The Tupelo journal., 1907-04-12
BY H. e. BLAKEsLEE. JACKSON.

1t is generally conceded that one of,
if not the most important, matters be-
fore Mississippians to-day is the i'm
provement of public road conditions.
There is not q man, woman or child but
what will agree that our roads are
miserable farces in many respects, and
that improvement is badly needed. But
when a maj is asked to name a remedy
there is no great rush for position in
front. We generally are prompt to con-
denim and slow indeed to suggest some
thing to remedy the evil.
The writer has made some study of
road conditions and the suggested meth
DDS of improvement. While there is still
IL great deal for all to learn, if the sub
ject is not agitated and some effort
made fifty years from now will find us
in the same rut. 1t is unquestionably
better to make an effort, though some
mistakes may be made, than to sit still
and do nothing but complain. If each
county would try an experiment in
road building of only a few miles the
result would be worth a great deal in
the way of education. Four miles of
good road would in a short time en-
courage the building of more. If it
was only partially good to begin with
the cause for partial failure would be
apparent and the cause remedied. 1t
might not be well to spend a large sum
in trying to build roads all over Il coun-
ty, for it is likely that a great deal of
money would be wasted, but if a few
miles were built this year and a few
miles the next, profting by the expe-
rience gained in the past, it would be
only a matter of a few years until the
county would be supplied with fairly
good highways from center to edge.
For some years yet the only road that
can be considered must be of dirt.
Makes no difference how that road may
be built and maintained, we will not
consider expensive construction for some
time, and the very best dirt road will
be in general use. The contract system
of building and maintaining roads is
coming into pretty general use and has
proven generally satisfactory. Of course,
some counties where the contractor is
not made to comply with the contract it
has not worked well, but in a general
way the contract system is proving sue
c%essful, and more counties are adopting
the system every year. By this means the
roads are raised in the center some ten
to fifteen inches and the water drained
away from them. In a majority of
cases this plan is good; however, there
are gumbo stretches and sand beds
where other means must be employed.
Where gumbo and sane can be found in
ordinary close proximity, either can be
made better with the use of the other.
mulched together can be made reason
ably good and the opposite treatment
for a sand stretch. A contract or graded
road can be improved crafty by the use
of the drag, as described in the road
bulletin issued from this department.
1t is safe to say that with an intelli-
gent handling of our roads in Missis-
sippi they can be made reasonably good
at a minimum expense for construction
and maintenance with the dirt which
underlies them.
There is another matter in connection
with the lettering of our roads that is
deserving of attention. 1t may seem a
little startling to say that it is probable
that our people are spending several
times as much making bad roads as they
are in trying to make good ones. In
vestigation will bear out this assertion.
We are doing more for the destruction
of roads than we are for the construc-
ton of them. The expense incident in
the use of narrow tires for heavy loads,
both in the cost of transportation as
well as in the destruction of roads, is
greater than the money expended In try
ing to make them better. Experiments
have shown that earth roads properly
built are better under six-inch tires than
gravAled roads are under one and one
half inch tires. The narrow tire acts as
a rooter or subsoiler for the road, tear
ing it up deeper each trip, while the
broad tire has just the opposite effect,
rolling it down smooth and hard, the
road getting better by constant use.
Tests made at the A. & NJ. College of
Missouri prove that the power necessary
to draw a given load over a road for a
period of time is less with a five-inch
tire than with a one and one-half inch
tire. There are various tests that can
be shown in support of this contention
and it goes without contradiction that
the broad tire is better for all classes
of roads and more especially SO for dirt
roads.
This is a subject that should be care
fully considered by our citizens. Our
roads must be improved. Public senti-
ment demands that something be done,
and this can only be disposed of intelli-
gently after a careful consideration and
Leland is growing so fast that many
improvements are needed and the citi-