Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-03-11

Il have Just put my name to the toI
and bottom Of this article, lest my
ideas be mixed up with those of any
Of the prominent Good Roads Com
mittees.-B Hofer.)
The greatest problem to deal will
is the people who by peculiar circum.
stances have been trying to frame
laws and solve the good roads prob.
lem. II in country school teacher
went up to the blackboard and tried
to show the pupils how to do arith-
metic, and did not understand the ele-
mentary science Of mathematics, could
not state the problem, could not sep
arate the factors, and had no expert
ence in doing sums" that person
would be laughed at by the children,
and would not command any respect
as a teacher. But anyone who has
given road building no thought, who
has never built roads, and who has
paid no attention to the actual factors
OF the problem in Oregon, seems to
be perfectly competent to get up road
laws and instruct the public
First let II break through the cram
iums OF the good roads reformers that
they cannot sweep away the present
system Of local and county road build
Ing Poor as It may be, the road sys-
TEN like any other function or gov
ernmental service, is a growth, an
evolution out Of necessities that began
when the first white man followed the
trail beaten by the native Americans
over the mountains and through the
valleys Of Oregon. Any attempt to
wipe out all county and local super
vision will fail because 1t is contrary
to the very law of human progress.
A state highway system can be given
the people, but It cannot interfere
materially with what the people all
rendy have. The local road supervisor
is a big man in his way The county
courts and commissioners are bigger
men In their way than the Portland
Good Roads experts who serve on
committees and then are forgotten be-
cause their work Is not scientific. Not
scientific because not correlated to
the community In which they live. Inn
practical because not workable, will
never be adopted and II It were adopt
ed nothing could or would be done
under It, That has been the kind of
work that has been done for the past
ten years In Oregon on paper and we
are ten years behind other states on
account Of the ignorance and incapac-
ity that has been displayed
(Wltness the Tuttle road law and
other road laws)
To begin with, let us separate clear
ly the factors of the problem. Let
us assume there are such classfca-
tions possible, as follows:
1, The local highway used only by
the precinct nelghborhood,
2, The county highway used by the
people of the county more or less
3, The state highway, used by peo-
pie OF two or more counties, and the
whole state more or less.
When my dear friends Of the State
Highway commission, High Mucki-
muoks of the State Grange, the State
Labor Federation, and state society Of
mllllonalres, are talking about state
and county bond issues--whlch seems
to be about as far as they ever get
they really have In mind to do some
thing about permanent state high
ways. For the sake Of this little les
son to the primary class In road
building, let us leave out OF consid-
GRAFTON the first two classes OF high
ways, and talk about the state high
way. What Is a state highway? State
aid, state supervision and state con-
troll cannot be extended to the purely
county and local roads But there is
and should be a clearly defined entity
TO be classed as a state highway, and
to this let us bend our gigantic intel
lects for a time We are like horses
and we cannot entertain more than
one idea at time, and some Of us
cannot do Justice to that.
A state highway is clearly one that
extends through two or more counties
aud is used more or less by the whole
state. Now the primer class having
grasped that should try TO gather
clearly the elements that can be unit.
ed TO build that highway permanently
under state control and state super
vision, for the time forgetting the
local roads and the road supervisor
and the county courts. They will bob
up II you step on their toes, because
they are Just as big men as YOU gen