The suburban citizen., 1900-09-29

God Roads R6tss


GOOd ROADS Era
TTY HE question Of the improve
ment of the American roads
has been for a long time agi-
tating the minds of the peo-
pie who take a pride in the welfare
OF the country, writes James Wilson,
Secretary Of Agriculture, in Harper's
Weekly. Tourists have been forced
to make comparisons unfavorable to
the home highways when they have
gone abroad and seen the beautifully
level and well-kept roads of Great
Britain and many Of the Continental
countries 1t win be good news to the
whole nation to learn that road i'm
provement is to be made a special
| study, and wide inquiry to be set on
foot among the several States as to
/ the best ways and means of placing
| the highways of the country upon
q superior basis.
The Department of Agriculture has
a little road Office by which n few
thousand dollars year are spent
along the lines of both educational
and practical work. Innumerable
projects have been advanced, consid-
cred, and abandoned as being made
quate to meet the difficulty of improv-
ing our highways. One of these pro-
jects led TO the sending out 10y the
Department of Agriculture, within the
last year, of experts to meet and CO.
operate with different bodies in vari-
GUS States for the purpose of carrying
on practical experimentation with steel
tracks that would enable the farmers
TO get their produce to market with
out running the risk of the heavily
laden wagons sticking fast in the ruts
of soft roads, made softer by contin-
uous rains
These experiments have caused such
a demand to be made for further and
more extensive experimentation to de-
eide the best plan for road improve
ment that l have decided to organize
an Office on broader lines and prepare
it for doing more thorough work.
To this end 1t Is proposed to divide
the United States into districts, secure
an educated agent in each of those
districts to study conditions, confer
with scientists and practical road
makers, address students and educa-
tional institutions, and make reports
Of work done and proposed to be done
that will form the basis CT road lit
erature.
To begin with, it is proposed to To-
cate the agents in the Eastern States
and the Southern States, one in the
prairie States, and one in the noun
tain States of the far West. The value
Of this plan is that as the conditions
In the several localities are peculiar
unto themselves, by a system of inter
communication between the various
agents we shall gather the best infOr
nation as to the needs of the whole
country and the best methods of in.
augurating a scheme of national road
Improvement
1t is proposed that these agents shall
send specimens of good road material
to the chemical division Of the Depart.
ment Of Agriculture for analysis; that
study shall be made along the lines
Of affinity and possibility of coalescing
the several materials to be obtained al
each of the several localities and the
advantages accruing from the inter
change of material between the differ
ent districts. 1t is intended that each
agent shall reside within his own dis.
trict and concentrate his entire time
and thought ON the study of the con
ditions found within that district.
These agents must of necessity be
good engineers; they should know
something about geology, for it will
be necessary to poke around in all the
corners of the surrounding country
in search Of material suitable to the
road-making needs of that section
knowledge Of draining will be ad
vantageous in making reports of the
general conditions and the difficulties
to be encountered in road improve
ment, and the practical acquaintance
with the art of grading that those
familiar with road-making acquire
will greatly help in a comprehensive
survey of the situation.
The first thing an agent viii be ex
pected to do when he arrives at his
district will be to make himself thor
oughly acquainted with the material
at his command There are many 10
calities in the United States where
stone cannot be found within a hun
dred miles or more. Other localities
are so stony as to make the farmers
who try to make the soil fertile almost
despair of overcoming the obstacles
that nature has placed in their way
1t can easily be seen how the reports
that come in from agents in districts
where the ground is Of these two sepa
rate natures can be made valuable
The material for road-making that II
absent from one district will be foun(
In abundance in another, and the offic,
at the Department of Agriculture vii