The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-08-28
Ten Times as Great as Cost Of
Good Roads and the Farmer
Pays Most Of it
TEXAS BEHIND THE TIMES
Has Enough Improved Roads to Cir
Gle the Globe Three Times But
This Is Far Short Of the
States Needs.

IOlt w VI III, lSAoS, aus
During the past year more than nor
NAL rainfall over most all the state
of Texas has impressed the farmer
with the necessity for road improve
ments. Our bad roads annually levy
on travel tax ten times greater
than the cost of constructing per-
manent highways, but the farmer
in measure appears to become ac-
customed to bad roads and adapts
himself to the bad roads system; it
has been the regular order of things
for a lifetime, and we look upon it
as the national condition and regard
it pretty much as the Arkansas TRAY
eler did in covering his house
when it is raining, can't--and when
dry, don't need it. We have not earn
ed much of a reputation as road
builders. Our efforts have been
largely spasmodic, and the good
roads sentiment which occasionally
takes hold of community appears
! to confine itself wholly to geogra-
! phical boundaries; in some instances
counties have built good roads to
| the county line of other counties
| trying to reach cities or trade cen
! ters, and the adjoining county failed
| to make connection. A lack of intel
! ligent direction in the expenditure
of money iB some instances may
have discouraged road building. A
number of states have department
! of public highways and employ com
! petent engineers to lay out and su-
| pervise the construction of county
roads.
! We are deficient in both quality
| and quantity of our good roads. We
| now have $1,000 miles of public
highways in the state, and while this
! is sufficient to circle the globe three
times, 1t is quite inadequate for
Texas. If we had the road mileage
i the state of Iowa has as compared
with our area, we would have L.
O50,0O0 miles of public highways.
/ We have 245 counties in the state,
| and only nine are building roads
this year, and probably less than
700 miles of permanent highways
will be constructed during 1908; at
j this rate, 1t will take us more than
1000 years to build our roads.
The invention of recent years of
improved road building machinery
has greatly reduced the cost Of i'm
proving public highways, and like
wise encouraged road building thru
| out the country. In New Jersey ex-
cellent gravel roads have been built
for $1,000 per mile; in Connecti-
cut macadamized roads have been
constructed for nine feet in width
for $4,000 per mile; Massachusetts
is spending from $4,000 to $25,000
per mile putting in first class sys-
tenn OF highways. With the splendid
drainage system which nature has
given us, and the frequent deposits
OF gravel sand rock, we can build
roads in Texas as cheaply as any
other state.
In sparsely settled sections of the
state, the gravel road or macadam
road may not be within reach of
the taxpayers. or may not be just.-
fed by travel, but an ordinary dirt
road properly cared for can be made
passable the entire year with the
liberal use of the split log drag.
Hon. T. w. Larkin, secretary OF the
Board OF Trade at Denison, who in
troduced the split-log drag in Texas,
and as chairman of the good roads
committee of the Texas Commercial
Secretaries Association, has doae
more to arouse sentiment in favor
Of road improvement than any other
influence In Texas.
Mr.. Larkin will attend the con-
vcntion of Texas Commercial Secre-
taries in Fort Worth on September
9-10-11 and will address the meet
ing on good roads.
At the Theatorium "The Midnight