The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-09

State he can keep posted as to the rise and fall of the markets and instead of storing his cotton in the warehouse in the towns, it win enable him to in- sure and keep his products for the markets at home. until he is ready to dispose of fhem. Every farmer real ixes the condition of some of our roads whn he hauls his fertilizers before the spring planting. and if instead of the muddy. sloppy and hfliy roads. he had road with easy grades. dry, solid, and we'll drained 1t would enable him to haul a heavier load with less fla tigue to his stock. thereby saving time and money.
 Many of the people are moving from the country into the towns and cities for better school facilities and social pleasures, whereas If they had good roads 1t would give them better ad-. vantage and quicker access to the towns. besides greatly increasing the value of property.
 The merchant derives a great benefit from this movement especially in our smaller country towns, where most of his Customers are farmers. and we all are aware of the fact that the towns that have the most good highways leai- ing into them are the most prosperous
 Automobiles are being used and In some cases their owners have estab- lished regular lines between points, and they too can reap the benefit of our good roads Every one knows the difference between a good road and a bad one, and is willing to admit that the improvement of our highways Is an important feature in our commer- cial life and an essential factor in the further development of our State. The improvements of our highways is be- rorntnc nacaaa aftv s1A fha ffrf,a fu rfpa and at hand for quick transportation. so we must solve this problem by the building of better roads. Statistics show that in 1904 there were about 50.- 0S9 miles of public road~in the State. while only about 1.72o miles were inn proved. The largest per cent of im- proved roads were, surfaced with gray el. whereas a very small per cent. were constructed with sand and clay mix lures. have been over every road In Jefferson county, as well as in several other counties and am under the im- pression that Jefferson has more good roads than any other county in the State. Tn 1904, out of total of about 1,400 miles of road, she had about 400 miles of highways constructed: which were surfaced with gravel and stone. and, I suppose, that since then has done a great deal toward the Improvement
 
 one of our largest cities Is located in this county, and the advantages are far b$uperior, not only from financial standpoint. but because she has access tp stone. clay, and many other materi- a1s that are used and are valuable in highway construction. Good results can be had in many of our other coun- ties where 1t is impracticabie to get stone. by using clay and sand or clay tnks .t.. ed Is an excellent material for roads.
 Location Considered.
 A matter of first importance to be considered in the Improvement of our highways Is their location, which here tofore has seldom been properly con. sidered Most of our highways, as all doubtless know were constructed along paths and trails cut through the will derness from one settlement to anoth- CT, and the construction of the roads followed the general development of the country, ani were in no sense sya- tematic. We are all aware of the fact that those roads were not located in the best possible position, which of course was unfortunate and is to be regretted. but which cannot be rem edied without relocation. but we must bear in mind that the conditions now are entirely different and we should make strenuous effort to relocate our highways with careful consideration. As rule those who laid out these roads were not engineers. neither dfd they appreciate nor understand the en- gineering features involved but felt as if they had done their full duty by selecting the shortest distance between points and having located the roads satisfactorily to the property owners along the line. never considering the great importance of grades nor look ing forward to the selecting the best routes with due consideration to drain age. which is the most important fac- tor in highway maintainance Many of the roads were located along land and section lines without regard to wheth- or the route was over hill or through swamps. I will admit that it is well enough to locate road where 1t can be used as permanent land or section line. where the topography of the roun- try will admit of it. otherwise 1t should be abandoned. The man who locates a highway should go over the entire ground thoroughly and make a 1 careful study of the route traversed l which of course will enable him to