Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-12-15
WORKING THE ROADS.
The Present System of Highway Repair
ing Is Labor Thrown Away.

The Present System of Highway Repair
ing Is Labor Thrown Away.
AS general thing, the country roads
On this continent have been SO badly To-
Gated that to build costly pavements
upon the present lines and previously
provide elaborate systems Of drainage
would be a dreadful waste of money.
AS it is ordinarily beyond the means of
country people to do more than improve
the present condition of their roads, this
is the task that they should undertake
rs soon as possible.
In beginning such task, the first step
to be taken, in my opinion, is to stop do
ing that which has generally been the
custom of this country-that is, work
ing the roads. Working the roads, as it
is usually practiced in this country, con-
sists in calling out in each road district
gang Of men who work out" their
road tax under an overseer elected by
the people. The labor done is worse
than thrown away, for it is rare indeed
for either the overseer or the men under
him to have any clear comprehension Of
what is needed.
Fortunately for the well being of our
roads, these men do not work very hard,
but rather choose to regard the few days
on the road as kind of holiday outing,
a picnic frolic, and a means of getting
rid of certain amount of tax. If they
really worked with all their might, they
would make the roads almost as impass-
able in the summer as they now are in
the winter and early spring. With some
kind of glimmering idea that bitches
they pillow up these bitches, together
with the sod that grows down into them,
and pile all of this muck in the middle
of the road.
This material, it may be said, has
most excellent fertilizing value, and if it
were put upon the fields instead Of in the
roads it would amply repay the farmers
who carted it away. But in the roads
it is a sad and an immediate hindrance to
travel. Luckily the friendly spring
rains usually wash it back into the
bitches, where it stays until there is
some more tax to be worked out"
When these rains are not sufficient to
wash away these impediments that have
been deliberately placed in the roads,
the consequences are very dusty roads
during all the dry season.
In some neighborhoods a little more
ambitious than those generally to be
found they mend the roads by placing
gravel and broken stone upon them.
Then the overseers say that they are
macadamizing the roads. Without
thoroughly draining the roadbed, to put
either broken stone or gravel upon it is
merely waste Of money and labor, and
the ambitious neighborhoods so doing
prove in the end no wiser than those who
cover their roads with muck. But it is
within the means of every neighbor-
hood in the United States to materially
improve their roads at once-improve
them so much that where the traffic is
not extremely heavy and continuous the
roads will be in tolerable order nine
months in the year and very much bet
ter than at present, even when the frost
is coming out Of the ground at the be-
ginning of spring. And this can be done
in three Or four or five years without
spending one penny more than is now
spent in the hurtful methods mentioned.
-Harper's Weekly.