Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-07-20
NARROW-TIRED WAGONS.
They Are the Greatest Enemies Oh
Good Roads Next to Surplus
Surface Water.

| The proposed automobile race be-
/ tween an American and French ma
/ chime has brought the attention of the
| public to the wretched condition of
/ American roads. The French automo-
! bile 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 10 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
! fee, 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 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 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,
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
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 j
narrow-tired wagon under the same |
conditions. Director Waters, of the ]
Missouri agricultural experiment sta
ton. who has made very extensive tests !
on the subject, characterized especial !
" by their scientific accuracy, declares I.
that six inches is the best width of tire !
for a combination farm and road wagon !
and that a large number of tests show. !
without single exception, a 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 i
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. |
"Now 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"
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