The Washington herald., 1908-07-12
STATE WANTS ROADS
Maryland Will Spend Five
Million to Start System.
COMMISSION IS NOW BUSY
Each County VIII Get 35 20 &c Miles
of scientifically Constructed High
way-ROutes VIII be Selected and
Surveyed This Yenr-WOrk 10 Be-
gin Within the Next Six Weeks.

Baltimore. July 4. - Actual work of
building good roads In Maryland, by and
under the supervision Of the State good
roads commission, will probably be start
ed within the next six or eight weeks.
The good roads commission has $780,
900 20 spend in public highway improve
melts, and It is estimated that this
amount will be sufficient 10 build about
1000 miles Of permanent road. The
amount OF road to be built in each coun-
~ will be from thlrty-hve to fifty miles.
These are tho plans the road commits
sions are carrying out:
That the roads to be improved by the
State shall connect with county seats;
that they shall. as fa~ as possible. pass
through the centers Of population; that
they shall not connect with turnpikes OF
private corporation; that these, If neces-
sary. shall be paralleled with State roads;
that turnpikes. for the present. at least,
shall not be purchased; that the Shoe
maker act shall continue. thus enabling
counties 10 avail themselves Of State aid
in building roads 70 connect with the
main arteries to be constructed by the
State.
Work of Gov. CrOthers.
Gov. Crothers. whose home is in Elk
ton put the movement on foot to have
good roads built in the State soon after
he was inaugurated last January and.
at his suggestion. the Legislature passed
a bill creating the good roads commits
sion. also for the State to issue s.. .00O 600
bonds 10 start the work of building the
roads
By the time this money is spent IL Is
predicted that the State will be receiving
enough revenue yearly under the Haman
oyster law, which provides for the State
leasing the barren bottoms Of the Chesa-
peake Bay 10 private individuals or com
panies and protecting them in oyster
culture. Howard 3. Haman. the author
Of the oyster law. who worked for sew
eral years to have his bill passed. has
spent much time I'm the study OF the oys-
ter culture question. and he asserts that
after the law becomes fully operative the
State will receive nearly $4,000 annually
from that source. This money is to be
used entirely for the public road improve
ments under State supervision. and would
be sufficient TO build about five miles OF
permanent road I'm each county annually.
Other Lenders I'm the Work.
John NJ Tucker, OF Elkton. close
friend Of Gov. Crothers, is chairman of
the good roads commission. and the 9th
er members are Gov. Crothers. DR.. w
r. Clark, Or. Ira Remsen, OF Johns Hop
kins University; Samuel NJ. Shoemaker.
Baltimore. +. c. Hatton, Of Rockville.
and c. d. Benson. counsel, OF Baltimore
County, all OF whom are devotlng much
time 10 getting plans in shape for the
actual work Of building
Prof w W. Crosby. of the state geo.
logical survey, is the chief engineer. and
he has uttered a word Of warning against
the idea that the proposed roads will be
built in a day. or even a month. or a
year.
Few movements are larger than this
one. he says. Consequently slowness
at the start must be expected. but in
creased momentum may be looked for
constantly, and finally the results will be
all that can be desired IL people will but
be patient and persist along this line.
Massachusetts Sets Example.
Massachusetts has been at work more
than ten years. In the first five years
less than nifty miles OF road were built.
To be sure, such conditions were slightly
different Some of the hardest roads 10
build were built first and precedents and
results Of experiments were not as plen-
tiful as now and we may confidently ex-
peCt greater progress with us In Mary
land
AT The end Of the tenth year In Mas
sachusetts however. $50 miles Of modern
road had been built by the State and an
equal amount had been completed by the
counties
The experience has been the same in
every other State. the only difference has
been that progress has been more rapid
In the States that have started since New
Jersey and Massachusetts.
There are about 1900 miles OF public
roads In Maryland. The macadanizing
of all Of them Is inadvisable. even if II
were physically or financially nossible
But there are IN each county certain So
eial and business Centers. The connec-
ton OF these centers with each other and
the larger centcrs OF the county with
the larger one OF another county are ne
cessary."
Old Compared with New.
II Is estimated that the total annual
cost Of the old road system is about
100000 a year. with nothing permanent
about the result The cost Of patchwork
In ten years has been $6.OOOO 900. The cost
10 farmers ana others Of hauling over IN
adequate roads Is estimated at S.. 900 \
year. The cost Of hauling in New Jersey
has been reduced one-half since the roads
were improved. Therefore. by improving
Maryland roads. One-half OF this sum
would be saved. Making a liberal allow
ance FOR the fact that part OF the haul
inS Is done over toll roads and that some
OF IL goes over unmportant roads that
could not be Immediately improved. Il IS
estimated that at least $300OOOO a wear
could be saved by improving the main
roads Of the State
The first movement for improved high
ways I'm Maryland took place I'm 17S3 when
the legislature passed an act creating n
court OF oyer and termlner in Baltimore
county. which court was ordered To CON
denim persons convicted Of crime and also
Migrants 10 labor on the roads of that
county. The courts in other counties
were given similar power TO sentence
prisoners 10 work on the roads OF BaltI-
more County and also TO sentence them
10 labor on the highways In their own
counties. Baltimore County received the
greatest benefit under this law. 1t ap-
pears and the turnpikes constructed in
that county were thus built mainly by
convict labor.
ANTIETAM PAPER COMPANY.