Mexico weekly ledger., 1893-08-31

L
that it will amount to anything.
| LORENZO GROUSE.
| OMAHA, Neb., Aug. IS.
| Good Roads.
To the Editor of the Ledger.
CANT, Mo-, August "a, 1893
No man will deny that good roads
are blessing and bad ones a curse
to any community. 1t is so any,
way. Many have written before us
in general way, not very many in
detail. Good hints have been given.
Some people wont take hints SO
We shall have to give a few kicks.
The first thing is to elect a good
overseer. Herein lies the secret of
success. He should be a hustler,
man who is not lazy, for lazy
man is not fit even to boss. He
should be at the place to begin work
at 7 O'Clock a. m. and quit exactly
at IL m. for dinner. Begin work
again at 1:3O p. m. exactly and
quit at $50 in the evening, and re-
quire every man to do the same.
Dock him for time that he is absent
in the morning and at noon, or if
he wants to quit at 4, 5 or 6 O'Clock
because threshers are coming"
"the hogs are in the corn" or on ac
count of anything else. Why should
he get pay for time he did not work
and good citizens put in full time
and get just the same as the fellow
who works one-half the time? Ii
it takes six days to put in three
make them work that long. They
will soon learn to be on time and
willing to work until time is up. II
an overseer gets a man to furnish
plank or timber of any kind for
bridges and culverts, if it is not long
enough or very crooked or rotten,
or If he handles a certain kind OF
elm or Eastwood, poplar or pawpaw,
or any kind of wood not worth put
ting in, just let it lie and tell him to
haul it home for wood, that you have
no right to cheat the people SO and
cannot and will not pay him one
cent for it. This will put an end to
such highway robbery. For it is
truly robbing the highway and the
people. The best plan is to work
whenever you can in May and June
The roads will get solid then before
winter. At all events the plowine
should be done then and re-plowed
when you grade. Now, for culverts
and bridges, for tile will not do
where there is much water to carry
off, neither will a box; however, il
you do put in either, let them dowr
into the ground or else grade W
about one foot above the top after
laying on plank or straight poles tt
keep the wheels from breaking then
in. The culverts and bridges should
then be made entirely out of some
solid, well-lasting timber, such al
white oak, burr oak, red elm o.
black walnut. Don't let any and
every fellow monkey with it, but lie
the man who can do it best do thu
part that he can do best. Hav,
enough men to work to advantage
and don't let some stand arount
while others are making the bridge
and those that did the wood worl
be idle while others plow and scrape
, Have some plating while others ar
i. framing and others taking out tn
, old bridge. Keep every one at W orl
, until he or his team get too warm
If he don't like it just plainly tel
him he can 60 home and pay hi
poll tax in money and hire anothe
to work in his place who Will work
. There are plenty of men who woul'
like to work at this time Of the yea
at 50 per day and do a good homes
!, days work. The grade up to th
, bridge should be about six to eigh
y inches higher than the plank, s
S that when the dirt settles it will b
at least as high as the bridge Ii
. There should be good plank or pole
e on each side to keep the dirt frol
b washing off. The men who haul
d a few scrapers full of dirt and the
not even pretend to level it down
that a man goes bump, bump, ,buml
(nearly out, at least for 5 to
= inches up and down) as he driv'
- over such a road, and if anythir
= but putting up stove pipe will NAL
l. him swear, that will. ANY man,
II set Of men, who pretend to be eli
u zens and do such things as that al
y such job as somebody did gradir
,r on the road from James Cox g towa
the Centralia road in northeastel
Boone county ought to be indictt
before the Grand Jury. These tv
70 classes of men are damaging Il
1 roads by making such humps al
leaving holes for water TO stand
and when the rains descend Al