The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, 1912-06-24
ADVOCATES CHANGE IN
WORKING OF ROADS
j. c. FULMER BELIEVES ROAD
BEDS SHOULD BE LEFT
UNDISTURBED.
Editor Log Cabin Democrat:

just at TINS time much is being
sand and done for the improvement of
the public roads The annual tax of
Faulkner county for the benefit of
public roads is about $9587. All who
have travelled over the county within
the last winter know that the roads
were never in worse condition than
at that time. Why is this so? 1t is
not because the money collected was
not expended on the roads. 1t is be-
cause the system of road improve
ment is not in harmony with our linn
tied amounty of money. Our present
road tax is not sufficient to keep up
the roads under the present method
of work. Under the present method
the overseer during the summer
grades the road-bed a little above a
evel with the roadscrape This makes
an excellent road for dry weather,
but when winter comes, it is almost
ru ned. The new road-bed readily alb
serbs the heavy winter rains. This
water freezes and during early
spring, when the roads are thawing
the heavy-loaded wagons cut the
roads to pieces. The roads become
almost impossible. Then the over
seer summons men with their teams
md fills up the mud-holes with large
rocks. Soon the tax money is spent
for some of these rocks are carried a
mile or more which makes the work
very expensive. As a result the roads
are left full of mudholes and rock
piles too rough for an ox-cart. Those
who travel the road must endure this
until the next summer, when the
same method of work IS used again
with the same results. Of course.
this makes a good dry-weather road
but we must preserve the old road
bed. This can be done by not plow-
ing or scraping the old road. Just
here, l think, is the remedy for this
evil AS long as the old road-bed is
torn up We must endure the same in
evitable conditions of bad roads in
winter and spring. Water is the
greatest enemy to the public road.
The remedy is to keep the water
drained from the road This can be
done with bitches on either side of
the road. The depths of these must
be adjusted to suit the conditions.
The object is to keep the water from
standing in the road. Almost all the
bad places in the road are the seepy
places. Rocks should never be put in
the road unless it is crushed, and this
is too expensive for our small amount
of money. We must work on cheap
er plan. We can do this by repairing
the roads with brush and dirt. The
overseer can continue to look over the
road and draw his pay for time
Ispent. When he notices a bad place
he can summon men and repair it
with brush and dirt. Under this
method he can keep a good road with
the required labor of four days per
capita. | wish to give an example.
Last winter there were two bad mud
holes near my home. One man and a
boy volunteered and repaired one hole
with brush and dirt in about three
hours. The cost of this was about rs
cents. The road overseer summoned
eight or 10 men and four teams to re-
pair the other hole. The cost of this
was about $40 This makes a differ
ence of $l9.25 in repairing two mud
!, holes. So it can be readily seen tina
/, under the present method we not on
n ~ have very poor roads, but mucl
money is expended in maintainin,
= them. These few suggestions are du
il to my own observation and expert
:, ence.
i Let others say something on thi
d subject so vital to all the people.
n