The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-02-16
FARGO INVITES
GOOD ROADS ASSN
LITToN OUTLINES WHAT HE BE.
LIEvEs SHOULD BE THE WORK
OF GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATIONS
ASKS COOPERATION OF THE
FARGO COMMERCIAL CLUB.

AT the present stage Of the game a
good roads association must of neces.
sity be largely an educational factor
said Ed Litton of Larimore in his ad.
dress before the commercial club last
evening. THE need OF better roads il
not realized but beyond that, ever
those who do realize the need have
very little conception of what a gooC
road is and how to build it.
'The present method OF workinc
road tax with no general supervision
of the work is absolutely worthless
In fact it is worse than worthless be-
! cause one man will do little patch OF
work, haul a few scrapers of dirt
where he thinks that they are needed
which may be just the place where
| they are not needed, and the so-calIed
road is in far worse shape than IL II
had been left alone
This is a big problem and needs
years of study and consideration be-
fore definite action is taken. Ny idea.
and | am only giving 1t for what it is
worth, is to have a direct money tax
for road work. New York state. after
experimenting with all kinds of plans
for better roads and after spending
millions has come to the same con
clusion. In that state they have a di-
rect money tax for road purposes.
State Highway Commission.
THAT does not mean bridge pur-
poses but it means the money is 'ex-
pended on improving the public turn
pixies or highways. There should be a
state highway commission who would
supervise the work and let it out by
contract. Then If a small piece OF
road was to be built it would be built
right and would be a real road when
it was finished. 1t is better to spend
$500 a year in one county and have a
small piece of real road as a result
than to spend several thousand dol
lars and have lot of patch work that
is worse than useless. ..
Good roads can be made from com
mon North Dakota dirt. If it is built
so that the top of the road is higher
than the surrounding land and can
be kept free from seepage and it is
properly cared for it will make an ex-
cellent highway. In Louisiana where
| they have a gumbo very similar to
that found in North Dakota, they use
oil to treat the top of the road
Mr.. Litton then told of the needs of
better roads in North. Dakota and
went into detail about many minor
matters pertaining to good roads
Local Men Voice Opinions.
Following the address a number of
members of the commercial club voiced
| their opinion as to the need of good
roads and it was the unanimous senti-
ment that Fargo should try to get the
next convention of the North Dakota
Good Roads association.
Mr.. Litton, who is secretary of this
association, explained that he would
like to have it come to Fargo. Lari-
more had had the meeting for two
years in succession and he believed
that it was no more than fair that this
section of the state should have it for
one year. He believes that Fargo is
| logical convention city and would
be able to attract larger crowd than
possibly any other city in the state.
He stated that the executive COM
mittee of the Good Roads association
had the power of saying where the an
nual meeting would be held.
The commercial club then extended
a cordial invitation to the association
to come to Fargo and Mr.. Litton will
submit this invitation to the execu-
tive committee. The commercial club
also authorized the presiding officer
to name a committee of three to see
about entertainment for the associa-
tion should they decide to come to
Fargo.
In the absence from the city of
Pres. E. ]. Weiser, Vice Pres. w. w.
Smith presided at the session last
evening