The suburban citizen., 1900-06-09
GOOD ROADS NOTES.
The French RsnnIr sratem.

! - CAAAA N44Ohudlu NlUl6 II
was thought necessary to con
struct stone roads with s
. foundation of large stones
the small, broken stone was then
spread over them, and traffic was dc
pended on to consolidate them into .
smooth and hard roadway. Moreover
in France, upright, protruding stones
were placed at the edges of the foun.
dation, in order to enclose the smaller
stone. These roads were often two
feet deep and yet they wore badly in.
to ruts. When the holes were filed,
travel avoided the repaired spots and
new ruts were formed.
MacAdam did away with the large
stone foundation, and showed that
small material, properly laid and com.
pacted, would distribute the pressure
equally on the real road beneath and
also serve to effectually shed the
water which fell upon it. The new
system was economical and simple,
but it had what seemed at first to be
one drawback-the roads required
constant watching and frequent re-
pairs. This, however, is regarded as
really blessing, as the construction
of the roads makes it easy to keep
them in condition. In France this
work is thoroughly systematized aud
is carried on very effectively. The
system, as described by the Paris
correspondent of the Brooklyn Eagle,
is as follows:
A chief engineer is at the head OF
each department. and he has several
assistant engineers, each in charge of
a subdivision called an arrondisse-
ment. All the roads in these arron-
easements are visited and examined
by them at least quarterly, and oftener
if necessary. These engineers in turn
have lieutenants, called conductors,
who oversee certain lengths of road
which they must look over in detail
at least semi-monthly. Under the
conductors come the cantonniers who
do the manual labor, each one caring
for Canton" or stretch about two
miles long. Five or six cantons are
grouped together aud their canton
niers form o brigade, one OF whom is
made chief, and has a shorter stretch
to care for in order that he may over.
see the others. If piece Of road ab
solutely requires it, one or more Ia.
borers, called auxiliaries, are given q
cantonnier to aid him.
Besides overseeing their roads the
conductors give all orders to the chief
cantonniers, examine their work and
report on their conduct and make
written reports to the engineers twice
each month. They keep the accounts
of their divisions aud report on petit
tions or new projects. They are
obliged to do all their travelling on
foot, examine into the smallest details
and give the necessary explanations
and directions to the cantonniers.
The canton OF the chief cantounier
must be the best kept OF the brigade,
in order to show his superiority over
the other men. These men are nOmin-
ated by the perfect of the department
according to certain conditions They
must be between twenty-one aud forty
years old; suffer from no inArmity
that interferes with daily labor; have
previous experience in work shops
appertaining to their work or have
worked on theroads in some capacity;
possess a certificate of good conduct
and be able to read and write.
The cantonniers must remain on
the roads from sunrise to sundown in
winter, and from a. m. to 7 p. m. in
summer. They are allowed to build
ST. elters or have movable shelters in
which they can seek refuge during
storms, but they cannot absent them
selves from the roads. Each one has
an account book aud afregister and
keeps q daily account OF his work and
the time occupied in each task. At
the end of each month the conductor
recapituiates the account ana sends it
to the engineer.
In this way the roads are never
without the most careful attention,
and expensive and annoying repairs
are rendered unnecessary,