The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1902-02-27
ROADS IN PHILIPPINES.
How Government Red Tape Has
Hampered the Usef1lness Of .
Stone-Crushing Machine.

On a rocky headland jutting out
rom the Morong shore stands an
imposing structure which demon
states what some of our officials are
capable of doing.
In the olden days, when the
naughty Spaniard or untaught Fill
pino desired to repair that portion
OF the street which lay Immediately
in front of some grandee's door, if
any broken stone was used, the ma
terial was obtained in the usual way.
After erecting mat to screen him.
self from the sun, the Filipino
squatted beside little rock pile and
possibly pounded out cubic meter
of broken stone in n day. But this
slow and laborious process of OBJ
tanning road material did not enticrlv
commend itself to the American au-
thorities. They resolved to erect
large rock crushing machine, and
there was no reason why the pro-
jected rock crusher could not be oper-
ated very successfully. After dis
cussing the merits of various locali-
ties point near Biuangonan, on. the
Laguna de Bay, was the site selected.
After studying the situation, a COM
petent engineer carefully drew up the
plans for the proposed rock crushing
plant and sent in all the estimates
required. These plans were pigeon
holed in Manila, and, certain pur-
chases having been made, it was or
dered by "he who must be obeyed"
that the rock crushing plant should
be erected. The plans of the engi-
necr, the estimates and acquisitions
of practical man who knew exactly
what was wanted were ignored. But
joblot of machinery was assembled
and over it was erected fiimsy SUI
perstructure which may or may not
fall to pieces at any time.
The engine which operates the
crushing machinery originally came
from England. In design it is GER
tainly unique. And its actions are &C.
centric. Attached to this master
piece are two boilers, which at the
outset were said to be ridiculously
inadequate. If carefully nursed these
boilers will safely carry SO pounds of
steam and supply power enough to
run at slow speed one of the two
rock crushing machines.
Although not of the latest modern
or of the most approved form Of con-
struction, the t'%o rock crushcrs are
of American make and capable 0, do
ing good work.
The genius who constructed the
crushing plant hit upon the happy
plan of having the stone run down
hill TO platform considerably below
the hopper of the rock crushcr and
from there shovelcd up again. The
placing OF the rock crushcrs also
evol>cs attention. If the ingenious
builder aimed at securing q maxi
mum Of inconvenience and n mimi
mum OF economy he is to be congrat-
ulatcd upon having accomplished his
purpose. Both machines are placed
aslicw, almost at right angles with
their proper positions, and matters
are further complicated by having
several things turned upside down in
the arrangements for transmitting
the power, Neither can the pullies
nor betting escape observation.
Wooden pulIics are used-lopsided af-
fairs that writhe and squirm-and in
stretching and destroying belts they
are found TO be quite effective. So
great is the loss of power that, al
though in the theory the two boilers
should furnish ample steam to run
the two machines, one Of the rock
crushers from necessity is always
idle.
The miniature railroad track, over
which are wheeled the tiny cars of
crushed rock, is not laid as it should
be, and the arrangement for loading
crushed stone into cascocs involves
double the amount of work that
would be required were things ar
ranged Alright.
Launches may tie up under the
shadow Of the crushing plant, and to
obtain water from the lake should
be no trouble at all But for want of
a suitable piece of pipe with which
to make connections, whereby water
might be pumped by the engines into
the boilers from the lake, four hom-
brcs were formerly employed at
one peso each per day to carry wa
ter for the engine. The present
foreman of the plant arranged to
dispense with the services Of three
water carriers, but the government is
still expending a peso day because
of somebody's disinclination to buy
for the plant an inexpensive piece of
pipe.
Once upon a time the foreman of
the crushing plant made requisition
through the usual channels for a
draw shave, a medium sized cold chis-
ell and an ordinary barrel. ct was
set forth in the requisition that any
old barrel capable of holding water
would serve.)
But instead of the things asked for
the foreman eventually received a