The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-09-02

| more interested in them than any other on
class of persons. They are more benefited b.
good roads and more hinder, d by bad ones.
2 farmer, because he is Il farmer, does not neces
: sarily know nothing about how road shoul
be made. | know one piece OF road that wa
= made by1armcrs which is all right. or has bee
/ up to now, when the persons i'll charge of tn
| road are allowing it to be injured by pile q
l stone thrown at the road side, which is huldin
i the water and will soften the pike if not remoy
4 | ed. That is right in front of Mt Zion churcl
! | If | had the authority | would go and NOV
! those stones. A man can hardly afford to de-
! vote himself exclusively to making and mend
) ing roads, because there is not enough i'll it, :
, it looks like we would have to depend Oh tn
J farmers for while yet.
, J. X. Street, don't profess to be Il road
;; mender, although have done some Of it. Ibe
=; lieve the farmer has not the time to properl
} look after the roads, and it is better to Civ
;; them to a man who will attend to them at a
! times. The roads need constant watching
, Would it not be good plan if every voter wa
taxed so much, the proceeds Of the tax to b.
devoted to the improvement of our roads?
, E. p. Moores-One thing noticed about tn
road made by Mr.. Harrison, it is firm, hedv!
load leaves no mark on it. Also, there is NJ
water standing on the dirt road where he pu
. the ditch in. / think more dtching could b.
done and save piking.
Frank L. GorreiI-My experience in road
mending has been confined to the work don,
on Main street, in Bel Air, and | came to the
conclusion didn't know much about it.
John 6. Rouse have been very much inter
| ested in this discussion. Can not some plan bC
| formulated for presentation to the County
Commissioners looking to Il permanent ad
vancement in the method of conducting the
work done on the roads? This would be good
time and place to inaugurate move of thai
kind. 1t would have good deal of weight
coming from this Club.
Thomas II. Robnson-I have very decided
view on that subject, and was recently talking
| with one of the County Commissioners, and he
was satisfied there was another member of the
/ Board who, with himself, was willing to take
| some action looking to an improved plan for
| road work, if there were some reputable people
| who would make a move that way.
| Mr.. Rouse-I don't think there is anybody
| better calculated to do that than this Farmers
| Club.
Mr.. John Moores-It is now all in the hands
| of the County Commissioners; we have plenty
of legislation.
| Mr.. Rouse-They don't do anything; they keep
| right on as they always have.
Mr.. Moores-They did try several years ago;
think they ought TO keep that up.
Mr.. ROuse-YOu have got to bring it before
| them in forcble way. something must be
done; it wont do just TO talk aboutit.
Mr.. MOores l 40 in there every two or three
! weeks and sass them.
Mr.. Rouse-I don't think we will even have
any better roads until we ma Ike some concerted
| movement.
| W. Beatty Harlan-This question might well
| be called al eternal question. think our Club
discusses it every year. There are some very
essential difficulties in the way of road improve
| ment; there isn't money enough to properly do
the work. There is no doubt that better results
could be obtained from the amount of money
| expended, but as said before there are diff
culties attending it, though believe some sys-
tematIc plan could be devised. l believe, with
Mr.. Rouse, that some concerted action is netes-
| sary. | believe there should be a halt called
| on the opening of new roads until those now
opened are put in better shape. / am not in
tending criticism of what is being done, bu:
| merely make that as a suggestion for the
future.
Mr.. Moores-I am now in favor of issuing
bonds for this work, though formerly | was not
/ will give five hundred dollars towards making
IL road from here to Bel Air, If MIR. Harrison
will come to supervise it.
w. b. Hopkins-I think our roads are about
as bad as have seen them in twenty years,
and am sorry to see that the Commissioners
are drifting back to the old system of letting
out the roads
S. A. Williams The subject of public roads
is always an interesting one. Along with the
question of public schools it is probably the one
in which the masses of our people are most in
terested. The amount of money now Raised by
taxation in Hartford county, think, is some
thing like one hundred and five thousand
dollars. OF this fifty thousand is expended for
schools, twenty thousand for road main
tenance, and the other thirty thousand is dis
tributed Tor other purposes. ] think | am
stating the figures approximately correct. The
present high standard of our schools has been
obtained because the people demanded it; the
same will be true of the roads. When the people
are aroused and they demand that the roads
shall be put in condition to meet the advanced
conditions, then we shall see that improvement
brought about. Since the administration of
school affairs have been put in the bands or Il
competent examiner, the Commissioners have
been relieved of u great bulk of that work, so
that now the greater part of their duties con-
siSt of looking after he roads | do not see
why, under Board of three Commissioners
and an annual expenditure of something like
thirty thousand dollars, we cannot have the
roads administered as the p; pie demand. l do
not mean to say that we could get large
number of stone roads, we could get some; but
| do believe we could get almost double the re-
suits we getting from that money. The
people do not object to seeing the money eX-
pended, if it is expended iudiciously and proper
results obtained, and this is what they will de-
mand when they are thoroughly aroused.
do not overlook the great improvements in the
roads during the last twenty-five or thirty
years, but when we compare the results ac-
complished with the amount of money eXpend-
ed, it is Il cause for surprise. There are now
some hopeful signs OF Improvement. | think
the work done by Mr.. Harrison here and in
Baltimore county will be productive of good
results. He has demonstrated that stone roads
can be made with great economy, and that the
depth of stone required is not so lar!e as we
had formerly been accustomed to think. He
has EN- phasized the value of bitches to the dirt
roads, and the way in which stone roads can be
| better built by preparing the road-be and put
ing ON IL covering of well solted stone, i'll the
| case of stone roads, thereby atfording not on.y
Il smoother surface for veh cles but atfording a
much better protection to the road-bed l
think the benefits of this object lesson will be
seen in the better results obtained in the future.
| think another sign of improvement is the in
terest being taken in the subject of road in
curry by those in charge of the Geological Sur
vey under the State government. The careful
investigation into the subject of the expendi-
ture for roads and the materials used in making
them by men of the class who compose that
commission cannot fail to be productive of
| good results. Another thing which should not
| be overlooked 10 the interest shown in the Or
ganzatlon of road leagues, who are looking
after a number of the roads and trying TO get
| the work done to the best advantage. They at
| tempt to have the roads in the hands of men
who will give them proper attention. do not
believe that as a general principle, the roads
should not be put in the hands of farmers, but
think only those should be put in charge of
| the roads who will attend to them. We have
| had some difficulty in the league that know
something about, in. getting the right men.
Sometimes we would have d man who gave
good results i'll every way excepting that the
council might think that he was expanding too
much time in mending a certain piece of road
and in order to try to remedy that fault,another
man would be tried. / do not care to mention
names in this matter, it is only for the purpose
| of illustration. We have been through consid-
cradle experience in the road league, and
think as Il result the council are disposed to let
| the man have the road who will attend to it and
| put his time on it when the work is most need
| ed 1t is really necessary 10 have some one to
| look around and see what is being done and
what is to be done, and think the County