Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-22
THE SPLIT LOG DRAG.
A Welcome to it as a Help in Good
Road Work.

Road Work.
Editors kennebec Journal:
The hearing given to d. Ward King
OF Missouri, inventor of the King split
log drag system of improving highways,
must have been highly interesting to q
majority of his hearers at the county
court house Wednesday forenoon. Your
editorial in Wednesdays issue OF the
Journal carried with it working idea
of the results which all good highway
advocates in Maine hope may be realiZ-
ed sometime in the near future. But to
actually hear Mr.. King drill class Of
thinking Maine rulers in the science of
road building at a minimum cost seem
ed to the writer really rare treat. 4 +;
Within the past three years the
writer has travelled half the counties in
Maine, pretty thoroughly in some
towns, with team, and has had an eX
ccllent chance to test the highway fa-
cilities afforded the traveller by the city
and town fathers or others behind
them. Many roads needed fixing
badly at the, time of passing over them
and if sthe King split log-drag system
is the panaceaS for cur Ills in this REF
spect, we nenSofAMaine should not be
slow to give Mra King a sound hear
ing wherever he may speak In the
State.
During this talk to the court house
audience Wednesday Mr.. King said:
that after he had discovered he really
had good thing on his 'one-half mile
of country road in Missouri he at
once sought out an editor of a news
paper and he put that editor wise to
the good points Of the drag and the re-
suits obtained from it's use-"a hard,
smooth and oval road" thoroughly
fit for traffic at all seasons of the year.
Mr.. King convinced one hearer at least
that he (Mr. King) knew thoroughly
what he was talking about when speak
rg OF Missouri roads.
The application of mis- ideas, WORKED
ont iE Missouri, to conditions as we
find them in Maine in all seasons. mat
have seemed strained at times to Other
hearers This in truth may be justly
accorded Mr.. King-he set his hearers
to thinking. Wednesday, The spractica
workings of the drag here in Maine
must be discovered. each section for
itself through painstaking study and
considerable hard mental and physical
labor. Road building is still science.
Such science as the properties of the
tt lepfone for instance, and when the
farmers in Maine get the telephone.
good roads, rural delivery and the par
eel post system all boiled down into
Common working basis, they can truth
fully say: I'VE are now. indeed, reck-
cred among the families of the nation
The question: was put to Mr.. King
by one Of his hearers Wednesday:
What. Mr.. King, is the average
amount of money raised for highways
in towns in Missouri of 1000 popula-
tiCn?" Mr. King said he didn't know.
Coming back later, to the matter
cost involved in Keeping his famous
half mile of road in repair by use of his
suit log drag. Mr.. King said it was
about $500 or s4.00 per year and init
mated. in passing, that this was "a
dirt cheap price That means an
average cost per mile each year Of
practically $500. Then we must all fig
ure out the mileage in our highways III
urban and country districts as we'll
Men "who can figure some" must b.
selected for this all important task of
good roads building in Maine. If we
must have and are going to have tho
roads good, we must have men in uffi-
cial stations who can intelligently di-
rect the work and know when we have
discovered good things" right here in
Maine in the Here and Now"
When a town is spending $4,000 er-
cry ten years for highways (and brid-
ges) without much advance in the art
| in that time and at that expense some
one must do some tall thinking to keep
our heads above water. This is what
is done in one town we know about.
May Mr.. King succeed in his very laud-
| able undertaking of making us think
about this all important subject Of
| road building and maintenance.
H. F. Totman,
Fairfield, Nc.