Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-01-19
GOOD ROADS MEETING
D. 3. LYONS ADDRESSES WAPEL
Lo COUNTY ASSOCIATION.
EFFECT PERMANENT OlG,. 4 H.


EFFECT PERMANENT OlG,. ;, H.
officers Elected and Resolution is
Adopted Pledging AffiIiation With
State and National Good Roads AS.
ISOLATION.
IF an OK team is good enough for
you to use to bring your wife and
family to town then dirt road is good
enough for you,' said D. B. Lyons of
Des Moines, secretary of the Iowa
State Good Roads association, at the
meeting called by the Wapello County
Good Roads association yesterday af-
ternoon at the court house. At the
close OF the address permanent officers
were elected by the association, and
resolutions pledging the association
to become part of the state and ma
tional good roads associations We're
adopted.
The court room was we'll filled when
the meeting was called to order with
Temporary President George W. Dick.
ems in the chair. The object of the
association and of the meeting was
stated and expressions We're called
from members of the audience. A mum.
Der Of suggestive and pointed talks
We're made. Mr.. Lyons was introduce
ed and made a strong speech in favor
Of good roads.
Comparative Value OF Roads.
He told what has been accomplished
in other states and what is possible
in Iowa. With diagrams he showed
what actual experiment and mathe
NAUTICAL calculation has proven in re-
gard to the value of given kinds OF
| road. On macadam roads one horse
will pull, according to Mr.. Lyons fig.
ures, 5000 pounds. The same load on
gravel will require two horses, on dirt
road, five horses. and on mud or loose
gravel, ten horses.
Value Of Level Road.
AS an argument for bringing ali
roads to level grade as far as posi-
bic, Mr.. Lyons shows that load han
died on level road by one horse will
require two horses on grade of two
feet in one hundred feet. three horses
on three per cent grade, four horses
on a six per cent grade and six horses
on a ten per cent grade.
| Committees Report.
| At the close of the address by Mr.
Lyons the officers and committee OF
resolutions appointed at previous
meeting made their report pledg;ns
the Wapello county association to af
filiate with the state and the nationa
associations and recommending thu
election Of the temporary officers al
permanent officers. The report wa,
received and adopted.
Mr.. Lyons Address.
| Mr'Lyons spoke in part as follows
i "In travelling about the state as
have been doing for some months,
find a widespread ignorance upon the
general subject of road building ant
upon the progress that is being made
| in other states along these lines. i
is not to be wondered at, however, 81
criticised. The truth is that durinf
the life time of the Oldest person pres
i ent here today, there has been no ma
Iterial change or improvement in thu
methods of road building in America
We have become so used to the old or
der Of things, that we have grown cal
lous and well nigh hopeless. Presi
dent Washington condemned the meth
cd of providing funds for the care O.
our highways, and yet we have beer
following the same plan ever since.
Americans boast, and properly so
OF their marvellous progress in arts
science and literature. Any student o.
conditions must admit that the devel
opment of public highways is mari
of higher civilization. Yet, it is true
that, in this one respect, we are far be
hind our neighbors across the sea
/ Travel where you will, in France, Ger
many, Holland or Switzerland, and yol
will find yourselves able to drive from
one end of the domain to the other UP
on macadam roads.
i The Appian Way.
i Perhaps the best known instance O.
centuries ago is the wonderful old Ap
Epian way built before the birth of Jesu
/ Christ, and yet today, substantial
and excellent highway. i rarely fint
Iany difference in opinion on the mair
proposition as to- whether or not WI
desire or need good roads in Iowa
The fact that it will cost $4,000 to 81,
600 per mile to build a road sixteer
feet wide that will endure, with proper
repairs, for centuries to come, hal
seemed to be prohibited because OF 1T!
expense. II, however, our people coult
only understand that the taxes the,
have been paying from year to yea
4 for bad roads, or on account of bar
Iroads, would have doubly paid for per
manent highways, there would have
been less lethargy in respect to this
important matter. Whenever a farm
err, for instance, is positively unable t.
deliver corn to market when it il
worth soc per bushel. because the
roads are impossible, and is able tt
get 40c per bushel for it when he finds
it possible to haul it to town, he ha!
paid 10c per bushel for all the corn hi
has to sell, as tax on bad roads. III,
has lost that much money just as Ger
tainly as il it had gone from his pocke
Ia r,L.