Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-03-26

suburban limits of the city and deveI-
OPP new residence districts Of the high
est class, and they would largely re-
lieve the public roads of motor travel,
while adding to the usefulness and
popularity Of motor vehicles by free
ing them from a speed limit on a good
stretch of distance. The first cost Of
Of maintenance would be trifiing,
while the saving in wear and tear of
vehicles would be immense. For steel
roads in country districts, a single
track will usually be sufficient, and
with a lighter and narrower rail, the
total weight about 100 tons per mile;
the rails to rest on foundations Of
stone, gravel, or burned clay, and be-
tween the rails a few inches of gravel
for the horse path. Outside the grass
will grow up to the rails and the turf
will be firm enough for light vehicles
to turn out upon, and for such heavy
ones as go contrary to the current Of
traffic, while it will save the road from
wash and wear. On many of the older
stone roads all but a narrow wagon
track is covered with strong grass
which has grown up in the hard mac
adam.
Authorities on commerce and pro-
duction all agree upon the vital need
of common road improvement in the
United States. The chamber of COM
merce of New York says: 1--WE are
Handicapped in all the markets of the
the primary transportation Of our pro-
ducts. which goes far to offset our
great advantages in other respects
TIE department Of agriculture at Wash
ingtOn through its 10000 regular cor
respondents, has gathered statistics
of the cost of hauling on country
roads. with estimates Of distances and
quantities moved, and has computed
the total expended at 5000 100000 an
nualIy, of which it considers two-thirds
chargeable to bad rOads-the average
rate per ton per mile being 25 cents,
against a rate of eight cents in most
parts of Europe. It is true that this
most incredible tax has not been I'M
bearable while we were ''skimming the
cream Of a new continent" but it is
so now in many sections, and must be-
come so generally. 1t is already keep
ing in hopeless poverty great regions
where the soil is worn or wearing out.
No one doubts that good roads
would pay-but how to get them is
the question. 1t is the special weak
ness of our system of government that
we cannot compel a present sacrifice
to secure future benefit People who
govern themselves will not apparently
tax themselves to build the roads
which they know they need, nor will
they generally consent to borrow the
money and tax their children's chill
dren to pay it, although they could
hand own to them not only the roads
themselves, but the savings Of gener-
atiOns in their use. Good roads must
therefore be built, if built at all, with
cut any decided increase in present
taxation and without imposing a bur
densOme debt upon the future. This
situation might seem to be an absolute
imDaSse, but there are ways out of it,
and the successful adoption Of steel
for general road construction will help
to open the way. 1t will practically
eliminate for a generation at least the
question of maintenance, which in
stone roads is most serious, and will
leave only the first cost to be prOvid-
ed for, while it will bring in a new and
powerful interest accustomed to high
finance" to help devise the ways and
means for that first cost.
In estimating the cost of the metal
for roads it will not be necessary to
take the present boom prices, not even
the probable average for a term of
years; advantage can be taken of dull
times, since public funds can be raised
as we'll then as ever, and the steel pro-
ducerS would rather have this new de-
mand come in such times, at low
prices to help them hold their labor,
than to have it at high prices in flush
times when they are OvercrOWded with
work. In depressed period, more
over, broad minded producers will
naturally make lower rates for this
use of steel than for any others, if a
general movement for the purpose can
be inaugurated, knowing that such a
movement would do more than any
thing else possibly to revive industry
hope and prosperity. In view of these
considerations, therefore, we may
safely take the bottom prices of the
last depression, say SIS per ton, as
the government rate for road metal,
especially as it was understood that
that price still paid a profit to those
concerns which were best equipped
and managed and as ince then the ex-
penSes of mining, transportation and
manufacture have been further re-
duced. The cost of the metal and the
railroad freight are all that need be
| counted as cash required to build
country steel roads; the hauling and
! laying of the plates and the founda-
! ton of field stones, gravel or burned
| clay are all matters Of common labor
and can be provided for by contribu-
| ton of labor or a labor tax
Instead OF the direct aid to road
| building now strongly advocated in