Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-16


and Louis XIV great and expensive road
making was begun. 1t continued until
the French highway had attained a per-
lection that c!assed IL away ahead OF the
rest of the world-and brought about the
This is a fact perfectly true. yet little
known Tresauget was the real inventor
Of the macadam system; but for fifty
years before his time a cruelty heavy
road tax weighed on the poorer classes OF
the French population and finally con-
frmed them in the sullen resentment that
made II possible for the middle classes OF
the cities to lead them into the revolu-
ton.
The great Napoleon found these trunk
roads ready made. Under him France
boiled over her frontiers In war. The
highways lived an intense life. Covered
with armies. conveys. travelling carriages
and messengers of peace and war. they
got hard usage. The roads that Napoleon
constructed were chiefly in foreign coun-
tries. like the Palatinate Hesse and Rhen-
ish Prussia.
True. Napoleon built those marvellous
roads of the Alps. today enjoyed by
American automobilists. up. ove- and
down by the Tende pass. the Genevra
pass. the Mount Cents, Little ST. Bernard
and Simplon. 1t is. nevertheless the fact
that Napoleon's armies abused rather
inside France. After his fall. long years
UP to 1S4o-were occupied in their costly
restoration. to finally bring about the full
Towering of the splendid coaching days
which were Immediately ruined by the
steam, locomotive.
And the moral of II all?
Did ii pay?
Did Choiseui. Necker. Turgot and Tru-
dame waste the national resources in con-
tinuing the costly trunk roads begun By
Louis XIV? 1t seemed so. France
VOTED from it in bloody revolution. Did
the restoration waste the national re-
at an expense that has never been
counted?
It seemed SO. At the very moment Of
the great roads perfection. the steam To-
comotiye entered on the scene. and tho
great highways fell into such disuse that
when they got up a retrospective EXPOSE
ton Of carriages In 1907 the example i'm
possible to discover was one Of the crack
diligences of 1885! They finally accepted
a rather decorative old country stage
coach. till recently in local use between
Aurillac and certain surrounding ham,
let's
The great trunk roads seemed ruined;
vet here are touring automobilists from
the whole world scattering gold as they
scorch over them!
And did the apparent ruin Of their
trunk roads teach the French a lesson?
No; away back. forty years ago-before
the automobile had given the dream OF
promise-they had begun constructing
their vast new network of communal
roads-at an expense of $2.OOO.OOO 900!
Their total length today is 5000 miles.
That OF the old trunk roads is only $4,000
miles. That Of the department roads--a
disappearing type-is 1000 miles.
Nowadays. both the central government
and the department legislatures prefer to
build and improve roads by arousing the
patriotic self-interest of the township.
These cross Dads are the present prosper
ity of France. and every one knows It.
For every dollar that a township spends
on one, either central government or de-
partment legislature-often both-put up
another dollar to go with II.
1t Is wise expense. Here is a country
whose remotest Inhabitants are brought
In easy touch with modern prosperity. It
is a wonderfully rich country. but little.
What will not be the prosperity of Amer
lea when every France that can be
marked of on its map shall have the
good roads of France?
STERLING HEILI0.