Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-08-24
ROAD CONSTRUCTION.


To BE Successful. the Work Must Re
Piaced In Competent Hands.
The only way in which we can hope
to deal with the matter of our high
ways without disastrous laundering is
by securing men to guide the work who
have been well-trained for the task.
We are at present, as regards our COM
mon roads, in the position in which we
were when the rapid expansion OF our
railway system began, some fifty years
ago Then, as now. there were but q very
few engineers who had studied the art
of building the new ways, and were
thus fitted to train novices for the en-
ployment. A few of these masters in
the new art were retained in the
schools of engineering which began at
that time to be founded in this country.
In the course of two decades these
schools provided a corps of young men
who were competent to deal with the
business of railway building, aided by
the accumulated learning which could
be brought to bear ON the subject.
They were at graduation not masters OF
their art. but were SO far trained that
with a little practical experience they
could be trusted to attain to that sta
ton; such are indeed the uses of school
ing in the science and art of q subject;
man is thereby made ready to profit
from his apprenticeship in his chosen
work. At the present time our tech.
nical institutions provide even more
railway engineers than the vast system
of iron roads of this country can well
employ.
The need of men by training made
competent to take charge of our com,
mon roads is SO immediate and press
ing that our technical schools should at
once begin the task of educating them;
this they will doubtless at once pro-
coed to do, for our institutions of this
nature are quick and effective in their
endeavors to meet the economic needs
of this country. It is less than twenty
years since it became evident that there
was to be a new and important profess
sion, that of the electrical engineer; al
ready there are dozens of places in this
country where men can be admirably
fitted for this calling; not only the in
stitutions which have been esta blished
for the development of the mechanic
arts, but the older universities, such as
applied electricity to their resources,
and have provided the detailed instruc-
ton which the expert needs.
1t is a matter of much Importance
that the men who are to take charge Of
cur highways should have a broad
training. 1t may seem at first sight that
the railway engineer, because the work
he has to do is far more costly than our
common roads, should have a longer
preparation for his tasks than the road
master. The fact is, however, that the
apparently simpler employment de-
mands the broader preparation. It has
fallen to me, as dean of the scientific
school of Harvard university, to consid-
err in a careful way what the needs of
this preparation really are. Fortunate
ly for the inquiry, my services in the
Massachusetts, highway commission has
given the basis for judgment on this
point. The Investigations of that COM
mission have shown its members not
only the state of the roads in the COM
monwealth, but have very clearly re-
vealed the kind of knowledge and skill
which will be demanded of the men
who are to improve their condition. On
the basis of the knowledge thus OBJ
tanned the plan of the instruction for
those who are to be made ready for the
occupation of the road-builder is sub
stantially as follows:
There is q certain common founda-
ton of pure and applied m athematics
which has to be acquired by engineers,
whichever part of that great field of
knowledge they may intend to till;
whether they may propose to devote
themselves to railway construction, to
architecture, to mechanical engineer
ing, to sanitation, to applied electrici-
ty, or to the construction of highways,
much of the requirement is the same.
To this well-accepted educational foun-
dalton the road-master will need to add
special training in the following de-
partments: In field surveying he must
pay special attention to the art of de-
lineating the surface of country by
means of contour maps. These are
necessary as the first step in planning
or reconstructing a route. He must
know enough of geology to be able to
pass critical judgment on the char
acter of the materials with which he
has to deal. He must know the COM
moner rocks by sight and be informed
as to their properties; he must, more
over, know when to doubt his own
opinion and how to obtain correct
answer to such questions He must
know SO much at least of the chemistry
of the rocks as pertains to his needs -
Prof. n. S. Shaler, in Frank Leslie's
Weekly.
The Manuring of Roses.
Roses are heavy feeders and cannot