The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-14
EXPERT PAGE
HERE TO ADDRESS
ROADS MEETING
L. R. Page, Best Authority on
Highway Building in Amer
lea, Points the Way.
FAV0RS AID FROM STATE
AS BASIS OF ACTION
READY TO SEND AN ENGINEER
TO UTAH TO LEAD
WORK.

1t is very simple matter TO con-
struct good roads. but the maintenance
of good rOads-that's the question. To
make them is easy; to keep them is
the problem that must be mastered in
this country 1t is very unwise 10
spend large sums of money for ex-
cellent highways and then allow then
to deteriorate.'
That was one of the important state
ments made by l.. r. Page i'm his roosn
at the Knutsford last evening. and he
said many other things regarding good
roads that indicated that the people OF
Utah who are enthusiastic over the
subject are 60 be congratulated upon
having him with them at their c0nven-
ton in this city which meets this
morning in the aTmory at 10 o'clock.
Mr.. Page, as is well known, is con-
sidered the best informed man in this
country on the subject of good roIds.
He is at the head of the highway con-
struction bureau of the department Of
agriculture, and, previous to being ap-
pointed to that position, he had a long
experience concerning good roads. hav-
ing specialized in that branch Of en-
gineering in college, taught road build
ing in college, served seven years and
a fraction as a member of the Massa-
Chusetts highway commission and
spent considerable time in France stu
dying and working on road making un-
der one of the best known authorities
in the world. And he has come to Salt
Lake City. 50 he assured The Herald
reporter. with the idea Of doing any
thing and everything in his power 10
encourage and help the good roads
movement in this state. He brought,
as he had promised 10 do, his stereopti-
con slides which illustrate his lectures
on road building. and his address viii
be a special feature Of the convention
tomorrow night
In Favor of State Aid.
Mr.. Page was much interested n the
measures fl is proposed to INTRODUCES IT
the present session of the legislature
for good roads. and especially with the
provision asking for state aid. BY all
means" he said, get the state aid
measure through. ] am heartily in IA
for Of that. It has worked successfully
in other states It creates q sentiment
for building good roads, but don't for
get to make provisions for maintaining
the roads after they are built. Usually
the provisions of state aid for good
roads are for direct appropriations to
any county IN the state showing a de-
sire to construct a road under the ap-
proved regulations, the state to pay an
agreed upon proportion OF the cost q
the road.
Keep the Roads Good.
NO matter what form the state aid
measure takes, there should be album
daHt provisions for maintenance Of the
roads. That IS something this country
must learn. We spend more money
than France for building roads, snd
much less for maintaining them.
France has the best roads because the
system of maintenance is strict. Roads
there are divided into section. and q
man goes over each section daily just
as regularly as the railroads are in
spected daily i'm this country.
In 1904 I compiled a census Of the
roads iu every county i'm the United
States. It was big task, requiring
the writing Of over 100000 letters. I
found that we had in all 2,l55.000 miles
of public roads outside OF munisjpali-
ties. Of these $4,000 miles were Of ma
cadam and about 10 per cent were Of
gravel, etc. The amount for years
spent on maintaining thrs. roads was
only 5000. 600 At the Same time 1
found that England. with only 150.O00
miles OF roads. spent on maintenance
$50. 100000. We are not spending enough
money in this country on maintenance
Of good roads.
Where Experts Are Needed.
The whole system IF road building
in this country is wrong. The old
method of putting the matter in the
hands of county commissioners who
appoint rOadmasters. is not right. Men
Gre placed ir charge of rural road com
ssrUctiou who know nothing Of the
work. They are not required to be ex-
Tc~ts. Country roads shnuld be built
under The supervise % Of expert Rad
bJiIbers. aud that f. something the
people Of this country are just begin
ming to learn.
Continued from page 3.