Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1910-06-01
ECONOMY IN ROAD
BUILDING METHODS

The lack of interest taken by many
farmers in the question of road i'm
provement has frequently been com
mented upon by the press and by adj
vocates of good roads.
The people who live on the farms
are to be benefited most by system
of highways that will afford an OPP
portunity for them to market their
produce easily at any time of the
year; that will permit the children
to attend school regularly, and ALLOW
the family the social advantages Of
the neighborhood. And yet, it has
been found that when such farmers
nre not openly hostile to road i'm
provement propositions, they are of.
ten insensible to their Importance to
themselves personally.
While such opposition to ones self.
interest is always surprising, 1t Is
one Of tho most common traits Of
human character, and instances by
the score could be cited from history
to illustrate how people have had to
have benetlcent legislation thrust
upon them because they have appar.
emily preferred no bread at all in.
stead of half loaf
AT the present time, in many differ
ent localities and for such a variety
Of reasons that they must be co.,
lated under the general head OF un-
due conservatism, there is opposition
among the ruralists to the very meas.
ures intended for their benefit. In
illustration, a current instance may
be cited: 1t is proposed to build a
cross-state road from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg in the State Of Pennsyl-
vania. East to west is the long
way Of the. state and such road
would form. ultimately, the spine for
complete trunk system of highways.
All the states which have progressed
far in the construction OF improved
roads have learned, at the cost Of con.
siderable amounts of public money,
that roads that begin nowhere and
end nowhere are not an economical
investment, and they are inaugural
ing, therefore, system Of connected
routes. 1t may be stated parenthetic-
ally, that to secure the largest bene-
fits from their improved roads, the
progressive New England states now.
propose a system connecting their en-
tire interstate territory. There was
vociferous obieetion. however. to the
plan proposed for the State of Penn
sylvania at the recent meeting of the
State Grange. One speaker declared:
"the judicious and economical con-
struction and maintenance of these
roads must be by the local supervis-
ors and they should have the expend-
ing of the townships share of the
state road appropriation"
For a great many centuries prior
to the discovery Of this hemisphere,
the people believed that the earth was
fiat, hut there are few who hold that
idea today. So, for several genera
tons 1t has been believed that local
supervisors could build and maintain
highways but that idea has been ex-
ploded by costly experiment, and pro-
s'ressive communities everywhere are
abandoning it in favor of the BUSH
ness-like system which places the
construction and maintenance of the
highways under an intelligent and re-
sponsible management.
1t would be impertinent for this
magazine to advocate any particular
scheme Of read Improvement for the
State Of Pennsylvania or for any 9TH
err state. but it is within the province
of every citizen to urge practical
business economy in the expenditure
CT public funds. and to recommend
the centralized organization of high
way deoartments and the adoption of
trunk line systems in place of the
inefficient local supervision and the
hap-hazard method of building short
stretches of road. is to urger mere
ly the application OF common sense
PRINCIPLES in matter involving vast
expenditures CT morey.-Good Roads
Magazine.