The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-08-12
ROADS OF GERMANY.
Beautiful Highways Kept in Constant Re-
pair.

ClIiCINNN' III SOlllC PRIV lIlNOc
of Prussia, as in Silesia and in the
other eastern provinces, the 'schulze,"
Or village mayor, is strictly held re-
spOnsible for the good condition of all
the roads within his district except
the state or provincial ones, which
are under direct supervision of royal
officials The bitches alongside the
road, effecting efficient drainage, are
especially looked after, and must al
ways be kept free of all hindrances
and rubbish.
For the constant and immediate
repair of holes formed in the road and
other damages or deficiencies neat
pyramid heapes of stone of assorted
size, gravel siftings, clinIers, etc,
placed III regular rotation, are always
to be found along roadbeds, and a
number of laborers are always busy
with such mending, drawing for their
material on these supplies. These
never ceasing labors are strictly sup
ervised by a smaller corps of ''wege-
waerter'' and "chaussee aufaeher'',
in uniform and under official oath
These subalterns are again directed
and controlled by the higher officials,
the inspectors, directors and "chau-
ssee bauraethe,' or councillors ofroad
construction, many of whom wear
royal decorations ON their breasts.
But even the mere labOrers are usu-
ally hired by the year, and their pay
and the duration of their services are
made strictly dependent on their be-
haviOr.
Again, one main reason why the
building of roads of Germany is car
ried out honestly is the virtual alb
sence of temptation to do otherwise,
for not only are the laws in this re-
spect very strickland the legislation
ON the building and maintenance of
public highways dates back centuries
and is very voluminOus and explicit, so
that intentional fraud committed,
such, for example, as the use of ma
terial for another or the omission of
a certain part of the work (substruc-
ture, etc, is made punishable like any
other fraud-viz, by jail for three
months up and fine exceeding in
value by far the possible gain effected
by dishonest practises-but there is
a further fact rendering Illegal tricks
next to impossible, and that is the
careful and strict supervision of the
building process by the royal officials,
a supervision so minute that it virtu-
ally extends from day to day, hour to
hour, and at every point where CON
struction is going or.
And since this supervision is not
the task Of one man alone, but is car
ried on stage by stage by a regular
scale of oath bound officials land as to
honesty the strict and enforcement of
duty the Prussians and other German
officials may be backed against the
world), it will be seen that even the
most cunning and INSCRIPTIONS CON
tractor would have a very hard job
indeed to have slovenly or dishonest
work pass the series of argus eyed ex-
aminers.
There are three kinds of highways
the provincial. the kreis and the ge-
meindwege. The former two are
those whose building and mainten-
ance rest on the shoulders of the pro-
vincial or district representative
bodies. All the rest are Communal or
private roads. Among the latter the
larger part are built and kept up on
shares. In assessing taxes for roads
one principal adhered to throughout
is to lay these in exact proportion to
the greater or lesser benefit accruing,
adjacent property paying the largest
share.
For rural cOmmunes especially the
the burden of maintaining and keep
ing clean their roads, is in many local
tiles a heavy one. And these obliga-
tons are not confined either to their
own Communal roads, for the law
cOmpels the rural and municipal
cOmmunes to render in many and fire.
quent cases prompt unpaid help.
Thus, for instance, as to keeping the
highest grade of public highway, the
so called "kunststrassen' (artistic
roads, always in proper shape, the
royal commissioners are empowered
to call at any time for the aid of ad-
joining communes lin manual labor,
tools, vehicles, materiaD in putting
these roads instantly back into good
order wherever snow accumulations,
freshets, long rains or similar acct
dents of nature have temporarily rem
dered traffic on them difficult or i'm
possible.
Special regulations of other kinds
exist, anyway, as to the traffic upon
and maintenance of these 'kunsts-
stassen." For instance, it is forbid
den to use them for vehicles with pro-
truding wheel nails, defective wheels,
screws, spokes or otherwise objection