The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1891-04-03
Our Public Roads.

slider the road question from every point of
view, but the discussion seems to travel in
circle which leads back to the point of be-
ginning, and the only conclusion reached is
that the roads are bad. One point, is at last
clearly perceived, namely, that under the
constant heavy travel of the present day no
engineering skill or foresight can prevent
the operation of the law of nature which con-
verts clay and water into mud.
1t is also evident that the present system
of repairing roads by piling loose earth in
the road-bed during the summer, to be wash
ed in holes or converted into mud the fol-
lowing winter or spring. is wasteful and ex-
travagant. The County Commissioners,
yielding to general desire for improved ap-
pliances for repairing roads, bought num-
Der of road machines, but experience with
them has not justified all that was claimed
for them. This, we think, has been rather
from their injudicious use by inexperienced
persons, than from any fault in the imple-
ments. Prof. Haupt, in. a communication in
last weeks Agis, pointed out one of the COM
mon causes of failure to secure solid dirt
road where the road scraper is used Large
quantities of soil, he says, are dragged
upon the road and allowed to remain in
loose condition, similar to that sought to
be attained in planting corn or potatoes, and
the result has been-mud, and general con-
domination of road machines. If smaller
quantity of earth had been put on the road
and heavy roller passed over it the result
might have been different.
No taxpayer complains that our County
Commissioners appropriate too little money
for the repairs of our public roads, On the
contrary the general impression is that the
taxes levied for this purpose and the amount
annually expended are quite enough to Sc
cure good roads, but how to have this mon
ey judiciously used is the question.
Dirt roads, no matter how carefully they
may be raised and rounded up in the middle
viii not sustain the heavy hauling over
them through the winter and spring,
when most of such hauling is DONE The
conclusion is plain, therefore, that the main
highways, those leading to railroad stations
or other public places over which farmers arc
compelled to transport their produce by
wagon, must be protected with stone or some
other hard material. The cost of stone roads
made by hand-labor is likely to preclude the
construction of any considerable length
such roads in any one year. The use of road
machinery must be resorted to in order to OBJ
tain the best results from the money expend-
ed.
Mr.. VIM. L. Amoss, of FallstoD, has given
much time and attention to obtaining infor-
nation relative to the road systems and plans
of road-mending pursued in those sections
where the best roads are to be found. He
has received, among others, several letters
from Mr.. s. R. Downing, of West Chester,
Pa, with reference to road-mending and ma.
chinery for crushing stones. Mr.. Downing,
who is authority upon road-making, suggests
thst the best plan to turnpike roads is for the
county to buy stone crusher, roller, screen
and power, the Commissioners to build stone
roads under the direction of persons skilled
in the business. The plan pursued in Ches-
ter county is described by Mr.. Downing as
follows:
Some of our people of this and the adjoin-
ing township Joined in stock company,
purchased q crusher, roller, belt, wagon and
sieve. The crusher is heavy and is drawn
and run by 12-horse traction engine. 1t
brushes from go TO so perches of stone day.
The township pays % cents per perch for
crushing, the company pays 124 cents per
perch to the engine owner for handling and
crushing, and furnishes oil and fuel, leaving
profit of 123 cents per perch. The cost of
the outfit is 81 500. A contract for 1900
perches will ensure interest, repairs and cost
of setting the machine. The roller is of iron
and weighs 900 lbs, when weighted more.
The roads built thus far are excellent. We
have no engineer"
Wherever an effort is made to effect any
permanent Improvement in our public roads
the necessity for intelligent supervision is in
sisted upon. Our farmers, perhaps, have
been nettled by appeals for "engineers" to
construct and mend roads, while at the same
time they recognize the fact that no man is
born road-maker, and the man who under
takes to make or mend road should know
something about the business. Undoubtedly
there are many farmers in the county who
understand as well as an engineer" the art of
road-making, and such men alone should be
selected TO superintend the construction and
repair of roads, and especially the roads
bordering their farms, should be entrust-
ed to their care. If experienced and
capable men cannot be found in any
no fhau oh 1>a ole
where. The point we wish to insist upon is
that no man ought to undertake to mend a
road unless he has had some experience or
knowledge of the work, and the greater the
experience and knowledge, both practical
and theoretical, the more judiciously will the
allowance be spent. There seems to be pre-
judice against "road-engineers," so-called,
and probably no system would be popular
which would deprive farmers of the opportu-
nifty ofpaying their taxes, in whole or in part,
by work upon the roads, but surely it is not
unreasonable to ask that the work they do
should be done in proper manner and at
the smallest expense to the county. Intelli-
gent supervision alone can secure these two
tAAuS5, oAu IL buio Cdn uC lOuuu dulOuR OuE
farmers-and doubtless it can-so much the
better.
1t costs great deal Of money to turnpike
roads and how to accomplish any consider
able amount of such work without increasing
taxes is the next question to consider.
Ex-County Commissioner Robert ]. Walk
er in recent article in THE 14gis pointed out
how good beginning can be made. He es-
Inmates that with a judicious use of the road
machines in the spring, all of our public roads
could be put in passable order, if not made
quite as smooth as we would like to have
them, for about 81, 900 or $4,000, leaving the
remainder of the county appropriation-say
about $20,000-to be spent annually in per-
manent stone work on such places as become
impossible every year.
This plan has been pursued in several To-
calities, for few years, and now, with no in
crease In the appropriations, there are
stretches of turnpike, where formerly there
were quicksands and mud holes.
Here, it seems to US, is practical plan for
gradually but permanently improving our
public roads. Let the repairs to the dirt
roads be as little as possible-only enough to
enable farmers to haul their crops out, and