The record-union., 1895-02-19
A TOY AND A REVOLUTION.
Thoughtful Expressions Concernin
Roads and Road Metal.

A TOY AND A REV OLUTION.
Thoughtful Expressions Concerning
Roads and Road Metal.
From the San Francisco Argonaut.
| a toy has wrought a revolution in this
country. The agitation in favor Of good
roads, begun by The bicycle manufactur-
ers some years ago, and taken up aud
given force by the riders, has at length
reached the masses OF the people. Those
| who use the roads for pleasure have
aroused those who use them for business,
and these latter have come to realize how
much OF their income is wasted annually
in carrying their produce TO the markets
| over poor roads. The GOOD Roads
| Convention" held in Sacramento last
week aroused marked and general IN
| tereSt.
Its recommendations cover the three
| divisions OF the control, use and construc-
| ton OF roads. State control was rejected
| in favor of the existing plan of having
| the County Supervisors build and control
the roads OF the county. This is the'better
| plan for State where there is SO much
| territory to be covered as in California
| Placing the roads under State engineer
and overseers would be ineffective with
out creating very extensive and costly
machinery. The Supervisors are to be
empowered to employ competent road
1
trunk roads, with side-roads or feeders
running into them. The trunk roads are
| to be paid for by general county tax, the
| feeders by local assessment on the prop
! erty to be benefited. In regard TO the use
of the roads, the principal recommended
| ton is as to the width of tires on vehicles
carrying heavy loads.
The most important recommend alton
concerning the construction of roads was
that the State should crush rock at the
| Folsom Prison, using convict labor and
| the water power that now goes to waste
there and selling the crushed rock to the
several counties at nominal price.
| The proposition that the State should
crush rock at the Folsom Prison is an
excellent one. There is plenty OF Ia Dor
| there that can be thus employed without
| competing in anyway with outside labor:
the necessary water power is ready at
! hand, and from the neighboring cobble
and granite quarries the material can be
! obtained practically without cost. This
| crushed rock forms the best possible road
metal, and, when properly applied on
| suitable foundation, resistS the action
! of the winters rains and the grinding OF
| the heavy traffic in summer. From Fol-
som it can be distributed at q com para-
lively small cost. Barges can transport
it over the rivers and the bay and deliver
! it 10 at least sixteen counties; railroad
| transportation can make it available in
as many more. Railroad officials have
already minated that this material
would be carried by the railroads for the
cost OF carriage, and there is every reason
why they should SO carry it. With good
roads at least twice the present extent OF
| territory would become tributary TO the
railroads. and their business would be
| correspondence increased.
1t is true that the extreme northern
and southern counties would not share
! in the benefits of this enterprise. The
! cost OF tran DOrtatiOn would make the
| material too expensive for use on their
roads. But the plan is to be considered
! both for its utility and as a punitive
measure. The convict labor is there
| awaiting employment. The proposed
! plan would employ this prison labor on
work that is not now performed, and
would not be performed otherwise; two
! thirds OF the territory OF the State and
| three-quarters OF the population would
| be benefited.
Indeeu, the plan itself is only one of
! the many forces necessary in the produc-
! ton OF good roads. 1t is a curious result
/ of the general dependence upon railroads
! Tor transportation that there is not a
! really good road in the country that has
! been built and maintained by The general
| or local governments. The history of
| the best roads is that they were built bv
! private individuals or corporations, and
| maintained as toll roads until the chart
ers expired. They were then turned
over to the local authorities aud allowed
70 90 10 ruin. Other roads built at Duh-
lie expense, have had little more done
| TO them than 10 clear away treos and
underground, 10 pillow up the sides and
throw the loose earth into the middle,
In some cases rock or gravel has been
placed on this inadequate foundation,
ana the traffic passing over it grinds the
al
forming II into dust-heap in summer
and "a mud-hoie in winter. Over such a
road a team of horses cap drag less than
one hall The load they could haul over a
| good road, and the wear and tear on
horses, harness and vehicles shorteus
their lives Oue-half.
AS mas been frequently pointed out in
these columns, good roads can be OBJ
tanned for little more than the expense OF
The material, and the community other
! wise benefited at the same time The
tramp who makes tho roads his field for
idleness should be compelled to make
them bis field for labor. Those counties
that cannot share III the benefits of the
| Folsom scheme could, ut q small expense,
obtain crusherS operated by tramp hand
power, and thus obtain road foundations
and road metal as cheaply as the others
| IN all the counties the tramp could be
employed either in crushing rock or in
repairing the roads. This plan would not
eliminate the tramp problem wholly, bui
il would decrease The nuisance, while il
would enable the industrious To obtain
some return for the support it now gives
freely.
There may be no authority in law fol-
this employment of Migrants, and the
Legislature should enact a law prescrib-
ing enforced labor for persistent idleneSs
All tramps may not be vicious or abso.
luteIy criminal; but the mental habi
that looks upon the industrious portion
OF the community as source OF support
without labor Is not far from that which
looks upon theft and violence as heinous
only when followed by detection; The
tramp who is accustomed to obtain the
property OF others by deceit is not fal
from the criminal who obtains it by force
or theft. AS we have said. there NAV be
no present authority in law to set these
Migrants at work, but there is the au.
thOrity OF custom. The example Of
Fresno has been pointed TO in these col
unns. Three weeks ago San ose took
up the plan OF working lramps on the
streets. At the branch San francisco
jail the convicts are put TO work on the
roads in the southern parts Of the county
Every county i'll tho State can in thi!
manner obtain good roads, and at tht
same time make its tramps pay for thei1
grub" The rest OF us have to work To-
our "grub'-why should tho tranps b,
like the lilies of the field, who toll not
neither do they spin?
|
Lottery Games Rallied
Officers Fitzgerald and Rutherfort
raided TWO Chinese lottery joints las
night, and arrested the keepers On