Evening star., 1901-10-11
GOOD ROADS SPECIAL
Southern Line to Encourage Better
Wagonways.
ELEVEN CITIES 10 Be VISITED
Sample Macadam and Dirt Roads
to Be Built.
GOVERNMENT COOPERATION

A train Of twelve cars, to be known as
"The Good Roads Special is to be sent
out from Washington on the lines of the
Southern railroad about November i to
stop at ten or twelve of the chief cities
reached by the system and aid in organiz-
ing good roads associations. The tour will
end about January 1, and will include the
following municipalities: Danville, Va, Oc-
tober %; Raleigh, N. c., November and
8; Asheville. N. c., November IL and 13;
Columbia, s. c., November IS and 10;
Greenville, s. c., November 20 to %; At
lanta, Ga, November 25 to %; Birming-
ham, Ala, November 80 to December A;
Montgomery, Ala, December to 10; Mo-
bile, Ala, December II to IA; Chattanooga,
Tenn, November 16 to 10; Knoxville, Tenn,
December %. This itinerary is subject to
change-possibly in the substitution of
either Greensboro or Salisbury, N. c., for
Raleigh or Asheville-but will otherwise be
fulfilled practically as given The train
will carry full equipment of road-making
machinery and party Of eighteen persons,
all skilled in the manufacture of good dirt
and macadam roads. 1t Is the third such
Of the National Good Roads Association
one having been sent along the route of the
Illinois Central from April to July and
second having traversed the district be-
of the Lake Shore route and the New York
Central Everywhere the meetings have
been widely attended and have produced
permanent organizations determined to bet
ter the country roads of the section con-
cerned.
The tour of the south Is largely the out
come Of the convention of good roads
workers held at the Pan-American exposI-
ton from September 16 to September Il.
The delegates who attended that meeting
represented over 10000 members Of the
national association, forty states and four
foreign countries and letters were received
from over 5000 persons who favored the
good roads movement. The Southern rail-
road sent delegates on the ground that 30
per cent of all agricultural products intend
ed for rail shipment must be carted to the
railroads over ordinary dirt roads. From
the organization Of the system President
Spencer of the Southern has been a con-
sistent advocate of improved wagonways
throughout all the country traversed by
Southern tracks.
To Build Sample Roads.
Mr.. Martin Dodge director Of the office
of public road inquiries in the Agricultural
Department and M. o. Eldridge, his as
sistant, with Mr.. w. H. Moore, president Of
the National Good Roads Association, will
have charge of the good roads special
Under their direction fourteen road experts
Mr. r. w. Richardson. secretary of the
tional association, and several clerks, will
named permanent good roads association
To this end they will. confer with the
mayor and city council of each city and
the officers of it's commercial organizations,
arrange that a suitable hall shall be hired
and obtain the use of ten or twelve teams,
as many men and a sufficient supply of
crushed stone to construct length of good
road a sample. When the train arrives
the engineers will begin at once to build
about a mile Of dirt road with the teams,
men and materials furnished by the locality.
They will then surface or macadamiZe as
much Of that road as their time will permit.
has been thus manifested the mayor and
commercial organizations will unite in
call for public meeting to organize an
association. In some cities on the two
other routes these meetings have been at
tended by from 1900 to 6000 persons rep
resenting a district 100 miles square. The
view given them of roads in the course ot
construction, the demonstration that good
roads can be easily provided for the funds
now spent on poor roads, and the CO.
operation of the many commercial interests
represented at these public meetings have
never failed to stimulate most profitable
interest in the movement.
Interest in the South.
President Moore of the National Good
Roads Association made the following
comment on the project to reporter for
The Star this afternoon:
1.-The Southern Railway Company has al
ways taken an active and prominent inter-
est In any movement that points to the ad-
vance Of the best interests Of the country
through which 1t runs. Ever since the or
ganization of the National Good Roads AS
ISOLATION this company has been repre-
sented at Its national meetings and many
of Its public demonstrations.
Negotiations which have been pending
for some time were closed last week by
which the National Good Roads Assocfa-
ton, assisted by the Office Of public road
inOniriNS limited States npnartmept nf o.
riculture, will run a good roads special
train over the lines of the Southern rail-
way, stopping at numerous central points.
for the purpose Of building sample roads
and holding meetings with view Of edu-
eating the people along the line in practical
road building.
''This train will start from Washington,
D. c., about November l. 1t is planned to
spend at each point visited several days,
giving ample time to construct a road of
one-half to one mile long. So much has
been said and written in regard to this SUBJ
ject of good roads that the people of the
south are practically all in thorough ac-
cord with the idea that good roads are All
acquisition to the country. 1t is therefore
almost an assured fact that every citizen
of the south will, II possible, attend these
good road meetings and witness the mod
ern and up-to-date methods of building
public highways.
Sign of Development.
"As the lines Of competition are being
drawn closer and margins Of profit narrow
er, every element looking to the economi-
cal production and distribution of the pro-
ducts of the country, and as it has been
thoroughly demonstrated that good roads
are the prime factor in the up-buildinR Of
every section of the country, every citizen
of the south should take a personal inter-
est in this subject. The south needs better
roads, every farm would be benefited there
by, the public will appreciate the alyan-
To- hOnP0