The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-05-23
tAOOo . L iiiS family cathartic. 2oc.

In some OF these towns the average
amount of money intrusted to the indi-
vidual highway surveyor, for the repair
OF several miles Of road in his particular
district, does not exceed s45, at times,
and it Is absolutely impossible for
any such official to make any perma-
nent improvements, or even to make any
repairs which are durable, or will last be-
yond the next summer shower. All that
he can do is to annually scrape back into
the road the soil, which, by the action OF
the past years storms, has been washed
out into the cutters, and leave 1t
there to be washed out again, prepara-
tory to being put back by him in the
following year. This state OF things
is certainly bad enough, but even worse
is the condition in towns where, instead
OF appropriating O money tax, the indi-
vldual taxpayers are allowed to work out
the proportion Of the assessment which 1t
falls their lot to pay, by giving their own
services, and that OF their teams in max
ing such repairs. While the highway
surveyor is ostensibly in command of the
taxpayers when they assemble for that
purpose, practically the organization
which is gathered to repair the highways
is like that famous reg giment suggested by
Artemus Ward, where every man was
brigad ier- general, and nobody else could
order him around, and the result Of
their labors is what might bo ex-
pected. No surveyor can be expected to
insist upon fair days work from his
eighbors, when he may depend upon
their influence for securing his re- election
at the next annual meeting. Therefore,
in addition to a faulty method of expend-
ing the taxes, the town does not get Same
amount of work each day from the indi-
viduals, which IL would IL they were hired
and paid by the day. As rule,
a highway surveyor under the present
system does not continue in Office long
enough to become skilled even In the
primitive methods Of repairing In vogue
In such towns, and of course can not lay
out the money and labor entrusted to him
to as good advantage as could be done
by an employer hired by the town
council for his fitness for the work and
having sufficient money at his disposal
to make repairs on larger scale.
Such system will not do for a progress
sive age. Concentrated effort only will
produce good results, and there must be a
very radical change In the method of
building and repairing the highways in
such towns, II the good roads which are
clsmored for so largely by the people of
these very towns, are to be had; other
wise there Is no hope OF improvement.
The third cause which the committee
desire to call attention to is the improper
use Of highways. At the many hearings
held by tho commission the speakers
were eloquent with reference to the char
acter OF the highways in existence in
England and in France and other coun-
tries on the Continent. To say nothing
OF the fact that in these countries money
has been expended for hundreds Of years
for permanent construction and repair,
and that in all OF them the highways are
not subject to climatic changes which
exist In this country, and which, by tho
action of frost and heat, alternately freeze
and bake our highways, throw them out
of grade and destroy their permanent
character, in these countries the laws re-
quire upon all vehicles using the highways
tires of q width adequate for the load
which they bear. In this State no such
law exists. The width of the tires is left
to the will OF the owner OF the vehicle,
who, probably, has never given the sub
ject q moments thought, and the tires
upon the wagons in use here are entirely
too narrow, probably because OF the
ignorance just mentioned, CONT bined with
q mistaken idea OF economy. The
heavy load OF stone, or of farm produce,
upon q wagon with On inch and a half tire,
and his neighbor does the same, and daily
they drive over the highways Of their
town, the wheels soon making ruts from
two to four inches deep, and in the
spring burying themselves in the mud
nearly to the hub. Because 1t Is easier To
allow the team to travel in the foot path,
and the wheels to run in the ruts, than
It is to properly guide the animals, they
go along day after day, each man increas-
ing the damage to the road which his
neig Ii bors before him have already started.
Any macadamizod road, or even a cast
iron road, will not stand such usage
without being rutted and worn out, and
II good roads are TO constructed some
means must be taken TO insure their
proper use after they are constructed, or
the money laid out on them will be simply
wasted.
Tho best State aid 10 good highways
that could be devised would be to pay for
signs forty rods apart, from which the
words "Do not drive in the ruts" would
stare every man in the face, and II this
advice were followed, and tires OF proper
width used, even the present poor high
ways would very soon become good roads,
for, in this way, vehicles which are now
destroying them would soon become the
means for their repair. The trouble Is