The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-09-15

| building and advise communities and
states upon the best methods of build
ing permanent roadways. If the gov
eminent will take up this question
thoroughly and intelligently it will
confer a lasting benefit upon the pub
lie.
with all the popular clamor against
excessive charges by the railroads the
people of this country lose more
money annually through the poor quail
ity of it's roads than they pay the rail-
roads in several years. Our highways
ought to cheaper the cost of transport
ing produce from the farms to the rail-
roads by no less than so per cent, and
it could be cheapened far more than
this.
"An intelligent study of the road
problem is demanded by the produc-
ers, and l cannot conceive of more
fitting thing than that this state, one
of the youngest and most progressive
in the United States should take up
the good roads issue and carry it to
the next national convention as fed
eral issue. Once we get the agitation
for road building made part of party
platforms it is only question of time
before the federal government takes
up the matter and gives the proper
encouragement The same success
can be made in the good roads move
ment that was made in the reclama-
ton service.
people laughed when the irriga-
ton of arid lands was first proposed
to party convention, but that agita-
ton has resulted in the reclamation
of millions of acres of arid lands. We
can have the same success in the
good roads movement"
Canada seems to be waking up along
many lines. Approaching the value
of good roads, the province of On
tario is spending 100000 annually
to make her highways better than they
have ever been. Statute labor is Civ
ing place to business methods. Town
ships are putting their road work on
a cash basis, centralizing the super
vision under one to four commission
ers, using labor saving machinery,
building better bridges, and in many
ways seeking greater permanence and
durability for the highways.
The total outlay on county roads in
Ontario during the ten years, 1896
1905, represents a value of $21 10000
This is made up of a cash expenditure
of $10,432,902 and 10,510,900 days of
statute labor. The average exceeds a
value of 100000 year. This in
cludes the expenditure of townships
and only a portion of that made by
counties on country highways. The
expenditure on town and city streets
represents a large additional amount.
From this it is evident that the roads
are by no means being maintained by
statute labor alone. The magnitude of
these figures is concealed from year
to year by the distribution among
large number of municipalities. They
show, however, the great extent of
work and the necessity for intelligent
direction.
The use of oil on public roads and
highways answers the double purpose
of laying the dust and giving the road
way a smooth and solid surface. The
heavy per cent of asphalt in crude
oil makes it of special value to the
surface of roads, and it is believed
that it's continued use for several
years, in reasonable quantities, on
highways will vastly improve them.
10 secure a solid surface, one that
will not yield in the season of heavy
rains, is a problem in road construc-
ton, and it may be that oil will play
some part in the solution of the prob
lem In any event, it is worth while
to experiment with it.
The city of New Orleans used oil
on some of the unpaved streets of the
city shortly after Beaumont's wells
had cheapened the product; it very
greatly minimized the dust evil, i'm
proved the surface of the streets, and,
washing into cutters filled with stag