The record-union., 1899-04-16


icate paths along county roads for the
use of pedestrians and riders of vehi-
cles propelled by the power of the rid
er; to designate and protect such paths
by posts, and to grade and prepare them
for USE The Act specifies how the
cost shall be met and out of what funds
the money shall be paid. Under that
law Sacramento County is now acting
in laying out and constructing path
along main highways.
But our contemporaries must not
mistake the true purpose of such paths
Really they are less for the use of bicy.-
clists than for pedestrians and for the
betterment of rural conditions. The
Record Union" favored the passage of
the law referred to in 1897 chiefly for
the latter reasons. There is neither
sense, economy nor decency in the sys-
| tenn that compels the wife and children
of the ruralist to take to the dust or
| mud of the middle of the road or the
| cookie burrs and weeds of the fence
| line when walking to church, school or
| a neighbors.
| There is no reason under the sun
why roads should not be provided with
side paths corresponding to the walk
ways of streets in cities. The absence
of them condemns rural life to enforced
and unwelcome exclusiveness. 1t re-
suits in rural living being made more
| undesirable, and in increasing the vol
| ume of the tide that sets towards town
life, tide that many thinking people
are studying for the discovery of means
to check and reduce it.
Inquiry into the subject of legislation
in this direction discloses that in New
York as here, the chief motive behind
path legislation has been and is that we
have indicated-rural betterment, more
Kentucky the side path was made O.
part of the economy Of road construc-
ton before the advent of the outing
cyclist. However, this is to be said,
that the wheelmen have been exceed
ingly active and helpful in promoting
side path dedication and construction,
and as it is found that their use of the
paths does not interfere with the use
of them by pedestrians, the two are in
happy union Of sentiment upon the
subject
| The matter is one Of very much more
| Importance than at first blush appears
and in many thickly settled commune
| ties it is now the subject of livelies.
concern. 1t is probable that in a very
| few years more no one will think of
constructing rural road without its
sidewalk, any more than twenty years
ago no one thought of such thing as
country sidewalk. The old rule and
practice Of "all road and gutter" is
giving way to the better one of road,
! gutter and side path The effect Of
the new thought is evident in this
circumstance before US of an entire
rural community, every resident ard
property owner upon a chief highway
Of the county, filing a petition wish
under the law of 1897, and construct
a side path along the road for the con-
venience Of the people who wish to
walk into the city, for the use of chill
dren. who attend the schools on the
road, and for the comfort of the rura!
dwellers in passing to and fro in visi-
tations among themselves and as we'll
for swift passage upon cycles. For
there are few country homes now which
do not to some extent employ the bicy-
Gle as means of passage The more
side paths there are on country roads
the better Will be the conditions of
rural life and the better for the hived
town residents who desire to OCCASION
ally get into the free realm and uncon-
taminated atmosphere of the country,
either afoot or aWheel