The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1911-06-15

, wherein one may ride or drive WITH
pleasure or have q fun load without
strain upOn the horse. vehicle or har
ness.
TO do this the road must have q
hard, smooth surface and offer the
minimum Of resistance. This require
the surface to be "mcta,ed." as the
English say, t. e. covered with grave.
broken stone or an equivalent.
An earth road may BE- an excellent
one today and tomorrow a very bad
one. It may be a delight In june and
4 fright IA March Such roads have
The virtues Of baIky norse--they are
liable 10 fall when most wanted. With
stone or gravel road. leading from
The farm, should a heavy rain occur IN
the busy season, when for day or 80
i Is too wet to 50 into the FIELD, the
nrrands TO town may be done, se,
erai loads OF grain or hogs taken to
market and tho time well emproyrI
With the average earth roads. whom
the fields are too wet 10 work. the
roads are too muddy to travel. Hence
The writer holds to the opinion above
Expressed. that no earth road IL en-.
titled 10 be called n good road. because
so much Of the time It is positively
bad.
The eTtravagant claims that have
been made for the road drag are really
"oi!ng back tho building OF good
roads. Many have believed that all
that was required 10 have good rgads
vas to go up and down q streak OF
mud once or twice. say Presto" and
behold, a good highway This is sheer
nonsense. Tho loud acclaim Of a
River TO River Road" made good in
an hour or so IS q myth. This famous
rood was greatly Improved by the drag.
sing, but It Is not good road and
"aYcr will bo until It is thoroughly
Trained, properly graded and has a
hard, durable wearing surface placed
upon IT,
It Is human nature to hunt for some
"asy, cheap and speedy way to do
'hingf and usually no sooner has one
discovered how 10 make some progress
toward q solution. than he announces
a complete revolutionary discovery that
sets aside all experience and prece.
dent, and gains something for nothing.
Tho split log drag Is directly in point.
The people may as well make up
their minds now, as to ind out later.
that good roads cost money and lots of
It, but they are worth many times
their cost ami they viii pay for thon.
selves over and over again every deo
ade A well drained and we'll built
macadam road with good binder NAV
COS; 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 sensl
bic, businesslike way to build good
roads. and that Is, by state aid. whers
hy the state, preferably from long
Tine low rate bond issue. pays par, of
The expense and the township issues
bonds, running from 20 to 80 years for
It's part. In this way oil the roads
needed in a township the main roads
can be improved at once. and the
payments spread over tho present and
the coming generations.
BY building all At once from ten
10 twenty per cent can be saved in the
'ost Of the work. and the community
las the roads 10 uBo from the start
" course interest must be paid on tho
'onds Dut against this goes the use OF
he roads. II this is not worth more
han the interest # is better not to
'uild the roads. The rond rstion Is
big enc and must be handled in
,lg way.