Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1911-07-28
WANTS NEW SYSTEM
OF ROAD BUILDING

That the present road building and
road repair system in vogue in Jose
phine county must be changed before
this county will ever have decent
roads Is statement of a man of af-
fairs in Grants Pass in statement
made to The Courier. The speaker
declares the present roads in this
county a menace to life anu rlmp and
a standing stigma on the whole ped
pie, but stigma for which the peo-
pie are not to blame. The Grants
Pass business man spoke as follows.
Not until the present system of
caring for the roads of Josephine
county is changed will the roads be
fit to travel over. We have board
of county commissioners. The sys-
TEN is for these officials to meet,
hurry to get through and hurry back
to their own private affairs; they
hurry to get through with the coun-
tvs business involving many thou
sands of dollars that they may hurry
back to their business involving only
a thousand dollars or so. 1t is hur-
ry here and hurry there, and the re-
suit is that the money the people of
this county pay in taxes is not eXpend-
ed in the way to bring benefit or
good roads. | am not criticising the
commissioners individually or col
lectively for any shortcomings they
might have, but | am critici2ing the
system. 1t is high time the people
of this county were changing the sys-
TEN. We are carrying on the same
old methods that were used in the
SOS and the sixty years since have
brought no relief. 1t is hardly neces-
sary to point to the sickening trag-
edy near Kerby several days ago,
when little child's life was destroy
ed and others of the family fearfully
burned as a result of a piece OF road
that is standing menace to life;
nor to the accident to a mining en-.
gineer, who almost suffered the dis
location of the vertebrae in his neck
when an auto in which he was rid
ing, hit bad piece of roadway. These
are but two. instances of suffering.
''The fearful cost In money and
time which the people of Josephine
county must bear each month is un-
necessary. If we can't have good
roads after co years of civilization in
the county, when, pray, are we to
ever have them? In my opinion we
will never have them until We change
the present system of road building.
In this connection l am reminded of
a story | read a few days ago which
illustrates what l mean Somewhere
at some time this same problem was
up, and one earnest individual re-
marked that the system of building
the roads in that particular county
should be charged. Another one spoke
up and said; What do you want to
change the system for? As Ii is the
road overseer sometimes takes 1t in
to his head that the road needs work
ing. He ariseth in the morning, ca
vortes on his steed over the district,
notifies all the settlers in and around
his bailiwick that the road will be
worked tomorrow. On the morrow
they all meet, discuss everything un-
der the sun, go home AZ night and.
sir, they have not injured that road
a particle. Now what do you want
to change the system for?'
That is good example of the
backwoods methods of road work
In Josephine county We have men in
charge of certain stretches of road,
some of them know no more about
building a road than they know about
building a balloon. They will dig
here and dig there, just where they