Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1909-06-04
COST OF POOR ROADS
Waste of Labor In Hauling Crops
to Market.
WHAT THE MUD TAX FIGURES.

en- Six Hundred Million Dollars Is tn
Price We Pay Annually For ou
impossible Hishways-What Is Be
ing Done to- improve Them.
1t cost a little over billion dollars
to haul the farm crops of America tt
market last year With good roads
roads such ms are TO be found in some
parts of America and in all parts OF
France, the marketing of the crops
would have cost S4O0.0O0.00O, Six hun
the price We pay In this land of the
free for having impassab Bile roads, says
a writer In the st. Louis Times. Did
ever Il nation spend so much for so
doubtful luxury before? With Amer
ican roads lying open and fathomless
before the eyes of our foreign critics.
what monstrous injustice 1t is to talk
of American dollar worship!
Most men of middle age can recall
the annual picnic known as mending
the roads. Just why 1t got that name
no one has ever explained. for In prac-
tically every case the picnic left the
roads in worse condition than before
The law in many states prescribed
that each resident of a rural district
must pay a certain road tax in labor
each year. The payment of this tax
was done under the supervision of a
local officer. known as the pathmaster.
The customary time of payment was
in ho ri
ing time, when there wasn't much else
for the men and teams to do The
neighborhoCd tur.ed out with horses
and plows and harrows. ripped I'D |
diverse sections Of highways which |
the years travel had packed to more
or less navigabIe condition, rounded
them up nicely In the middle and
scratched them up smooth with the
harrows. You were never expected to
work very hard at these festive occa-
s1ons, and the pathmaster who insisted
on real work soon found himself un-
popular. 1t was just as well, for. since
nobody had any knowledge of road
making, the more work the worse re-
'ults.
what some Of these results were and
re we have vivid testimony. Across
oWa last winter the racing" autos
lad to take to the railroad tracks be-
ause the common roads were simply
mpassable. Last March some mis-
uided creatures began an automobile
ace from New York to Savannah, Ga.
was just at the opening Of naviga- r
lon on the country roads of the mid
lie south, the time when the roads are II
% thin for wheels and too thick for r.
oats. Across Virginia each racing I
utomobile had an escort Of six mules g
pull 1t out Of extra deep mudholes 81
40 to haul Its emergency rations of e)
isol1ne. Usually this was enough, but fl
hen an auto was so thoughtless as to %
ay In the mudhole all night the mule re
ans had to be doubled and all the ir
sgroes of the neighborhood comman- g,
'ered to service before that particu- al
r contestant could proceed. The vi
GERS averaged four miles per hour re
ross the Old Dominion-a perfectly IT
unning rate of speed. all things con- pC
dered. ~
And yet the roads of America are fo
stly better than they once were, and ca
Improvement Is going ON apace. W
lie United States government is lend w
hand by setting its spare scien- of
ITS to work teaching the people Of ca
ferent regions how to make the best ro
ads at the least cost. The states are TO
Ing vastly more. New York in 1905
ted to spend S50,000,O 900 on her high 20
lys, and, while no other state is in he
sting in roads at that rate all are TO
Ing something. 70
'ities are finding 1t good business to VIC
prove the roads leading out into the tes
ming region, the farmers are begin th,
lg to tax themselves In a rational ne
hion for highway Improvement, and sal
ny philanthropists have passed by fri
conventional college and library
lation to spend their surplus funds
good roads. Historic mudholes are
ng slowly filed up, stone and con- Flu
te are replacing the crazy wooden
dges, and a hundred inventions F
re been made to help get the best ers
ults for the lowest expense. Wg
ONE of the last deserve attention. ing
cadam roads have long been ac- CIR,
ted as the standard Of highway Inl
struction. But macadam roads of ten
old pattern. with crushed stone am
1t inches thick, cost from $4,000 TO ins,
900 per mile. Now It has been STIR
nd that three or four Inches will 1911
quite as well. and the cost is cut Il
arely In two. In some parts of the a D
trail states. where crushed stone is bel,
:. 1t has been found that the very Pal
which makes the roads almost i'm kan
sable is the best trackmaklng ma. roa,
NJ when burned. In yet other re- han
IS the farmers have discovered ada
to make good roads by the simple disc
edient of rolling or dragging them
Z each rain. and IN yet other places
fixture OF sand and clay, costing ia
or $500 mile, Is found almost spec
ood as the best macadam. whi
is well that the roadmaking ma. owe,
lis are abundant ard vsried. for rabl
are roads enough In the United Max
es to reach eighty-six times around mass
earth at the equator. and nearly ery
those roads are bad. The advo- Janf
Of good highways will ind ample road
for their missionary enterprise very
generation to come. toria
once