Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-08-18

Is too expensivel.
where these materials are to be had,
as in your county and elsewhere. nearly
all the roads are dirt roads, and there,
as here. the practical problem seems
to be how to make, or more properly
speaking, how to keep UP a road built
out of earth The dirt roads of the
country are the present day problem
not only in Iowa, burt elsewhere. Not
two per cent of the roads in America
are what you call improved roads or
roads surfaced with hard material.
Even in New York state nearly all
the roads are dirt roads. and during
the present generation it is fair to ex
pect that Iowa people will do their
travelling and hauling chiefly over dirt
roads.
Less Than 200 Miles Year.
We have in the state of Iowa approx
inately 100 COO miles of public highway.
Suppose we row begin to build perma-
nent roads on the New York plan, and
suppose we build these roads as fast
as New York has built them. You say
that the state of New York began
building these roads II about 1895. and
UP 70 June 1. 1910, a period of twelve
years, they had managed TO bald 200
miles of road. which is less than 200
miles year. AT this rate il would
take $40 years 10 macadamize the roads
of Iowa, or in other words it would be
600 years before we would be thru with
our dirt road problem.
Macadam in Massachusetts.
l have before me a road bulletin, is
sued by the department of agriculture.
from which it appears that in the state
Of Massachusetts. il costs an average
Of s5,49e per mile to build a macadam
road fifteen feet wide. and in that state
broken stone and screenings are album
dant. After the nacadar road is
built there is the problem OF its main
terance. Loose stones will appear upon
the surface and the road has the ap-
pearance OF going to pieces. The ma
cadam shortly becomes worn. and it re-
quires patching. repairing and resur-
facing. The road settles and is apt to
get out Of shape, and it is a fight to
keep it up. According 20 good author
ity the work of repair on macadam
should begin the day IL is finished. To
be sure il does not require much at
tention for the first one or two years,
bur it has to be watched closely all the
time, and TO be cared for promptly or
it goes TO pieces and a bad macadam
road IS about the worst proposition
one can encounter. ! recently Travelled
over five miles of ,naca dam just west
of Omaha. and l never have seen so
rough a road in all Iowa. I was told
that heavily loaded wagons were
breaking down on this road daily. and
teams loaded and otherwise. We're
making long detour to reach rather
poorly kept dir, road. and TO avoid this
stretch of macadam. Good roads,
whether nacad dam or dirt. require con-
slant care and good mana cement We
are given to thinking that the So called
permanent roads are somthing that
take care of themselves. but the fact
is that il costs vastly more 10 keep
macadam road in repair than we are
paying for the maintenance of our dirt
roads. According 10 road bulletin is
sued by the department OF agriculture
it costs the state of Massachusetts.
which is the home Of macadam. 500
per mile per year to keep its nlaca-
dam roads in good repair.
lowa's Tax Levy.
The present Iowa road tax levies of
four mills by the township trustees.
and one mill by the county board of
supervisors. produce about s25 per
mile per wear. or only one fourth
enough to keep a macadam road in re-
pair. Ii will cost from So 900 10 $40
900 per mile 20 build macadam road
fifteen feet wide in Iowa, the cost de-
pending on the character and the con-
fguration OF the ground. and the roads
location with reference to building ma
terial. Do YOU think the farmers of
Iowa viii vote direct tax of this
amount? VIII they even vote four per
cent bonds Of $4,000 to $4,000 per
mile? II they do the increase on
these bonds s24o to $500 per mile per
year will have TO be provided for by an
annual tax and this added to the 500
per mile for repairs. will necessitate
our raising by tax s340 70 $500 per
mile per year, or ten to twenty times
cur present tax levy.
This enormous sum would merely
keep up the current expenses of ma
cadam road, and would not provide
sinking fund or pay a dollar of the
debt or cost price of the road. 1t
seems to me, that the cost of macadam
is prohibitive and entirely out of our
reach. We might as we'll CRY for the
moon" do not believe any large
amount of -Eacadam will be built in
genera zion.