The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1898-06-25
GOOD ROADS NOTES.
Economical Road Improvement.

I'LL Woo PoAu W OuptoiA 1iOWAO,
one of the delegates to the Virginia
Good Roads convention in 1894. In
the course of some remarks Captain
Browne said:
'The question of good roads comes
home to me with great force, for
have in Northampton County good
dirt roads to haul over, and in another
county bad dirt roads. I put four
carts, each one with mule to it, on
the scales, and the loads which were
hauled over the Northampton roads
averaged 2466 pounds; in the other
county, 800 pounds is the universal
load in delivering produce. In North
ampton the tax for road purposes is ten
cents on the 800, and in the other
county, where the roads are bad, it is
twenty cents on 500 worth Of prop
erty. This difference is owing to the
adoption of improved methods, which
reduce cost and give much advan-
tage."
Captain Brownies description of the
road equipment in Northampton may
be of interest to Kentucky farmers
who are struggling with dirt roads.
The county, he said, owned one road
grader, plows, carts, hand implements,
six mules, one superintendent for the
whole county, who employed five la
borers and had q tent in which all
could shelter. The superintendent
was directed to begin the worst roads
first and to work in all parts of the
county. He began April 16 and by
September 80 had made seventeen
and one-half miles of good road,
though the force had been idle
twenty per cent. of the time owing to
the lack of teams. The highway
made cost only $55. II mile, but this
could be reduced half by the purchase
of four more mules. The monthly
expense was SITS. 10; the extra mules
would add $40 a month, but then
thirty-five miles could be made in
year. The whole outfit had cost ST.
O11.24. The farmers had been very
much pleased with the results and
would not now adopt different plan.
In time Captain Browne hoped they
would get to macadamized roads.
1t seems hardly worth while to be-
gin campaign for better dirt roads
when macadamized ones could be Sc
cured with little more effort. Still
every upward step counts. Communi-
ties which can not undertake extern
sive improvements might combine this
plan of working dirt roads with the
one adopted by Augusta County, Vir-
ginia. This county was not in debt.
and tho people there, as in great
many counties In Kentucky, were OPP
posed to any issue of bonds. The
Board of Supervisors hit upon con-
tractor who agreed to build the road
and take certain sum every year. II
took nearly year to build the road,
and he received his first. payment the
next year from the proceeds of tax
levy. The third year he was paid an
other part and the fourth year all
,, The county in the meantime had go'
sixteen miles of badly needed mac
adam, and the farmers had then beer
convinced Of the benefits of macadam
izing and were anxious to continue thu
work. Many men who had at first re
a. fused to contribute to the building o
the road then offered to come in ant
contribute to an extension. -Louisvill
Courier-Journal.
Touching State Aid.
When public highways first begal
/; to receive attention their care was dele
, gated TO those who lived along them
. presumably on the principle that the
9 were chiefly interested in having pas
}. sable roads. At later period, a
= towns and cities grew up, and trave
!. increased over the highways with tn
development of commerce and the in
/ terchange of commodities, the wea
d and tear became SO great that the bun
d den of keeping the main roads in re
q pair was too much to be borne by til
:, inhabitants of the rural districts.
9 Macaulay alluded to this fifty year
ago when he wrote his picturesque &C
] count of the condition Of England
q hundred and fifty years before. Eve
Il then. the inadequacy and injustice {
b the plan had become apparent, and
i. was gradually realized that chang
e must be made. Macaulay says of thi!
q Zone chief cause of the badness {
j. the roads seems to have been the d.
] fective state of the law. Every paris
u was bound to repair the highway
70 which passed through it. The pei
.. santry was forced to give gratuitor
70 labor six days in the year. If this We
not sufficient, hired labor was en-
D. ployed, and the expense was met by
10 parochial rate focal taxi.
sThat route connecting two gre
!, towns, which have q large and thri
le ing trade with each other should
Q maintained at the cost Of the rur
t. population scattered between them,
% obviously unjust; and this injusti'
Of was peculiarly glaring in the case
ID the great North Road, which traverse
es very poor and thinly inhabited di
ne tricts, AMI joined very rich and pop
b. lous districts. Indeed it was not
e the power Of the parishes OF Huntin
Of donshire to mend highway worn
the constant traffic between the We
Riding of Yorkshire and London.
nThis might be mistaken for refe
D. ence to American roads and metho'
o. of to-day. Every year the tenden
nd TO use the public highways for tray
&. and pleasure becomes greater, VIII