The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-17

I
along the lines of railroads. and water
communication. The farmer can not re-
move his plant. which Is his farm. and
the only way he can improve his condi-
ton Is by improving the roads. But the
farmer does not consider 1t OF much couse-
quence. He considers that he already has
his horses and wagons. There Is the
trouble. the farmers get into said Gem
eral Harrison They do not reckon on
| their expenses close enough. They think
that because they have these things Il
makes no difference"
To Illustrate his story General Harrison
told the story of the boy who, when told
that he would ruin his hat. replied that
that didn't any difference as his father
wes a storekeeper, and he said that farm
ers reckon their business that way. Stats
| ties gathered by the census UP to 1895 and
| by the usual averages since then. show
the tons of products hauled by animal
| power that had TO be shipped away ex-
| ceedcd 3oo,00o.000 tons In round numbers
This Is big country and we ship a
great deal OF stun that Is con-
| stunned largely here in~ethis country
but we are sending that abroad When
We multiply that BY three We get al tho
cost of this haul Three hund ed million
tons multiplied by SO makes 5000 900, 900
| Why 1t is enormous, Well. don't any Of
I
100000 1t don't take long to say It, but
we are giving the facts lust as you gave
them TO us. We found that hy sending
| inquiries around the country where they
have these improved roads--in Kentucky,
| Ohio. Pennsylvania, New York and New
Jersey--that the average cost was cents
a mile. II Is less in New Jersey. but we
VIII say that 1t Is cents. That is
saving. There is difference between %
and s, say two-thirds. Two-thirds of 500
100000 is s6o,oooo0o. which we are saw
ing annually. That is about the cost of the
National and State government in time OF
peace which could be saved IL we had
iairly good roads. That is something for
you to think about. That is the govern
ment's work If It can to save the farm
ers every part OF II. You say it would
take too long. It could not be done in
day. Rome was not built In a day. No
brave man would give up an undertaking
because IT would take too long. 1t Is won
derful how this good roads movement has
heen spread over the United States Hardly
State was organized, and but few COM
munities had good roads. Some had had
the turnpike system, raising money among
themselves to build them. We can now
count the good roads by thousands and
thousands of miles.
He entered into description OF the
rocks, gravel and sands which he had
found in this State, and demonstrated their
fitness or unftness for use In improving
country thoroughfares. The fact that "lt
took work, and plenty of II. to make good
read was emphasized. The speaker de-
clared that he had visited thirty-three
States and he had yet to find place where
there was more and better material for
road building than in Texas. The abund-
ance of splendid gravel should be utilized
The stones should never be over an inch
in diameter II was better if they were
only three quarters of an inch in size.
An ordinary prairie road in the black
land district was as good as any road as
long as it was dry. Wheh<it was soaked
with water. il was awful" ~Therefore, the
most important duty was to keep the road
bed dry at all times, and for this purpose
nothing was better than q roof. II cost too
much to erect roof overhead. so that the
best way was to put an artificial covering
on the road itself. The top dirt on the
read should be thrown away. The surface
SHOULD be smoothed with y harrow and
then rolled with a heavy roller and" he
added don't be afraid OF rolling it too
much. either" He urged that the roadbcd
be builtup in rounding shape When ii
had been raised to proper heigh. the
work of laying on the gravel should begin.
Two Or three inches at first and then AM
inch more in year OF two would he suf
ficient. The gravel should be rolled Tho
heavier the roller the better. The sur
face should be made as compact as pos
sible. RIM the water on the ruadped
and nobody would want better highway
than you will have" he concluded
In conclusion General Harrison cx-
planned very fully the best methods OF
draining roads with earthen thing.
Mr.. Pastoriza asked General Harrison
something about the increased value OF .
accruing from good roads.
General Harrison said that good roads
so directly benefited abutting property
that in many States those most directly
benefited people socially by affordng them
tain good reads and generally were glad
to pay the assessment. Good roads were
not only of financial benefit, but they
beenfited people socially by aifording them
better opportunities to mngle together;
they We're also a great adjunct to good
schools, and were of great advantage in
the way of postal delivery. There were
simply the collateral advantages all OF
which he could not discuss, as his time
was limited and he was forced to devote
most of his time TO road cons tructon. He
invited the audience to witness the object
lesson of road building to be made in the
afternoon on Capitol avenue.
Upon the conclusion Of General Harri-
sons speech, Miss Harder suggested that
a district secretary be selected and after
some discussion OF this matter the selec-
ton of secretary was left TO the district
chairman, Judge Vasmer.
~
A delegate from Wharton county said
that his county was thoroughly interested
in the subject of good roads. lie was
one of the county commissioners and had
built lot of good dirt roads 10 Wharton
county, about sixteen miles. with road
grader, at a cost of about $50 per miie.
Mr.. r. c.. Crawford suggested as name
for this district association that it he
called THE South Texas Good Roads ana
Public Improvement association This
suggestion was adopted.
j. was suggested that the district chair
man name the chairmen of the different
counties in the district not represented In
this convention.
Judge Vasmer objected TO this ana
thought that each county should, select lis
,wn chairman.
Chairman Cavi.t suggested that tlfa
county commissioners of the respective