Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-06-23

wherein one may ride or drive with
pleasure or have a full load without
strain upon the horse, vehicle or har-
ness.
To do this the road must have a
hard, smooth surface n Offer b
minimum of resistance. This requires
the surface to be "metaled," as the
English say, i. e., covered with gravel.
broken stone or an equivalent.
An earth road may be IN excellent
one today and tomorrow a very bad
one. 1t may be a delight in June and
a fright in March. Such roads have
the virtues of a balky horse-they are
liable to fail when most wanted. With
a stone or gravel road, leading from
the farm, should a heavy rain occur In
the busy season, when for a day or so
it Is too wet to go into the field, the
errands to town may be done, sew
eral loads of grain or hogs taken to
market, and the time we'll employed.
With the average earth roads, when
the fields are too wet to work, the
roads are too muddy to travel. Hence,
the writer holds to b opinion above
expressed, that no earth road Is en-
titled to be called a good road, because
SO much of the time it is positively
bad.
The extravagant claims that have
been made for the road drag are really
holding back the building Of good
roads. Many have believed that all
that was required to have good roads
was to go up and down a streak of
mud ice or twice, say Presto" and
behold. a good highway. This is sheer
nonsense. The loud acclaim Of q
River to River Road" made good in
an hour or So is a myth. This famous
road was greatly improved by the drag
ging, but it is not a good road, and
never will be until it is thoroughly
drained, properly graded and has a
hard, durable wearing surface placed
upon it.
1t Is human nature to hunt for sons
easy, cheap and speedy way to do
things, and usually no sooner has one
discovered how to make some progress
toward a solution, than he
a complete revolutionary discovery that
sets aside all experience and prece-
dent, and gains something for nothing.
The split log drag is directly in point.
The people may as we'll make up
their minds now, as to find out later,
that good roads cost money and lots of
1t, but they are worth many times
their cost and they will pay for them
selves yer and over again every dec.
ade. A we'll drained and we'll built
macadam road with a good binder may
cost anywhere from $4,000 to $4,000
per mile, but. such a road with mod
crate repairs will last for generations.
Hence the future should bear part of
the burden. There Is only one sensi.
BILE, businesslike way to build good
roads, and that is, by state aid, where
by the state, preferably from a long
time low a bond issue, pays part of
the expense, and the township issues
bonds, running from 20 to 80 years, for
it's part. In this way all the roads
needed in a township-the main roads
can be improved at once, and the
payments spread over the present and
the coming generations.
BY building all at once from ten
to twenty per cent. can be saved in the
cost Of the work, and the community
a the roads to use from the start.
OF course interest must be paid on the
bonds, but against this goes the use of
the roads. If this is not worth more
than the interest 1t IL better not to
build the roads. The road question is
a big one and must be- handled In q
big way.