Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-06-22

country in the world can afford the
best roads better than Iowa. and while
I do not doubt hat such roads will
come in time. it will never be until
our people become more willing to pay
taxes for public Improvement than thew
are at present. They will nave to come
to a point where they are willing to
bond the state for a large sum-, as has
been done in many eastern states to
build permanent Dad Our people will
have to cease the cry of No a dollar
of debt for Iowa." and reflect that few
business men or farmers have ever sue
ceeded to any great extent without the
aid of borrowed money.
But these possibilities are too far
off to help this generation. Macadam
roads are slow to build as we'll as
costly. and IL we were to begin today
long time before we would have enough
TO cut much figure. SO it is up to US
to consider other a to improve
our dirt roads SO as to get the best,
possible results. The money which
comes from u present taxes is quite,
thing that is necessary is to devise
! plans SO that this money may be sf-
fectively used. There is money enough
wasted on the Iowa highways every
year to keep them in first class con-
dition for at least 10 months out of,
1 LIE IL. II QuSSllOI IS, NOW are we
going to stop this enormous waste and
use our present funds to the best adj
vantage?
This question seemed a well-nigh
| hopeless until a few years ago.
| when q Missouri farmer came to the,
his name famou over the world. D.
| Ward King, who invented the drag
which bears his name and demonstrate,
ed its successful use in making good
dirt roads. has doubtless been the
greatest contributor to practical road
III fact, / think King ought to rank,
above Macadam, since he has devised,
methods SO simple and inexpensive.
that the poorest and most u%nprogres-'
sive community car ava itself Of
them. I have had the pleasure of know
nan n must greatly admire and re-
spect. You cannot look into his honest,
gray eye and doubt his sincerity, and.
1t is we'll known that he has reapedI
little financial benefit from his good
roads propaganda. He has been con-
have started a world wide movement
to benefit his fellow man And, it is'
q worldwide movement. I have seen
the King drag used in Old England it.,
self.
Drag Most Effective.
! nave LNdO l1ic opportunity TO observe
a great deal Of the work Of this simple
implement-so simple that any farmer
can make 1T in an hour at the cost Of
a dollar or two-and l know that it Isl
the most effective means OF dealing.
with our Iowa roads. My experience.
mas bee that The expensive road
grader does not compare with the drag
the fact is that the grader is SO
often used unintelligently that 1t aver.
ages more harm than good. The drag
smooths the road and ridges 1t UP in,
the center so that the water will run
OFT and constant use gives 1t a hard
surface that will wear and shed water.
almost like a pavement. On the other
hand. the grader often heaps a lot of,
soft soil in the middle to be converted
into muck by the first rain, md. as
Mr.. King has said. our Iowa garden
poor roa material.
So confident was I after hearing Mr..
Kings lecture on the efficacy Of the
drag and after seeing him give a prac-,
teal demonstration OF its effective
ness, that I started a prize contest
Express. offering several prizes for the
best half-mile pieces OF road made,
with the drag inside OF q year. Some 80
of u farmers entered this contest and
the result was that we had many fine
half-miles Of dragged road. Later on,
tir1 BUSINESS men OIL our Town organized
q contest on a much larger scale, Of
fering several hundred dollars in
prizes. and a still larger number OF
farmers entered into this. The Judge in,
each case was Mr.. King himself, and
he complimented some OF our armers
very highly on the work which they
had done. Some OF the best pieces Of
road were fine indeed and reminded
me very strongly of splendid English
highways that l had motored over.
This was all very good, but the re-
suits were desultory, and interest of
many draggers soon died out. The
pieces Of good road were widely scat
tered. II we could have put them all
together and kept up the interest In
them. we should have had at least,
one splendid highway In our county