Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1892-08-04
ABOUT OUR HIGHWAYS.
a Writer Tells Plain Truth About Broad
Tires Versus Road Taxas

lHere are olHefences enough be-
tween a horse and wagon so that
even high protectionist ought never
to mistake one for the other. One OF
the most obvious differences is that a
wagon is capable of its best work only
when thoroughly tired, which can
hardly be said of the horse, and it has
also been noticed that the horse gets
more tired as the wagon isn't.
While resting my bones in the
michigan grass last summer l had a
pleasant opportunity of listening to-,
and verifying, the talk of a well-in.
formed, practical, and consequently
well-to-do-farmer l noticed that the
wooden wheels Of his wagon had very
broad tires (and by the way, fcouldn't
help noticing how we'll wood seems to
answer for the wheels of farm wagons. J
asked great many questions about
| the broad tires, and this is what |
found out.
1t seems that the Michigan law
makers have had their windows open
so that the new light has begun to
shine on them. The value of broad
wheel tires being apparent and not
wishing to put the farmer to COM
pulsory expense, they have made a
law the drift of which is that the
man who will use on his wagon tires
OF certain width shall have a rebate
IN his road tax of oHe-half And this
Is now 1t works. In buying a new
wagon the difference in cost is slight,
as the wider tires may be much thin
ner and the added strength in the
wooden rim makes stronger wheel.
To take from wagon already in
use the narrow rims and tires and re-
place them with wider ones costs be-
tween Sl2 and 500, and in the case of
the farmer to whom | refer, the di-
rect saving in road tax at once was bet
ter. than twenty-five per cent. on the
cost of making the alteration To a
man who was loaniug his surplus
money at six or seven per cent, the
broad tires looked like a good invest
ment, even if there was no other ad-
vantage. But the other advantages
were much greater. He showed me
that in the cornfield thirty bushels
had been good load with narrow
tires and he could now haul fifty
bushels with greater ease. When it
came to hauling stuff to market the
load could, with wide tires, be in
creased from twenty-five to fifty per
cent. This much from the farmers
standpoint. How about the common
wealth? 1t has been discovered that,
in localities where a considerable por-
tion OF the Inhabitants use the broad
tires, the decreased tax keeps the road
in better condition than the whole
tax did when the narrow tires pre-
vailed, and it is believed by men who
are in position to know that when
broad tires are universally used, the
highways (all kinds, from the city
pavement to the poorest dirt road)
may he kept in very much better con-
dition than at present with one fourth
the present cost.
The greatest improvement for the
least outlay is what the present gen
Grafton is most likely to realize ON,
and while thoroughly believe in all
the good work now being done to the
roads, believe that no road will ever
be built that can stand narrow tires
under heavy loads, and to improve
the road first is beginning at the
wrong end of it. Legislation looking
toward the forced general adoption OF
wheel-treads proportioned to the max
imum load to be carried is the. thing
to be first pushed Such law made
universal would greatly improve pres
ent roads, and as fast as roads were
made better, would tend to keep
them SO. If-you were putting down
a new parlor carpet you wouldn't let
the boys continue to walk on it with
hob-nailed shoes, would you? If you
did, the carpet appropriations would
begin to run short and you would
have to appeal to the Legislature for
aid.
There is just one valid objection to
wide tires and that is, that such a
wagon runs hard over road which is
mostly used by the old kind of tires,
but when all wheels are what they
should be there will be no ruts (at
least not in the road, and the face, of
the farmer may yet be shortened so
that he gets shaved at the regular
price. / have often heard transfers
say they would be glad to use broad
tires if everyone else was compelled
to do so.
This is the key to the situation.
Make wrongdoing in this direction il
legal, at the same time show to the
wagon owner why it is directly pro-
fitable to him to comply with the
law. Dix you ever notice how will
lingly man becomes law-ablding
citizen when be can make money by
it? The money now expended for
roads would come very near making
them good roads if it were not for the
constant abuse inflicted by narrow
tires. But do not believe it posi-
BILE to ever raise money enough to
keep the roads where they should be
until the tire question is settled by
law, and any such law which was to
take effect two Tor even one) years
after its passage could not be hard
ship to anybody. Roads.
Fault-Finding With Your Children,