The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-05-23
A Pertinent Report.

IN the abstract OF the two years
report Of State Highway Commissions
or James H. Macdonald, OF Connecti-
cut, presented to the Governor, the
question: What injurious effects, II
any, do automobiles have on our
road SYSTEM" is discussed affirma-
lively as follows:
AT home and abroad this question
has been asked any numbe of times,
and have thought 1t of sufficient i'm
portance to reply to it in my report.
1t is astonishing how popular motor
Ing has become in our State, and, in
fact, all over the United States. Since
the issuance by this State of the first
license on May %, 1903, up to the
present time 1000 licenses have been
issued by the Secretary of State.
About 400 Of these licenses are for
motor cycles and about 800 licenses
have been issued to transients. No
license fee is charged non-residents
unless they are to remain in the State
for period exceeding fifteen days.
The sum Of So is charged for a IL
cense. This fee, it is apparent, is
only nominal, and the income de-
rived from this source does not
amount to very large sum in the
aggregate. The use of the autono-
bile, 1t must be conceded, will grow
rapidly, and, as automobiles have
come to stay, the use of the roads by
this class Of vehicles will form very
ri ~ %~o
highways Of the State. If it be true
that SO many citizens own automo-
biles and use the roads for business
or pleasure, it is equally true that the
number Of persons using the roads is
augmented several thousand by those
who come into our State, this latter
class contributing nothing to either
town, city, county, or State treasury.
Now, the vital question is: Does
the automobile injure our roads more
than the travel of other vehicles? If
so, in what way? 1t is only fair to
take this question up broadly SO as
to reach fair conclusion in deter
mining this factor in the solution of
this newer problem confronting us
in the use Of the highways. l have
made close study Of this question
during the. past two years, and l am
satisfied that no agency at work on
the roads has directed attention to
the use of our roads to the extent
that the automobiles have The nat
ural inquiry will be, in what manner
has this been done?
1t is safe to say, in reply to this
inquiry, that our roads have shown
more wear on the surface during the
past two years than for any similar
period since the commencement Of
macadam construction in this State.
In nine out of ten towns artificial
moistening of roads is not resorted
to by the officials in towns where our
macadam roads have been construct
ed. The use of the sprinkling cart
seems to be lost art, and the only
moisture the macadam receives is
from the rain and the dew, except, of
course, in winter time, when there
are occasional snow storms. For
that reason our macadam roads are
very dry in summer and become an
easy prey to rapidly moving automo-
biles. The low-hanging machinery Of
the car restricts the space from the
top of the road to a narrow opening
which the rapidly moving car trans
forms into a draft, the suction from
which removes all loose or insecure
particles from the surface of the
road, very much as carpet sweeper
operates.
The screenings top has two useful
purposes. One is to form cushion
to protect the second course of stone,
which is the top course of stone i'm
mediately under the screenings or
finishing surface of the road. This
cushion protects the underlying stone
from direct contact with the shoe of
the horse and the tire of the wagon.
Its second Office is to retain moisture
In the summer time, thus preserving
the cementic properties of the screen
ings, and in the winter time furnish
Ing covering that prevents the en-
trance OF frost into the road, and also
removing the possibility of disinte-
grafton and heaving of the road
screenings. It also operates to pre-
vent the fall rains from penetrating
into the courses of stone, thus in
viting frost, and leaving the road,
when the frost departs, green and
very susceptible and responsive to
travel.
In the summer time, particularly,
when our roads are very popular and
are used largely by all kinds of We
hicles either for business or pleasure,
the passing of one of these rapidly
moving cars removes from the road
Its intended protection. Horse-drawn
vehicles that follow are. by this strip
ping process, brought into direct con-
tact with the stones that have been
uncovered by the automobile. These
stones are early dislodged from
where they were imbedded, and a
fracture is made in the road. The
stones thus loosened act as an irri-
tant to the other stones when struck
by hoof or wheel, the bond is thus
broken and the road Immediately de-