Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-24
POPE'S ESSAY ON ROADS.
THE BOSTON COLONEL GIVES AN
INTERESTING TALK.
He Traces the Development OF Thorough
fares from Ancient Times to the
Epoch OF South Carolina
Cross Roads.

Good ROADS was the Title OF prac'
tical lecture delivered at the chamber of
commerce yesterday afternoon by Col.
A. A. Pope OF Boston. The gentleman
is probably better known az manufac-
turer Of bicycles than in any other ca
pacity. He has made study OF roads
for number of years. He has travelled
through Europe and is familiar with all
of the best road systems. He is an en-
thusiast on the subject.
The meeting was we'll attended, q
number of the leading merchants ahd
professional men of the city being pres
ent. Mr.. Dan Freeman presided. Col.
Pope, after general introduction
of the subject, gave brief sketch OF the
ancient roads of Babylon and Peru and
the military roads OF Rome. After the
fall of the Roman empire the highways
were neglected and during the middle
ages there were no roads worthy OF the
name. 1t was not until the eighteenth
century that the roads were improved.
In England the improvement was first
started by McAdam and Telford, born
in 1855 and 1867 respectively. And in
France the first great road building was
done by the great Napoleon, during the
early days of the first empire.
At the present day the best roads are
in France and Switzerland. In these
countries and in Austria wagon tires are
required to be of certain size, and the
rear wheels have to extend beyond the
fore ones. In this manner a wagon
with 10 inch tire, when going over q
road, makes an impression of from 10 to
30 inches in width.
As to the kind of roads the paved are
the best, but another important feature
is to keep them in condition. An eight
foot unpaved road is better than CO.
foot paved one, as the narrower the
road, the easier it is to keep in good
condition. Good roads were the high
ways of education, Christianity and civ
ilization. There was not school or q
church in the country but would be
benefited by having good roads near
them. It was just az important to the
government to have it's roads in good
shape 80 that troops could be moved
readily in time of war as it was to build
forts and coast defenHeH.
Every body would be benefited by
having good roads and the railroads the
most Of all. The president of one rail
road in Florida had offered to carry free
all material to be used in constructing
good roads. And all other railroadl
could we'll afford to do the same. Tht
speaker read reply from Bill Nye tt
his query for samples of cross roads, il
which Mr.. Nye said that he was collect
ing samples of South Carolina crosI
roads but was waiting to obtain some
cases to put them in to send to the
worlds fair.
He said that he had been asked to en-
dow a chair of astronomy in some uni
versity. But he had refused because b.
did not zee the necessity of studying
whether the lines on Mars were roads @
canals before we had studied the road
in our countries. The roads should b.
built by the states and counties, anC
the latter should take care of them.
Road building and railroad huildini
we're very different. Many men coul'
construct railroads, but he doubted i
there were 80 men in the United State
who understood how to properly built
q road. A bureau of road instruction
should be established by the govern
ment to rank with the cabinet positions
A monster petition would be presented
to congress loon asking that this. ofict
be created.
He also stated that Mayor Hazart
had driven him out to Elysian park, ant
he thought it was one of the best sitel
for such place that he had ever seen
He closed the lecture with scriptura
quotation.
Colonel Pope was heartily applaudet
at the finish of his talk. He has en-
dowed chair in the Poly technic schoo
at Boston for instruction in road max
ing. He will probably lecture in th'
city again.