The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-13


 this pyramid to the Fourth Dynasty, there Is reason to believe that this read was in perfect condition 1000 years before Christ was born.
 It has long been believed. principally because Of the writings of Herodotus, that King Cheops employed 100000 men for period of ten years on the greatest of the Egyptian roads. the one which led from Memphis to the Pyramid. and which has been described as superb boulevard. fiaHkea on either side with temples. mausoieums, statues, pergolas and porticoa. and having magnificent hard, snooth-surfaced driveways.
 with the downfall of Egypt and the rise of Babylon, that city of beauty reigned over by Semiramaris. who ing Gardens. came another era of road building. for the Babylonians realized that the construction of roads and bridges was absolutely essential to a military and commercial supremacy. Splendid roads radiating from the great city were laid at least 1000 years before Christi reaching to Mem phis. Suza, Ecbatana and Sardis. The great royal road" written of by Hero dotus, extended from Suza to Sardis, a distance of 312 miles,. At intervals of from eighteen to twenty-five miles stations were established at which carriers could be, supplied with fresh horses. Inasmuch as the distance covered by these carriers was from 50 to 120 miles q day. the proof is con vincing that that ancient road was as good as, is any in the United States today.
 conauerors Initiate.
 After Babylon. came Carthage. and the glory of Carthage was between i2s4 B. c. and s35 B. c. Perfect roads made communication possible between every portion of this great domain. and to a large extent gave her the power to withstand for ten years Rome before falling victim to the sol- emn. savage Roman edict Carthage delenda est.' s%s When Carthage had been, wiped out. her savage eonquerors became her most ardent imitators In road build ing and within a Eew decades nad laid the most remarkabIe system or roads the world has ever known. Tne despotic sway of Rome over the then known civilized world was due as much to this comprehensive network of stone surfaced highways as to the might or her legions. HiIls were cut through. ravines filled fn and rock mountains leveled both 10 secure material ana to avoid grades and circuitous routes. In Gaul alone thirteen thousand miles of such roads were laid. These great military thoroughfares. crossing the Alps. extended to Spain. Austria ana the regions Of the Danube. Africa ana even Asia were included in this great system.
 So massive was the construction of the Roman roads that the Appian Way. built by AppIus ciaudius, still lives, and 800 years after 1t was laid down, 1t was in perfect condition. No such roads would be laid today. They were heavy, cumbersome. and though ef- fective. not at all to be desired Tn fact. 1t is estimated that under present conditions a road such as is the AppIan Way would cost at least $2O0.000 a mile to build After the fall of Rome, road building became a lost art. In "Mer- " England" it is true authorities had passed laws that along certain high ways hedges in which wicked men might Turk" were ordered cut. but that was about all the consideration given to the roads.
 Louis the Fourteenth awakened to road necessities. and demanded that the roads of France Sc bettered. ana under the administration of Colbert, the famous Comptroller of France, 15,000 miles of hard roads were con
  1851. A most brutal and unjust bur den was placed upon the peasantry of France to bring about this improve ment. for it was done under the feudal l corvee, or forced labor system. the poor people simply being driven to the roads and made to do the work with out pay.
 To one of the greatest men of his- tory, the first Napoleon, credit must n. 4. A. system of French roads,--in fact for extent those of Germany. England ana other countries are copied after the French system. It was Napoleon's Idea that no nation could take rank as a great military power without roads over which armies could be quickly moved from point to point With that in view. he built many roads through the Empire. the great one over the simplon Pass. which was begun in 1900 and finished in 1906. being stiIi considered one of the greatest of all l feats in road building.
 Good Supervision.
 It was at this time that Tresauget came to the fore. Future generations will give credit to Tresauget as the real originator of the modern rock sur faced highway. His first treatise on broken stone roads brought superb re- suits. Tn that he set forth the mar vicious system which maintains in France today. That system involves daily reports by inspectors of every yard of national road throughout the | country This whole system is under the supervision of an inspector general of bridges and highways, who is re- | sponsible for every mile. His army of i assistants see to it that ditches are kept open, holes and ruts are filled. sand and earth removed after rains, that the trees and bushes are trim