The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-02-08
He AaVocaIet The Building Of Cycle Paths In
All Parts Of the Country.
TYPES OF AUTOMOBILE CARRIAGES.
Described by Mr. r. 0. STANLEY Of Worcester - The
Benefits Derived From First Class State
Roads Explained BY Or. MsndeuhaN

The Goth annual meeting OF the Ma
tional Assembly of the l.. A. W.. was
begun i'm the lecture room OF the Y. M.
q. a. this morning. The opening ses-
sion was devoted TO GOOD Roads," and
considering the inclemency Of the
weather. the attendance other than
delegates was good.
President Isaac B. Potter of Boston
called the assembly TO order and spoke
informally for 20 minutes on the sub
ject of cycle paths. These, he said were
good roads for the bicyclist and there
fore every wheelman was justified i'm
asking for the building of the paths.
They could be built with equal advan-
tage To the public and TO the tourists.
While lay sums had been expended up
on the work and I'm New York 1900 miles
OF paths were built last year, most of
the 100000 wheels owned i'm the United
States could not be used for nearly one
half OF the year because of bad roads.
The farmers who had opposed the
good roads" movement in its earlier
days, no longer q so. realizing that
the wheelmen had spent $4,000 for
cycle paths alone and that the wheel
men were not prompted by purely sell
fish motives as pleasure seekers.
T.. @. Harrison, of Washington. ID. g.,
OF the Good Roads Bureau Of the De-
partment of Agriculture, spoke briefly
of the work which that department had
accomplished in the West and South
among the farmers, to the end that
state organizations were being formed
and that sample roads were to be built
this spring.
Mr. F. o. Stanley. OF Worcester, de-
scribed the four types OF automobile
carriages, the cut of building and
operating them their advantages as TO
speed and their drawbacks in weight,
and fumes emitted from two types. The
electric motor costs more than the gas
oline. The compressed air carriage car
rying two people, weighs when charg-
cd. 5000 pounds; the steam carriage,
500 pounds.
DIR. Thomas C. Mendenhall. of Wor-
cester. spoke on state Highways" Dr.
Mendenhall is chairman of the Massa-
chusetts State Highway Commission,
and president of the Worcester Poly
technic Institute Referring TO the ben
Eft of State highways he said i'm part:
Many interesting results have al
ready come from the building OF these
state roads. Directly they have proved
TO be of great benefit by reason Of the
greatly enhanced hauling power of
those who used them for heavy traffic.
in some instances the cost of hauling
a ton a mile has been reduced to less
than one-quarter what is was before.
Manufacturing communities, compelled
90 deliver their product to a railway
station some miles distant. have. by
the Improvement Of their roads, been
enabled to compete with more faVora-
bly, situated establishments in other |
States which was before impossible. !
The value of the farms adjacent To the |
4 l.. n.
ly increased, and property has been |
made salable at a good price. which |
would before bring llttle or nothing. In |
directly the work has been OF good val |
ue as affording an, example of good |
road building, and In educating road !
builders in many parts of the State. |
Many towns are not aided by the State |
have built roads after the model OF |
State roads, and the commission has |
been called upon for advice and engi- |
neering counsel by many towns able To
build their own roads Should the |
schemes now accepted be continued to |
completion. the State will in time be
covered with network Of these fine |
highways, connecting all principal CEN
tres OF population, and so widely dis
tributed that none Will be compelled to
travel more than a very few miles. per-
haps five or six miles before finding |
himself on one of these lines of the
great system, by means OF which he
can travel anywhere i'm the common
wealth. over this net work OF roads
many thousands Of wheelmen, light |
and heavy carriages and wagons, auto
mobile coaches and trucks win go with
minimum expenditure OF energy and
maximum of comfort and pleasure"
AT the afternoon session speeches of
welcome were made by Gov. Dyer and
Mayor Baker. Brig. Gen. Roy Stone. L. |
e. ". spoke on Puerto Rican High
way" Conway a. Sauus, chief consul
of Maryland spoke on Good Roads
Agitation" and Joseph 4. Latham !
gave stereopticon views of some SUI
perb highways Of the Old World. some
bad ones i'm this county and a few I'm
this state which are of superior char
acter.