The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-04-11

If not the most important, matters be-
fore Mississippians today, is the improve
ment of public road conditions. There
IN not man, woman or child but what
win agree that our roads are miserable
farces in many respects, and that i'm
proyement is badly needed. But when a
man is asked to name remedy there
q no great rush for position in front.
We generally are prompt to condemn
and slew indeed to suggest something
% remedy the evil.
The writer has made some study of
road conditions and the suggested meth
DDS of improvement. While there is still
O great deal for all to learn, if the sub
3ect is not agitated and some effort made
Fifty years from now will find us in the
same rat. It 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 build
ing of only few miles, the result would
De worth a great deal in the way of edu-
cation. Four miles of good road would
IN short time encourage the building
Of more. If it was only partially good
10 begin with, the cause for partial fail
sre would be apparent and the cause
rcmedied. It might not be well to spend
. large sum in trying to build roads all
over county for it is likely that a great
deal of money would be wasted, but if
. few miles were built this year and a
few miles the next, profting by the ex-
perience gained in the past, it would be
only 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
<hat can be considered must be of dirt.
Makes no difference how that road may
De 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
shade to comply with the contract, it
has not worked well, but in a general
way the contract system is proving sue
eessful and more counties are adopting
tAe system every year. By this means
&he roads raised in the center some ten
o. fifteen inches and the water drained
away from them. In majority of cases
this plan is good, however, there are
gumbo stretches and sand beds where
ether means must be employed. Where
gumbo and sand can be found in or
binary close proximity, either can be
made better with the use Of the other.
A gumbo stretch surfaced with sand and
nnlched together can be made reasonably
good and the opposite treatment for a
sand stretch. A contract or graded road
can be improved greatly by the use Of
the drag as described in the road bull
letin issued from this department. Tt
is safe to say, that with an intelligent
handling of our roads in Mississippi,
they can be made reasonably good at a
minimum expense for construction and
maintenance with the dirt which under
les them.
There is another matter in connection
with the lettering Of our roads that IS
deserving Of attention. It may seem
little startling to say that it is probable
that our people are spending several
times as much making roads as they are
In trying to make good ones. Investiga-
6on will bear out this assertion. We are
doing more for the destruction Of roads
ahan we are for the construction of them.
The expense incident in the use Of mar
low 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 trying to make them
better. Experiments have shown that
earth roads properly built are better
under six-inch tires than graveled roads
under one and one-half inch tires. The
narrow tire acts as asrooter or subsoiler
for the road. tearing 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 con-
slant use. Tests made at the A. & M.
College of Missouri prove that the power
necessary to draw a given load over
o road for a period Of time is less with
. fve-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 contra
dictiop that the broad tire is better for
an classes of roads and more especially
10 for dirt roads.
This is 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 intel