The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-08-02
GOVERNMENT
EXPERTS HERE
DELIVER TALKS or GREAT PRAc-
TIcAL VALUE ON ROAD BUILD
AND CORN CULTURE.

p The number Of farmers and citizens
, Of Maury county who greeted Con
. gresham Padgett and the government
Il SCIENTISTS at the Court House Tuesda,
II morning were far too few. There
. were a number Of prominent farmers
4 present and a number OF townspeople
n as well and the close attention they
8 gave the speakers was sure evidence
2 OF the practical value of the talks. II
5 is safe to say that had all the county
, road commissioners and road over
: seers been present when Mr.. Eldridge
+ made his talk on scientific road con-
struction, the lecture would have been
; WORTH thousands of dollars to the
county in better roads and a saving of
waste in road construction. Had more
farmers been present to hear Mr.. C.
P. Hartley talk on corn cultivation
and the selection of seed corn, the
talk would have resulted in marked
increases in the yield of corn in the
county and would have been worth
other thousands of dollars to the
farmers. BY these remarks it is not
! intended these talks were lost. They
will surely bring results, but not the
large results possible from a larger
audience.
Mr.. Eldridge represented the office
of the public roads of the United |
States Department of Agriculture. He!
said in part that this Office had just
completed an investigation showing
that there was about 2,151,000 miles
of public roads in the United States,
and that about per cent. of these
roads, or about $4,000 miles, were
now surfaced with stone, gravel and
other more or less permanent ma
terials. On these roads Mr., Eldridge
stated that about $80,000,000 was ex-
pended in 1904. This would make
about $35 per mile of road, or about
i1.05 per inhabitant. 1t was shown
that in those States where land val
ues were greater than $40 per acre
that about per cent of the roads
had been improved ard that when
the lands we've worth less than $40
per acre only about 2 per cent of the
roads had been improved. Stated in
versely, the States which have high .
percentage of roads improved have
,trb nd yhinh cbnuC fh at
good roads are one of the most impor-
tant factors in the enhancement of !
farm values.
In discussing the benefits derived :
from improved roads Mr.. Eldridge
stated among other things that from :
TWO to four times al large a load can
De hauleo On d Sood sen g grave Il
road as upon earth roads, evn when r
he earth is in good condition. He
said that on a 10 per cent. grade
horse could draw only about one-quar-
er as much as he could on level,
md that many of the roads could be
on per cent grades with !.
tut materially increasing the distance.
Mr.. Eldrige advised that statute la
,or tax be paid in money and that =
Dad hands be employed to work the
Dads the year around, like the rail-
Dads are maintained. Earth roads, :.
lie stated, should be rounded up with =,
road machine and maintained with -,
split log drag, this being SIM -
lie, inexpensive and effective rem
dy. He declared that most of the
irt roads were too fiat and that the
resent system of maintaining them -
y statute labor did not accomplish
s good results as If the money were q.
aid in cash and used to employ men ~,
, work the roads every day in the
ear. ).
In explaining the construction OF
ravel and stone roads, Mr.. Eldridge -
bowed the necessity of a solid, "
mooth foundation and OF the desira-
iiity of using materials which were
ard and tough and which would bind =,
)gether SO as to make a hard, I'M =
srvious mass to 4preduce the foandar :. :,
on and support the traffc. He ad- ~
Ised that a beginning be made at .,
nee in some permanent work. and -
lat 1t had been his experience that -
hen the people of a community once -
ad an opportunity to travel over -
BOD road that they always wanted ~,
ore and that they usually built more.
At the close of Mr. Eldridge's talk 49,
ongressman Padgett asked all in the r. -.
ldience who wished to ask any ques' -,
ons or desired further information
any points to speak out. Mr.. Pad :,
1T said they wished to make these
lks as informal as possible and to
Up the people in every way possible ~,
a thorough understanding of the g.
biects discussed. Mr.. Horace Polk