will be sufficient when the preparatory work
of building is done. l imagine that our
wealthy and benevolent citizens who have
heretofore bent their energy to the estab-
lishment of schools and churches can do
more real good at present by insugurating
q new system of road-building. The first
expense will be so large as to check the
enthusiasm of the voter for improvement.
Each town should, in the first place, own q
stone crusher worked by steam. Prof.
Shaler, who is excellent authority, estimates
that high grade roads can be constructed
with a erusher at a cost not to exceed S., 900
per mile. OF course there are sections
where this expense can be greatly reduced.
But it never pays to make road at all un-
less it is we'll made. The crusher can be
bought for 5000 or $500.
So then we come to the pecuniary, problem
understsndingly. 1t looks like a hopeless
case, and yet is it SO? Count up our present
average expense. 1 think 5000 year per
mile covers the average annual direct out
lay on the roads of the well-settled parts of
America. But this is a long way from
covering the bill of expense. Count the loss
in broken and worn-out wagons, and you
will get another item of 5000. The wear
and work Of washing, and the expense of
painting buggies and other vehicles, will
sverage another 5000.
THE LOSS OF TIMB
Is an item hard to estimate, but it is very
large. The damage to horses is a serious
one, lessening the profit of horses one-third.
There still remains the damage to fruit, and
occasionally to other loads, by jolting, and
we have q formidable bill of regular ex-
pense. believe that in our thickly settled
neighborhoods our roads cost us a plump
3, 900 a year. The burden is not equally
distributed, and occasionally falls bitterly
on one person. have in mind friend
whose carriage broke down in slough, or rut-
hole, and the delay in a raw, rainy day
broke his health, and closed up his career
of usefulness. The bill of damages against
broken bridges can be collected, but that
against unmade and broken-up roads can
not But town is quite as morally respon-
sihle in one case as in the other. My figures
are not imaginary or fanciful; you can easily
verify them bV fairly examining the statis-
tics Of your own district But suppose a
stone-crusher owned by each township, and
the road-beds made as fast as the outlay can
be endured; after that the expense from
wear and tear, as well as direct tax, is re-
duced to an Insignificant minimum.
So far we have not been willing to plant
or even to preserve for our children. Our
forests, OF inestimable value to coming gen.
erstions, have been burned over by millions
of acres. Our streams have been ruthlesslv
emptied OF food product, and our forest re-
gions cleared OF wild animals, with little
advantage to ourselves. Whenever the
question of road improvement has been
pressed it has been met by the argument that
we cannot afford to pay the taxes of the |
future. Still there is
POSITIVE PROGRESS
In the way of enlightened sentiment. Sew |
ersl State Legislatures have recently taken |
mp the highway question with zeal, and |
have taken all pains to learn the real minds |
of the people. Governor Hill, of New York, !
recommends an entire revolution in the 4
principle and method OF having the work |
done. He insists that all taxes should be |
paid in cash, and that the work should |
be carried on by contract and superin-
tended by properly educated engineers. |
This will be fought, tooth and nail,
by all those who have been |
educated to shirk q reasonable tax, and |
cheat both themselves and their neighbors
by pretense OF work. The plan of Cover
nor Hill, or something not unlike, will have
to be our final resort. The average farmer
is utterly unqualified to either construct a
road or wisely superintend Its repair. The
main difficulty in the way of re orm will be
that he does not know that he is unqualified.
That road-msking is a science is not q gen.
orally understood fact Governor Hill |
knows well the drift of public sentiment in
his own State, and that it is not unlike the
DRIFT elsewhere. 1t was slow work getting
rid Of the plank road and turnpike copora-
tlons, simply because tn Y occasionally did
furnish an exceptionally good driveway. |
The exceptionally good road is now some
crossway where travel is too light to DESTROY
1t, or else macsdamized lew miles near a
city. But our cities have at last led the
way. Cobble-stone pavements are Welding
to asphalt. Good ideas and good examples
spread with rspidity.
A QUESTION OF HUMANITY.
Ny own interest confess in this matter
is greatly that of lover of animals We
are Injured to a vast amount of brutality and
brute suffering. 1t is not to he understood
that an animal is not numerically treated
because it is not beaten and cursed. L our
horses do double work in ordinary draft it
is cruelty on our part, if it be owing to our
parsimony or neglect. Eighteen hundred
and eighty-nine was a year OF continual
Showerlng in the Eastern States, and
rarely passed day anywhere without see
ing horses strained to their utmost endur-
snce, in order to draw even moderate loads
up the hillsides. 1t was a hard year on
horses. The roads were mud banks, or
when washed were stony and rough. Such
years are valuable TO bring voters around to
! willingness to consider a change of man.
agement Animals and men are alike in
terested IN such a change.
A single engineer. properly qualified,
could inspect the work of halt dozen town
hips, or q whole county. In fact, consider
ng the slow progress that must be made in
building perfectly macadamized highways,
here would be no reason why one official |
night not cover even a larger territory. |
Have we the qualified engineers? If not,
III the more reason that we should act at
,nce. Certainly such men must be compe-
ent surveyors as well as have a thorough
of the art of making lasting
'oad-bed.
After all is done we still have the need of
more common sense in our use of roads.
The use OF thin wagon tires that cut almost
ike knives, is without excuse on any prin-
,iple of either economy, utility or beauty.
Pinch tire may be used more judi
,iously, except on the lightest vehicles, and
hen should not be furnished with those less
han ~. Heavy draft wagons are not only |
afer, but move more easily with tires 2L |
inches in thickness. These matters will
nave to be placed under the control of the