The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1908-07-01
CAUSE OF BAD ROADS.
BusInesslike Methods Not Used
In Highway Construction.
THE RIGHT SYSTEM LACKING.

Road Bosses Should Be Removed From
Politics and Made to Pass an EH-
animation Showing Thsir Efficiency.
Change Needed In Road Lava.
A back number-the bad country
road 10 a back number. 1t Is as much
out Of place and date as the grain era
die or fail thrasher. They had bad
roads away back in grandfather's time
ever since people began to travel. to
haul stun I'm 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 the miles of country
roads In the midwest are still unlm-
proved. says the Agricultural South
west. In most states 90 per cent would
be moro nearly correct. or course
every bit of road gets Its annual tear
ing up by the road officials, who draw
a salary for calling 1t road Improve
ment."
Why Is 1t thus2 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 rs ever" AS bad as
ever! What comment to make upon
tho appearance of country homes had
1t been said that the farms had not
been improved In 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 "ns bad as ever" after spending
fortunes upon them.
The reason Is this-road building IL
not done In the same businesslike
manner as other things are managed.
We have seen the creamery como into
existence. We have sean the okiliod
buttermaker turning out carloads Of
butter finer than that made By the
farmers before the creameries took
the Job of their hands. Science and
business methods have made the
change In buttermaking. But the
roads are "as bad as ever" because 1t
Is farmers Job, to be done when 1t
suits his convenience. 1t Is done by
men who have never studied the sci.
ence 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 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
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 it2 Isn't II about time
to quit pouring money into q mud
hole7 Most roads could have been
nicely paved with the dollars they
have cost since 1FBt laid out Where
has that money gone? Don't eTT
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
tom is and has been wrong. Road
building Is for the public good, just as
mail carrying Is. The mail carriers
arc 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 way2 Remove the road boss
from politics and make him pass an
examination showing his efficiency.
Keep him Just us long as he does his
work we'll Then you will see good
dirt roads wherever there Is nothing
better. Enough money Will soon be
saved In road tax to macadamize every
mile of the main travelled country
roads.
A farmer would be foolish to go
ahead with large Job OF thing 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 a competent sur
veyor or ditcher. Just one 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 sQuander the money. 1t is
time this foolIshness was stopped
1t Will be stopped whom tho faTneHH
who pay the money and Who uso the
roads get together And Demand a
change of system, demand that It be
eliminated from politics, demand thai
tho road laws he changed from anti
Quated forms to suit the needs of
progressive age of business sense.
Good Road Reuuisitea.