Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1905-09-28
ROAD IMPROVEMENT.
COLONEL POPE ON GOOD HIGHWAYS
IN AMERICA.


Personally ! believe in an extensive
development of both state and federal
roads, writes Colonel Albert A. Pope in
EaTpers Weekly. For many years we
have expended liberal sums of money
for the bettermcnt of rivers and har-
bors, and the results accomplished are
commendabic, but we must not lose
sight OF the fact that great majority
of the people live away from the coasts
and waterways, in regions where the
necessity for good highways is i'm
perative,
In many cases these people need the
appropriations and national aid great
deal more than those dwelling nearer
the seaboard or on streams that TEEN
with industry. The highways are the
natural feeders to railways, and inn
prOvemcnts ON them materially in
crease both interstate and international
commerce. If our government has
seen fit 10 be liberal in river and har-
Dor work, it is reasonable to expect
that the building and maintenance of
public highways must demand the
same attention. There is an interde-
pendeucy here which cannot be over
looked by those who analyze this ques-
tion Alright.
1t has long been mooted question as
TO what is the best method of raising
funds for the construction of public
highways, but / know of no better way
than for state and federal government
to issue special bonds for the purpose
Three per cent fifty year bonds of this
kind would find an immediate market,
and they could be paid by a sinking
fund of 2 per cent per annum, which
would mean that there would be charg
cd against this Indebtedness 5 per cent
per annum TO be provided for by taxa
ton. such bonds could be issued from
time to time as the work progressed, so
that funds would always be available
up to the limit of the bonded indebted
ness agreed upon.
There is a trait in American charac-
ter which makes us ultra conservative
on some issues, especially where long
established custom causes us TO travel
in ruts so deep that it is difficult to
leave them.
For years the inhabitants of the rural
districts of our country deceived them
selves in believing that the best, and by
that is meant the cheapest, way TO pay
Il road tax was to work it out by a
definite quota of days labor on the
highways. 1t took a far reaching and
or 4 N1,
persuade them that the old method of
road building and repair was unneces-
sariy costly and thoroughly inefec-
tual Nor was this reformation well
started until soMe communities had
made Il practical demonstration of the
actual value of good highways to those
who depend on the soil for a living.
IN working out his road tax the farm
er clMag to the idea that dollar saved
was rs good as a dollar earned, and at
the same time he lost SIGHT of the trli-
im that it is good business policy to
invest Il dollar which will bring back
two. Once the farmer was shown by
object lessons that good highways,
passable the year round were essential
nets he freely expressed astonishment
ut having been fooled Ivy the methods
Inherited from his ancestors
This educational work, which in its
inception called for great energy and
the liberal expenditure of time and
money, was later ON helped by both
state and federal government An ap-
4 Inv Fl
the purpose of collecting and dissent
mating information on road building
and repair. road materials and other
kindred topics AS a result the farm
ers learned that to build roads proper
ly, though apparently expensive, was
in reality an economic measure. They
were led to see that the highways were I
natural feeders of railways and that it !
was rs much of n detriment to have /
produce snowbound or mudbound on
the farm as to have freight congested /
on the railroad They eomprehended /
the difference in cost between hauling /
a ton mile on good and bad roads. /
and they realized too, that with pass
able roads the year round the hauling /
to station and other shipping points /
could be done to advantage out of sea- /
son when draft animals were not need /
cd for plowing or harvesting.
NThese few paragraphs will indicate I
IN outline the manner in which this
great reform was started by agitation .
and fostered by education until the /
question is not, "Shall we have good |
roads?" but How can we best secure
and maintain them?"
Experience has taught us the valua-
BILE lesson that highways must he con-
struCted and cared for under skilled SUI
Reryision. This point is emphasized by
the fact that the demand for trained
road engineers is constantly Increasing,
and to meet it our educational institu-
tons and colleges are offering regu-
lar course of study TO fit students for