The Worthington advance., 1899-07-28
NARRoW-TIRED WAGONS.
They Are the Greatest Enemies o1
Good Roads Next to Surplus
Surface Water.

The proposed automobile race be-
tween an American and French ma
chine has brought the attention of the
public to the wretched condition of
American roads. The French automo-
bile has shown an average speed of 80
miles an hour for q long distance, while
the best the American machine has
been capable of is a little over 16 miles.
The difference is ascribed to the bad
roads over which the American machine
was compelled to travel. Referring to
this, Chairman Otto Dorner, of the L.
A. w. highway improvement commit
tee, speaks of one of the causes for the
miserable highways. He says:
"Next to water, the greatest enemy
of good roads-yes, of all roads-is the
narrow-tired wagon. Narrow tires and
water, acting together, have given our
country roads third dimension. They
are not only so many miles long and so
many rods wide, but they are deep-so
deep, alas, at times that travel over, or
rather, through them, is next to impos-
sible.
"a heavily loaded wagon always
leaves its tracks on the highway, and
the depth of these tracks depends upon
the material of which the road is built,
the weight of the load and the width of
the tires. The rut formed by the pass
ing wagon forms trough for the rain,
which, instead of running off to the
side, as it should do, remains to sink
into the roadway and soften it. The
next wagon, finding the ground softer,
digs its wheels deeper into the surface,
and so the work of Generalization and
destruction continues.
"A wide tire, on the other hand, in
stead of forming a rut, will roll and
harden the road surface. BY the use of
wide tires, every loaded wagon. can be
turned into an effective road roller and
made to improve the roadway instead
of helping to destroy it. All that is
necessary to make the best road in the
world is to make it solid and to give it a
hard, smooth surface. Nothing so much
tends to accomplish this as the frequent
use of road rollers. Wide tires are road
rollers, and therefore, road makers.
Narrow tires are road destroyers. If
wide tires could be adopted for general
use, every loaded wagon, which to-day
helps to cut up and destroy country
roads, would become an active factor
in their improvement.
"Experience has repeatedly proven
that hauling on wide tires requires less
tractive force than is needed for the
narrow-tired wagon under the same
conditions. Director Waters, of the
Missouri agricultural experiment sta
tion, who has made very extensive tests
on the subject, characterized especial
ly by their scientific accuracy, declares
that six inches is the best width of tire
for a combination farm and road wagon
and that large number of tests show,
without single exception, difference
in draft in favor of the broad tires
ranging all the way from II to 100 per
cent.
"The principle of wide tires is so gen.
orally acknowledged in Europe that
laws have been passed in each country
prescribing their use. Austria requires
tires of at least four and one-third
inches width, increasing as the load to
| be carried exceeds three and one-half
tons. In France all freighting and
market wagons are turned into road
rollers by being required to have tires
| from three to ten inches wide. Ger
many requires four-inch tires for all
wagons used for heavy loads, and Swift
zerland requires that they shall be pro-
vided with tires of six inches. These
regulations have been adopted for the
protection of the high-class European
roads built during the present century
Nov that the adoption of state aid
has solved the financial problem con-
nected with road improvement in the
United States, care should be taken that
the roads we build are not destroyed by
narrow tires. Country districts receiv-
ing financial aid for road purposes out
of the state treasury should do all in
their power to encourage the use of
wide tires. This has been accomplished
in some places by exempting all wide
| tired vehicles from taxation.''
SPLENDID WIRE REEL.