The record-union., 1893-05-16
A COMING CONVENTION.

The preliminary steps have been taken
for the calling of State Good Road Con-
vention to be held in this city the coming
summer; and the call will soon issue. 1t
is well that this has been planned. The
subject is one of first Importance. In the
most of the counties OF this State road
administration is almost entire waste of
the peoples money. Practically seventy
cents Of every dollar put upon our roads
IS lost, giving US at the best but tempo
rary benefits.
In one instance within our knowledge
in this county, a road line administered
under the new law has been ruined, be-
cause the authority over it knows so little
Of road building. He has plowed up the
roadway, scraped the loose earth into a
huge longitudinal mound, and left US a
dirt road with such an arch that it is alb
solutely unsafe to drive upon. When the
rains come it will be pyramid of mud,
and next spring he will repeat the plow-
ing, scraping and arching up plan, and
thus the road money of the district will
be wasted.
Nearly all of our roads are crowned too
high; they are nearly all too broad the
so-called graveling of most of them is a
deceit; they are so full of distractions to
free revolution of wheels that full thirty
per cent. of power exerted in hauling is
lost, with not less than fifty per cent. of
time wasted, when compared with the
advantages of the smooth, well-made,
hat and properly drained road.
In the movement OF products, the seek
ing of markets, the time of the farmer
expended unnecessarily, the useless loss
in wear and tear lof vhicles and horse
flesh and the loss in feed, exclusive of all
other things, we estimate the loss to Cali
fornia rural residents to be not less than
100000 per annum by reason of bad
roads. That is to say, with 100000 ex-
pended in making good roads in this
State, the entire sum could be saved to the
people in a single year. If this is deemed
an extravagant statement, our reply is
that apparently conservative estimates
justify it.
Massachusetts has just put into force a
law requiring that all wagons to be used
in that State hereafter of new construc-
ton. and all old wagons within three
years must have, tires of three inches in
width, if more than 1,S0O and less than
5000 pounds constitutes the load. If the
load exceeds 5000 and is less than 5000
pounds, the tire must be four inchess in
width, and for all loads in excess of g.
600 pounds six-inch tires must be used.
For two-wheeled vehicles, and those of
any kind hung on springs, where the
load is over 5000 pounds, the tires must
be five inches.
In one county in our State wide tire
ordinance has just been passed, but we
doubt seriously, if without legislative
sanction of wider scope than now exists,
such an ordinance can be enforced. In
one European country and in one State
of this Union, it is now forbidden to use
wagons the wheels of which ''track";
thus, with wide tires on good roads the
four wheels practically amount to a set of
broad rollers constantly dressing and
of cutting it UP by the tracking pro-
cess.
When the convention to meet in this
city is called, there should be invited to
attend upon it two or three of the most
practical and broadly experienced road
builders of the East. What we need in
California is the road education the East
ern people are getting. We may be able
10 apply but a little of it, since conditions
are so many and inharmonious in this
state of great distances and of mountain
and valley.
Really what we need most is local self
government in this matter of roads. road
government closer to the people than un-
der the present law. Each county ought
10 be given perfect freedom to build roads
as and how it pleases, and as local con-
ditions demand, and to provide such
supervision as it chooses. We can trust
TO the spirit of economy, the stimulus OF
emulation, and the desire for gain, re-
sulting in the best systems being intro
duced under such local control.