Evening star., 1902-03-28
WITHHOLD CONVENTION
CONFERENCE OF WORKERS FOR
GOOD ROADS.
Members of Congress to Be Taken
Down to Charlottesville
Next Week.

Mr. Martin Dodge. director of public roads
iruuiries Of the Department of Agriculture.
and Mr.. w. II. Moore of Chicago, president
OF the National Good Roads Association,
are in the city today arranging for the
sr, cial tIain over the Southern railway
that will lake delegation of senators and
representatives and other public men to
Charlottesville, Va, next week to attend
the Jefferson memorial and interstate good
fcads convention. 20 be held there wednes-
Eay. Thursday and Friday.
Expected to Be Present.
Among those who are expected to ad-
d,ess- the convention are Senator NJ A
llama of Ohio, Senator DolIiver of Iowa,
Senators Daniel ard Martin of Virginia,
representatives. Dick of Ohio, DeArmond
of Missouri. Sulzer IF New York and Tongue
OF Oregon. President Spencer of the South
er-, railway, and possibly President Stuyr
ytSsnt Fish of the Illinois Central railroad.
Among the senators who have given as
surauce of being present are Stewart of
Nevada, Foster of Washington, Teller and
Patterson of Colorado. Brown of Georgia
and Simmons of North Carolina. About
q hundred representatives in Congress have
@ $50 promised to BE- present.
The Southern railway good roads Spe
Cial.' carrying twenty-five engineers and
read experts and equipped with fifteen
loads of the latest improved rOad-making
machinery, went to Charlottesville Monday
and began the construction of the jefferson
me mortal road, in pursuance of plans there
f1fOre prepared.
The convention will be called to order
"Wednesday, April -. at = pm. by General
Fitzhugh Lee. president of the Jefferson
Memorial Road Association. and Governor
Montague will welcome the people in at
tendance. There Will be two sessions of the
convention each day and addresses will be
made by many distinguished citizens. II
had been expected that President Roosevelt
would be present. but he has found that
business engagements will interfere. The
cabinet will be represented by the Secre-
fary of Agriculture, Mr.. James Wilson.
The Road to Monticello.
Mr.. Dodge. director of public roads in
huiries, to an Evening Star reporter today.
said
During the last year the efforts of this
office have been directed to the production
OF an objeCt-lesson road from Chariottes-
Willie, Va. to the home and tomb of Thomas
Jefferson, at Monticello, distance of about
two and half miles. The old road was
bride path crossing MOOre'S creek a ford.
The development of a hundred years has
served To widen this bride path so as to
make narrow roadway. with a primitive
wooden bridge at the ford: but the origin
al location was so poorly selected that the
road rises the rate of sixteen feet in the
100 in many places and is exceedingly dan
gerOuS 10 travel with whe eied vehicles, es-
pecialiy when the ground is slippery. No
amount OF Improvement over such a steep
course could make a desirable road. 1t
therefore became necessary to relocate al
most the entire length of the old road over
a new course which has already been done,
with the result of obtaining an easy grade,
with a maximum of only four feet in the
hundred.
THE enterprising people of Charlottes-
Vile. at whose request this work has been
undertaken, have formed a Memorial Road
Association. of which Gen. Fitzhugh Lee is
President. 1t Is their desire that this object
lesson road. when completed, shall not only
Serve to benefit the people in the locality
where II is built, but all visitors from dis
tant places who make pilgrimages to the
tomb OF the immortal Jefferson. l have
been pleased to encourage this idea and
have sought to bring into cooperation as
many forces as possible to secure the de-
sired result.
The rock out of which the macadam is
being constructed has been tested in the
road material laboratory of the Depart
ment OF Agriculture and found to be suita-
Dle Tor the purpose; so that, with the scien-
flhc relocation of the road scientific test of
the materials to be used in its construction
and the application of the most improved
machinery to the work, there is every rea-
Son 10 believe that the object lesson in it
Self Will be of great value TO all who see II
especially when we consider that the yaria-
tions In tie different sections of the road
are such that 1t Will serve as an examDIe of
good road construction for every district
of the middle Atlantic and southern states
the Piedmont slope, the AIleghanies and
the western Incline