The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1909-01-06

IMPROVED HIoHWA1B WILL BOLVE IL.
along stretches of impassab!e thor
oughfares which had as a basis the
sticky "gumbo" clay of the south,
burnt them to such purpose that the
clay was changed entirely In chnrac-
ter and then supervised the construc-
tion of road that for hauling pur-
poses Is little short of the splendid
macadam roads of the north and east.
"It depends entirely upon the char
acter Of the country through which
the road passes" said Mr.. Humphreys
when asked what It all cost. "If It be
wooded SO that fuel can be bought
for. say, $1.25 cord. the road can be
made for $500 mile. I may say
that II costs from one-half to one.
nth as much ms a macadam road
costs. and It Is as easily and as cheap
u maintained.
-In country where the people
have never gone into the building OF
good roads the thought of paying
$4,000 mile seems prohlbitlve.
Whero the experiment is once made,
however. we all know that the people.
and especially the farmers, who usual.
ly nt nrst nre most violently opposed
to tho undertaking, demand that the
roads be constructed and are most
willing to benr the tax"
In explaining low easily the bur-
den OF taxation would be borne, even
II tho authorities of his county de-
cided to expend a half million IN the
construction of perfect system of
high clnss roads. Mr.. Humphreys
0aId. 1:If tho farmer. instead Of haul
/, tug Six bales OF cotton with two
mules, MS could be done with ease last
winter. over the burnt clay road near
y 'Greenville 0he one built as model
by Engineer Spoon of Director Pages
odlce), could. haul but two. he would
be taxed for a bad road at higher
tate than anybody was ever taxed
for good road, not counting the wear
and tear on mules and wagons.
II have seen seed cotton In the
pens In July which had been picked
Ofter the rains had begun to fall in
the previous winter and which had
DOT been hauled to the railroad where
Wero too bad to travel. Think of the
tax that man was paying, and that.
10. for road he could not trayelT'
Mr.. Humphreys. who has taken a
G1nat interest In, the splendid work
being done by Director Page and who
e apparently thoroughly familiar
With the experiments and scientific
adyaneements being made by TINT
scholarly road expert. named a NUM-
ber Of the publications issued by the
o6iee and told OF the vast benefits the
farmers of the country were receiving
through their distribution. He refer.
Eod especially to the efficacy of the
split log drag ms road builder and
Ennintainer and read letters from men
who had attained the most gratifying
results from the use of this simple
but effective device.
Last year the 100000 miles Of poor
roads In the United States cost vast
fortune to the farmers and incidental.
~ another to the city men. the added
cost to the farmers Of hauling farm
products over the we'll nigh impassa
bid roads being in the end paid by the
men who consume them.
Sptistics gathered from the leading
eouAtries of Europe prove that the
eose of hauling over the American
Foadh. Is far higher than in any othel
county. the average In France, Ger
many and England being u cents q
"a mile last year to a cost of % cent?
k4tG That difference Of "a cent? e
u