Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-04-22
ROAD MEETING. G..
State Highway Comr. Ex-
plains New Methods.
FaTmingda|e Man Criiicises
Road Machine Use.
Resolutions Adopted for State Road
Maintenance Law.

STRENGTHENING Of the roads. lining up
and grading III, bitches 80 that the
water will not stand in them and use
af the N-;ltapcd rock drain, with OUT
lets at every 200 feet, We're some of the
methods advocated hv State Highway
Commissioner Parker l.. Hardison Of
Carbon for thc securing OF better
roads IN Maine at an address delivered
Friday afternoon at the grand jury
rooms Of tie courthouse before rep
4"stnratiyt gathering Of seIectmcn,
road commissioners and road inspec-
.ors Of Eonnebec county.
Mr.. HHrdisdn IN his address went
over ti1e entire method Of Stat" road
building advocated by the department
and Illustrated the accepted methods
If construction ana ditching by means
of Charts and diagrams.
Ciav and gravel roads and their con-
StruCtion. maintenance of state roads,
the cutting of bushes and the use of
the King drag We're some Of the sub
iacts. taken np at an informal discus
sion N the afternoon in Which practi-
<alr cverv one present participated.
Frank Lowell, srIectman Of Farming
ialo. severely criticised the present
nothod of using the road machine.
said he: "The country roads are mar
rowed ur hy it and instead of one
ditch We have t0o and sometimes
three AID + 9 road is made 50 narrow
tlat two teams cannot pass without
one or both going into the ditch. Eut
.ho trouble is not with tn" read ma
chine, il is with the man behind the
machine. vino oftentimes tries To- turn
pike 4 whole town in one year
city Engineer Green Of Water1ille
spoke strongly in favor o. cutting tie
bushes beside the road SO AZ to let the
sun in upon the roads ana ditchcs.
He al"e contended that much Of the
road v.ork is done too late and favored
its being done early in the spring.
II H. Adams Of Belgrade, State
road INSPECTOR. called the attention of
thc meeting to the fact that towns
Wern alrcady noalectirg the state
roads huilt and advocated the deNisin2
by the state of somo system FOR tho
maint nance OF these roads Elmer !,
smith Of Winslow. another stat read
INSPECTOR Corrobnrat"d the statements
of Mr.. Adams and said that in som"
owns rieces of STATE Road which had
been b0ilt six or seven years ago We're
practically all gore.
Commissioner Hdrdison said that the
law applying the money received from
automobile licenses to the mainten
ancc of state ro4ds would not become
operative until after Dee. 81. 1911. Tie
amount of revenue to the department
from this law had been estimated at
$50 0G0. which would become available
il 1872 The present Legislature. he
explained. has appropriated $4,000
for each Of the two years 1911 and 1872
for the highway department and in
addition $132. 900 has been carried over
from last year, part OF which was for
work under contract.
Mr.. Green alluded to the coming
centennial uf Maine in 1920 and sug
eesied that every body should do all
tbcy could between now and then that
the states highways might look the |
aest they possibly could on the CEN
tennal.
The following resolutions, introduced |
hv II. II. adams of Belgrade, We're
adopted by the gathering:
Resolved. That it is the sense OF this !
meeting that there should be some law
enacted by the State, whereby the
state or towns shall be obliged to keep
in repair the State roa6s already built |
and further that the State Highway |
department present this resolve to the
next Legislature.
Resolved f'Iat il is Tie sense of the
mcrtin@ that the use OF the King split
log drag in our State be encouraged.
FFltc., a 1C
John Crocker. road commissioner |
Pittston Elmer +. Smith. State road
inspector. WINSTON; George w. Bail
~. road commissioner, Pittston; S. p.
Libby, w. J. C;etchell. assessors, Unity |
Pl.: joan w. James, road commission
er Randolph: II. II. HaineS. Eassal- |
Loro; w. c. Grant, \. S. Dennis, road
commissioner, Manchester; j. :, Ten |
neN. seleetman, Chelsea: Frank Rich |
ardson. commissioner; Frank Lowell, |
{. T.. Arthur. W. G. Horn, selectmen. |
Tarmingdale: Harry +. Green. city en-
Cincer. Waterville; William II. Hunt |
Readtield. If. II. Adams. State road |
inspector, Belgrade; S. A. Gay, road
commis ssioner, Readfield; G. y. HouSh- |
tor. road commissioner, Sidney; NJ. j. !
Hartman, sclectman. Readficld \. |.
Mckerney. road commissioner. Chel-
sea: $. II. Goodnow. St. Adams; George
S. =. Brannen, Boston; L. a. Davis
Benton; f. G. Childs, road commits
sioner, Vienna: c. II. Goodhue, oak
land.
The meeting at Augusta concludes
the county road meetings to be held
this woe, by State Highway Commits
e;oner Hardison. The meetings will be
continued next week, the next one be
ing at Machias in Washington county,
The meeting originally planned for
next week at Houlton will be post
roned until May 3, at which time the
nuhlic roads denartment at Washing