Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1911-10-13

official Paper OF City and Count,
BETTER ROADS TO HEAVEN
Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones at the Coco
Roads Convention in Chicago recently
said: Good roads pave the way to
heaven" and overlooked to mention
the destination of the bad roads. If
they lead US in the opposite direction
the Iowa people should sit up and
take notice."
The Good Book tells US what hap
pened the foolish man who builded his
house upon the sand, and the wise man
who founded it upon rock, and yet
the people of Iowa 60 on year after
year doing just what the foolish man
did in the building of our country
highways.
Every body knows that highway
made of dirt and soil, built on mud
and sand foundation is failure.
The writer makes no claim of being
an expert in road making or anything
else, but knows from experience that
what appears good thing in theory
may prove a partial or total failure
in practice.
If you have paid for good macadam-
asphalt, concrete, or brick highway in
front of your residence you know that
it costs lot of money, but would you
want to return to mud road with
your money back? Certainly not.
The Chicago paper that figured it
cost six hundred millions annually to
market the products Of the u. s.,
would have no trouble in proving that
it cost more to own and support a poor
road, poor horse, cow, pig, or any.
thing poor than good one. Only the
very rich can afford the luxury OF a
poor road.
The writer when in Europe where
they have fine macadam roads, observ-
ed in various places in large cities, and
and also in the country where the
grades were steep, two flat iron rails
were laid. The rails we're about six
inches in width laid to one side on the
macadam highway, where single horse
would pull load ON the iron rails twice
as large as he could haul on the hard
macadam. Anyone must have noticed
in our large cities how rapidly team
heavily loaded, will move on street
car rail when pressed by the conductor
to get off. and how slow when on the
macadam, and slowere still on the mud
road.
Any body knows the difference in
power required to run his bicycle on
cement walk than on country road.
Think, what road bed and a couple of
three inch rails does for the engine.
That's all we proposal country road
bed properly tiled, and concrete rail.
Suppose our transportation compa-
MES had no road bed and had to haul
farm products to Chicago and New
York over mud roads, how much would
your farm be worth? How much would
there be left after you paid the haul
ing? Iowa farms would be abandoned
and our waving fields of golden grain
turned into wilderness Of weeds.
The railroads revoIutionized the CON-
merce of the world, and a concrete
track will revolutionize the farming in
Iowa. The reason railroad company
builds track on road bed and builds
better beds all the time in preference
to hauling over mud roads is this:
''They use their heads in the game,
while the people Of Iowa use their feet.
The railroad company know the better
the road the easier the hauling and
consequently. the greater the profit
Now, If my theory works out in prac
tice. country roads could be construct
ed rapidly, cheapIy built, and
maintained all over the country.
propose that concrete track be
laid about six inches thick and about
eighteen inches wide on top, and per-
haps twenty-four inches at bottom for
the wagon to run on, set down or I'M
bedded in our present highways regular
width to fit standard wagons. AT in
tervals of six or more feet it might be-
wise to put iron rods through the con-
crete near the bottom as ablnder The
center of track " remain we'll filled
with the highway material as as it Is.
Our present highways in Iowa, as
they are rounded up and smoothed over,
will answer very we'll to dig double
trench six inches deep and twenty -four
inches wide to lay the concrete in, but
to make the road permanent as pos
sible, it must be lled to one or both
sides when necessary. TIE road must
be fixed so no water can ever work in
under the road. With the tiling thor
oughly don the highway will take care
of all the rain and snow that may fall
on the road.
The cost of constructing road of
this kind will vary AS to localities.
Bridges, culverts and thing must be
sufficient to quickly carry all surplus
water, and when completed we will
have highway that will be the delight
of everybody. The cost Of building two
wagon tracks, say eighteen inches each
in all Sc inches in breadth and SIX
inches thick of concrete compared with
macadam road thirty feet wide need