Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-06-08

Politics and Made 10 Pass an Ex-
animation Showing Their Efficiency.
Change Needed In Road Laws.
A back number the bad country
road Is a back number. 1t Is as much
out OF place and date as the grain era
die or Hail thrasher. They had bad
roads away back I'm grandfuthcr'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 I'm the old world.
What progress have we made In road
building? Very little over three
fourths of all the miles of country
roads In the midwest are still unlm-
proved, says the Agricultural South
west I'm most states 30 per cent would
be more nearly correct OF course
every bit OF road gets It's annual tcnr-
Ing up ~ the road O4iic+als, who draw
a salary fUv calling y pDad 1lmprove-
mCnt"
Why is it thusI There's reason
why country roads are bad. Can't lay
1t 10 the weather or the rond material
either. AS one farmer says, IL have
seen i'm twcnty-tbrcc years hundreds of
thousands OF dollars oft taxpayers
money expended on the roads I'm town
and country but after all, our roads
are still as bad rs ever" AS bad as
ever! What comment to make upon
the appearance of country homes had
III
been improved i'm 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 is
not done IN the same busiAessIiko
manncr rs other thRHgs ure managed
We have seen the creamery come into
existence. We have seen the skilled
buttermaker turning out carloads of
butter finer than that made by the
farmers before the crcameries took
the job of their hands. Science and
business methods have made the
change In buttermaklng But the
roads are 'us bad as ever because il
Is farmers job, to be done when 1t
suits his convenience. 1t Is done by
men who have never studied the sci
cncc of road building. 1t is done I'm
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 It is not because of
bad weather or poor road building
material. The buttcrmaker takes bad
cream and makes pretty good butter
from 1t because he knows how. or
course he 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
IF material, but lack OF the right sys-
TEN, that is responsible for bad roads.
Dollar for dollar what we want to
see IS a 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
holef Most roads could have been
nicely paved with the dollars they
have cost since first laid out Where
has that money gomez Don't cry
graft" OF course there has been too
much politics-ah, politics; there's the
rub-but there has 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 NAH carriers
are under civil service, out of politics
ntirely They are paid for knowing
heir business. They must give Il dol
lars worth Of service for a 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 as he does his
work we'll Then you Will see good
dirt roads wherever there is nothing
better. Enough money VIII soon be
saved In road tax 10 macadamize every
mile OF the main Travelled country
roads
farmer would be foolish 10 20
ahead with large Job Of thing with
out having the whole thing mapped
out and levels established by some one
capable Of doing &c. Then he would bc
equally foolish should he not study the
capacity Of tile needed TO drain the
area Intended IL IS good business
sense for him 20 hire a competent sur
veyOr or ditcher Just ono tile put I'm
wrong VIII ruin the whole plan of
drainage But that same farmer will
pay money every year I'm road tax and
let men who know nothing about road
building squandcr the money. II IS
tiHc this fOol'shucss was stopped
lt>wlIl be stopped when tho farmers
who pay the money and who use the
roads get together and demand n
change of system. demand that IT be-
eliminated from politics, demand that
The road laws b. changed from anti.
quated forms 20 suit the needs of RI
progressive ngc of business sense