The Opelousas courier., 1897-12-11
TO MAKE GOOD ROADS.
THE GOVERNMENT UNDERTAKES TO
TEACH THE ART,

-InSIfucLlOn IN tho GOVern-
ment's Methods of Road-Building.
Few persons know that the United
States government has begun to in
struct the citizens Of this country in
the art of road building. This is a
fact, however, and the first expert
ment Of the sort is being tried at New
Brunswick, q New Jersey town not
far from New York city, known to
fame as the seat of Rutgers college.
Not SO many months ago On appro-
priation was put through congress at
a rapid gait. The bill making the ap-
preparation provided ostensibly that
only in places where what are known
as the State experiment stations are
located, should the government show
the people how to bTld roads. It
seems, however, according to the De-
troit Free Press, that the ma' ~ -iC +:
rather loosely constructed, and SO It
happens that any place that goes
through the proper formula and I'M
winds sufficient yards Of red tape may
learn all about building the right sort
of roads according to government
ideas.
The experiments do not consist in
building the roads of an entire village
or town, but the men who have the
matter in charge select @ section Of
what seems to them the most convent
ent throughfare to illustrate the ideas
it hopes to impress upon that portion
of the American people that has to do
with the building Of highways. While
the bill making the appropriation
provides that the work shall be done
at government expense, there is q re-
servation in this regard which might
be overlooked by the enthusiast until
too late. It is this: That the gov
eminent shall furnish crushers, roll
] ers and carts, but that the township,
village or town or city shall furnish
the labor and material.
As a matter of fact, the idea is not
intended for the benefit of the city at
all. The promoters Of the plan be-
lieved that the cities should surely be
able to take care Of their own roads as
we'll as employ men who understand
thoroughly the art of building them.
It is the ordinary highway of subur-
ban civilization at which the bill is
aimed. No reasonable person expects
asphalt pavements in a wilderness, but
there is nothing unreasonable in think
ing that at least a road when made at
all should be made we'll. The COM
plant that has gone forth is that the
rural road-builder is not en- expert in
the art, and so the government is 60
ing to send men who know all about
it to teach him the knowledge that he
lacks.
With the aid that the government
furnishes the road-building expert
ment will prove no additional expense
to the communities where it is tried.
The material and the labor are usually
the cheapest elements in the matter Of
constructing roads. It is the first
class implement needed to bring the
highways to a moderate degree of per-
lection that costs money and makes
The taxpayers groan. In the super
atively rural community the roads are
generally made by the citizens them
selves and their ''hired men" This
is known as working out the highway
tax. Therefore the community itself
would receive no money in any event,
but simply the labor of the person
taxed or his representative, at the rate
of what is considered q fair compen-
sation for such tasks.
These facts were realized by the
wheelmen who were behind the move
ment that is giving practical results.
1t is, they claim, merely the diversion
of labor from work that had accom-
plished small good to work that will
accomplish great good. They hold
that there is no necessity of the deeply
rutted and the literally sluiced road
that one meets with so often outside
the village and sometimes inside It
is,>they say, likethe difference between
a man who knows how to sail a boat
and one who is making trouble for
himself. The n who does has q
very comfortable time of it.
There is q good roads department of
the department of agriculture. It is
this portion of the government that
has the road-building matter in charge.
Professor E. B. Voorhees, has charge
of the New Jersey state experiment
station in New Brunswick. He was
the first one to petition for the build
ing of a section of road by the gov
eminent. The matter was placed in
charge of E. B. Harrison, a special
agent of the good roads. department,
and he was sent to New Brunswick to
lay the matter before the municipal au-
thofities. New Brunswick people are
rather enterprising, though their num-
bers are small, and so Mr.. Harrison's
visit resulted just as Professor Voor-
hees has believed it would.
College avenue, the widest of New
Brunswick's thoroughfares, was Sc
lected as the place to try the expert
ment. The greatest interest is being
taken by not only the residents of New
Brunswick, but all the people who
live in the neighboring towns and
villages. The boys of Rutgers col
lege are also being instructed. Farm
ers' sons, the most of them, the
knowledge they will gain will be of
the greatest use to them and may and
probably will result in a far wider dis
semination of knowledge of what good
roads really are than could be accom-
plished in any other manner. New
Brunswick, in fact, is in one of the
most thickly populated sections of