Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-10-26
FRENCH HIGHWAYS.
BEAUTY AND UTILITY CONSIDERED IN
THEIR CONSTRUCTION.

tOrY kO0Q-A1m OF GOOQ tSO6uSs
Every one who has seen anything of
the roads of France has admired the
way they are constructed and the way
they are kept in repair. Not only are
the roads themselves thing of beauty,
but they seem to have been cut through
the most picturesque parts OF the coun-
try, through thick forests, woods, pas
lures green, cultivated fields and where
one can feast the eye with the acct
dental beauties of the horizon.
1.-TWO principal things must be looked
to in the construction of road, +" said
M. Delaplane, one of the principal
functionaries of the ministry of public
works, to correspondent of the Brook
lyn Eagle, "they are beauty and utili-
ty. Beauty is obtained by the plant
ing of trees ON each side, which, by
the way, has also its utility, and the
sight of a smooth, even road that winds
along like a golden ribbon through
green fields and woods, which brings
the comforting thought to a native that
his people are happy and prosperous,
that there is we'll being where the road
begins, where it ends and all along
where it serpentines its way. AS for
utility, it is hardly necessary to tell
you that road is built to be used and
that it's existence ought to be considered
only in SO far as it is practicable.
Americans, who are considered the
most practical of all people and who
know the value of money, do not need
to be told that anything made must be
made to be useful, useful for length of
time as we'll as for the present moment.
When erecting national edifices, for the
sake Of economy government must look
to durability. Government has no age.
1t cannot say like the flippant Louis
XIV, After us the deluge.' 1t cannot
say, Il am doing this for this genera
tion. 1t must act like a father who
looks forward to leaving his works to
his children and his grandchildren in a
perfect state, provided his descendants
respect his works sufficiently after
ward to keep them in good repair. 1t is
not enough to build. What is built
must be kept standing. That is the
principle that guides us for tho keeping
of our roads. We cut very few new
roads at present, and almost all of the
money allotted for that part Of the pub
lie works goes for repairs and mainte-
nance Of the roads, which are in better
order now than when they We're con-
structed."
It is we'll to remind Americans that
France has about as many square miles
as Ohio, and it is only fair to the coun-
try to compute the money spent on the
roads with the extent of its territory.
There are three kinds of roads in
France, the national, the departmental
and the rural roads. For political as
well as commercial considerations it
was Napoleon who began to look seri-
! ously into the condition of roads and to
appropriate large sums of money for
their construction and maintenance.
During Napoleon's time national
roads were divided into three classes.
The national treasury betrayed the ex-
pense for the first and second classes.
The third class was built and maintain
ed by the national and departmental
government and the departmental and
rural roads by the departments and the
communes. With small notifications
the same Napoleonio laws still exist.
After Napoleon time it was during
the reign Of Louis Philippe that special
attention was paid to tie building of
new roads and the voting Of yearly
| funds for repairs.
According to the accounts put on file
in the ministry Of public works there
was total of 3S, 900, 245 hlometers Of
national roads in France in 1897.
A kilometer is .62135 Of an American
mile. Only about one-eighteenth Of the
national roads are paved. The rest are
stone roads-chaussee empierrees.
The building of national road costs
100000 francs kilometer; 100000
francs is about 80, 900. The repairs and
overseeing cost 500 francs a kilometer
per year, about $160. The sum total of
repairs year is $1,000, wv ...iics,
about SO, 900, 900. The maintenance OF
the roads is by q special administration,
which has numerous ramifications. The
French concern themselves much with
details, small details. They are not to
be blamed for this. On the contrary,
they are to be praised, for it is only
with the observance of details that one
obtains good work. 1t is not only in
artistic things that details count, it is
in all kinds Of work.
Among the many volumes Of the ever
increasing encyclopedia Of public work.
there is one made up Of course Of
lectures upon the roads of France, de-
livered at the School of Public Works
by the inspector general, M. Durand
Claye. That volume contains precious
knowledge concerning the building and
maintenance of roads, nd in one part
the author says that the allowing re-
quisites are necessary to make a road
satisfactory:
A road must be smooth and the as
perities which are unavoidable must be
smoothed down as much as possible.
1t must be hard and elastic.
1t must have no holes or ruts.
1t must be constructed upon resist
ing noncompressible soil, in order not
to give way under heavy loads.
The materials which compose it must