Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-06-24
Roads. Water. Tires. Ruts and Mud.


The proposed automobile race be-
tween an American and a French ma
chine has brought the attention of the
public to the wretched condition of
American roads. The French auto
mobile has shown an average speed Of
30 miles an hour for a long distance,
while the best the American machine
has been capable Of is a little over 16
niles. The difference is ascribed solely
to the bad roads over which the Ameri-
can machine was compelled to travel.
Referring to this. Chairman Otto Dor
1er, of the l.. A. w. Highway Improve
ment Committee, speaks of one of the
causes for the miserable highways
He says:
Next to water, the greatest enemy
If good roads-yes, of all roads-is the
1arrow-ti tired wagon. Narrow tires
and water, acting together, have given
our country roads a third dimension.
They are not only 50 many miles long
| ana so many rods wide but they are
deep-so deep, alas, at times that
travel over. or rather, through them. is
| next to impossible.
"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
| he weight of the load and the width
| of the tires. The rut formed by the
| passing wagon forms a 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. ana 50 the work Of demoraliz-
alton ana destruction continues.
| A wide tire, on the other had, in
| stead of forming a irut, will roll ani
| harden the road surfhce By the use Of
| wide tires. every loaded wagon can b.
| turned into an effective road roller ana
| made TO improve the roadway instead
| of helping to destroy it. All that -
| necessary to make the best road in the
| world is to make 1T solid ana ~ give
it a hard. smooth surface. Nothing 80
| much tends 10 accomplish this as the
frequent use Of road rollers. Wild.
tires are road rollers. and therefore
| road makers. Narrow tires are road
| destroyers. If wide tires could br
| adopted for general use, every loaded
| wagon, which today helps 10 cut up
| and destroy country roads. would be-
come an active factor in their i'm
provement
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 tht
Missouri Agricultural Experiment Sta
| ton. who has made Very extensive
| tests on the subject, characterized IS
pacially by their scientific accuracy,
declares that six inches is thr best
| width Of tire for a combination farm
ana road wagon ana that large NUM-
her of tests show. without single -X-
ception, difference In draft iu favor
of the broad tires ranging all the way
from l. To loo per cent.
The principle Of wide tires is 50
generally Acknowledged In Europe that
laws have been passed In each country
prescribing their use Austria requires
tires Of at least 4 IL inches width, in
creasing as the load to be carried ex-
ceeds 2i2 tons. In France all freight
ing ana market wagons are turned into
road rollers BY being required to have
tires from 3 to 10 inches wide. Ger
many requires 4-inch tires for all
wagons used for heavy loads and
Switzerland requires that they shall he
provided with tires of six inches. Thes-
regulations have been adopted far TIL"
protection Of the high-class European
roads built during the present century.
Now that the adoption of state aid
has solved thr financial problem con
noctri with road Improvement In the
United States. care should bc taken
that the roads We build are not de-
stroyrI by narrow tires. Country dis
trictS receiving financial aid for road
purposes uut of the state treasury
should 90 Ill lin their power tn en-
courage the use Of wide tires. This
has been accomplished in some places
by cXempting all wide-tired vehicles
from taxation"