The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1908-12-16
CAUSE OF bad ROADS,
Buslnesslike Methods Not Used
In Highway Construction.
THE RIGHT SYSTEM LACKING.

Road Bosses Should 1o Removed From
Politics and Made TO Pass an E~t
animation Showing Their Efficiency.
Change Needed In Road Laws.
a back numbcr-the bad ceuntry
road is a back number. 1t is ms much
out OF place and date as the grain era
die or fall thrnshcr. They had bad
roads away back In grandfather's time
ever since people began to travel, to
haul stun in modern narrow tired
wagons. They had good roads away
back In Caesars time in the old world.
What progress have we made in road
building? Very little. Over three
fourths of all tho miles OF country
roads In the midwest are still unim.
proved, says the Agricultural South
west. In most states 80 per cent would
be more nearly correct. or course
every bit OF road gets It's annual tear.
ing up by the road officials, who draw
salary for calling 1t road Improve
ment."
Why is it thus? There's reason
why country roads are bad. Can't lay
1t to the weather or the road material
either. AS one farmer says, II have
seen in twenty-three years hundreds OF
thousands of dollars of taxpayers
money expended on the roads In town
and country; but, after all, our roads
are still as bad as ever" As bad as
,,,o,I what n ro,omnnf IN mako IpOn
the appearance of country homes had
1t been said that the farms had not
been improved III twenty-three years!
But, no; the farms have improved, the
towns have grown, and business places
are better than they were twenty
three years ago, but the country roads
are "as bad as ever" after spending
fortunes upon them.
The reason Is this-road building l.
not done In the same buslnesslike
manner as other things are managed.
we have seen the creamery come into
existence. we have seen tho skilled
buttermaker turning out carloads Of
butter finer than that made by the
farmers before the creamcries took
the Job of their hands. Science and
business methods have made the
change in buttermaking. But th,
roads are "as bad as ever" because II
is a farmers job, to be done when 1t
suits his convenience. 1t Is done b.
men who have never studied the sci
cnce of road building. 1t is done in n
hit and miss method devoid of business
principles. This is why hundreds of
thousands of the taxpayers' money have
failed to make the roads any better.
And again we say 1t is not because of
bad weather or poor road building
material. The buttermaker takes bad
cream and makes pretty good butter
from 1t because he knows how. or
course lie could do better with good
cream. Likewise the skilled road
builder can make good roads out of
Just plain country dirt because he
knows how. OF course he could do
better with crushed rock and all of
that. 1t is not scarcity of money or
Of material but lack Of the right sys'
TEN, that IS responsible for bad roads.
Dollar for dollar-what we want to
see Is dollars worth of good roads
for dollar spent In road tax. And
why not have 1t? Isn't 1t about time
to quit pouring money into mud.
hole2 Most roads could have been
nicely paved with tho dollars they
have cost since first laid out. Where
has that money gomez Don't cry
graft" or course there has been too
much politics-ah, politics; there's the
rub-but there haO been no political
graft to speak of in connection with
country roads. The trouble Is the sys
tenn is and has been wrong. Road
building is for the public good, just as
mail carrying IS. The mail carriers
are under civil service, out of politics
entirely. They are paid for knowing
their business. They must give dol
lars worth of service for dollar In
pay. Why not handle the road prob.
lem that way? Remove the road boss
from politics and make him pass an
examination showing his efficiency.
Keep him just as long ns he does his
work well. Then you will see good
dirt roads wherever there is nothing
better. Enough money will soon be
saved in road tax to macadamizc every
mile of the main travelled country
roads.
a farmer would be foolish to go
ahead with large job of tiling with,
out having the whole thing mapped
out and levels established by some one
capable of doing 1t. Then he would be
equally foolish should he not study the
capacity of tile needed to drain the
area intended. 1t is good business
sense for him to hire competent sur
veyor or dltcher. Just ono tile put In
wrong Will ruin the whole plan of
drainage. But that same farmer will
pay money every year in road tax and
let men who know nothing about road
building squnnder the money. 1t Is
time this foollshncss was stopped.
1t will be stopped when the farmers
who pay the money and who use the
roads get together and demand II
change of system, demand that 1t be
eliminated from politics, demand that
the road laws I've changed from anti
quated forms to suit the needs Of n
progressive age of business sense.
Good Road Requisites.