The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-04-24
A GOOD ROADS SPECIAL.
southern Railway Will Tour the
South With Demonstration
Train i'm Nav.


Train in May.
The Southern Railway company,
working in conjunction with the
| United States office of public roads,
has decided upon a most interesting
| plan for creating sentiment for road
| building. and early in May the rail-
way will put the plan into effect.
Starting from some point in the
South not yet determined upon,
special Road Improvement Train,
consisting of three coaches--one
provided with lantern slides, stere-
| opticon and screen, another with ex-
| hibits and working modes, and a
third being reserved for the men who
are to travel with the train. will
| tour the South, stopping at all the
large cities and most of the small
ones.
The plan for a road improvement
train was adopted by the railroad
company after consultation with Of
ficials of the United States Office
of Public Roads and the American
Association for Highway Improve
ment. President Finley entered in
to the scheme heartily. He is
member of the executive committee
of the American Association for
Highway Improvement; and the
Southern Railway company, recog-
nizing the vast economic importance
of the movement for good roads, has
been doing all in its power to spread
the idea throughout the South. In
every possible way the Southern
Railway company wishes to aid in
road improvement that will make for
the prosperity of the South, and
President Finley made it possible for
| the United States Office of Public
| Roads to make arrangements for a
spectacular and instructive trip.
In the coach provided with stere-
| opticon equipment will be views
| showing all the advantages of good
roads and disadvantages of bad ones,
| There will be shown, for instance,
| the manner in which doctors are
caught in the ruts of bad roads
while on their way to patients; I'M
dertakers' wagons delayed on the
way to the cemeteries; automobiles
thrown on the road by boulder in
a bad road, and two loads of cotton.
one from a bad road territory and
the other from good road terri
tory the difference in weight show
ing the profits and losses that come
from good and bad roads.
In the second car there will be
enlarged photographs showing some
of the finest roads in the world, in
Guiding the well-nigh perfect roads
of France. These photographs will
Illustrate nearly every phase of the
good roads movement. For the far
mers and experts there will be work
| ing models in this car, showing ma
| terials that make the best roads:
the way soggy clay road can be
improved by the mixing of sand; the
way macadam and other hard roads
are built, and practical suggestions
which will be of benefit in the case
of each individual. If the farmer
has been at loss how to improve
his road he can find out all about
it by attending the train exhib bit Ar
rangements may even be made so
that the persons in each town along
the route to be traveresd may send
in specific questions before the train
arrives they being answered in the
lectures that will be given. The aim
of the Southern railway company
and the government is to aid each
individual case as much as to slim
ulate general interest in the good
| roads movement.
There will be two lecturers from
the Office of Public Roads on the
road improvement train, and the
Southern railway company will carry
| its land and industrial representa-
| tive along. These men will be pre-
pared to lecture, explain and give
| aid to the hundreds of persons who
are expected to attend the lectures
| in each town. The agricultural Of
ficial of each state will also be ask
ed to accompany the train while it
is in his territory. Other officials
will be notified from time to time,
and the county supervisors will prob
ably find the exhibit decidedly in
structive.
All the associations whose aim is
to build, improve and maintain high
ways will be invited TO take part in
the meetings.