The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-02-20

designing is done at Manila. the
bureau furnishing plans Il speclii-
cations for all bridges and cul'erts.
Keeping Up the Roads.
These new roads are better main,
tanned than those OF the tn1teo
, States. Each OF the provinces has q
road fund, taken out Of the provincial
treasury. and every mile of road mas
one or more men employed 70 Keep
it in order. The road Hian mas
, shovcls and picks. and he spends All
| his time on the highway.
The people are now spending afout
s175 per kilometer, or in the neisn-
bOrhOOd Of 1926 a mile, q year IN
keepinc up the first-claSs roads. Inc
head man OF each division make q
special inspection Of sue roads. ana
the division engineers go over them
every two weeks. AS it is. nearly l.
900 bridges have been built since
1907.
The most important Of the new
roads now under construction are IN
Luzon. There are two principa! pro
jects. one is a wide automobile roau
running from Manila to the north
western end OF the island. and the
other is q second road from the capt.
tai to Sorsogon. IN AIbay, at the
southeastern end. When these are
completed one will be able TO travel
In an automobile posthaste from one
end Of LuZon to the other.
Already there is an excellent auto
mobile road from Manila to Baguio.
tho urnTer capital. in the noun
tains OF northwestern LuzOn, ana
there is q regular automobile service
between the two places. This car
ried eight or nine thousand passen-
gers last year. The automobiles also
;t~ranSpOrt mail and freight.
| am told the new roads have
, greatly improved the condition OF the
: localities through which they go.
: They are having the same effect as
the building Of a c railroad in the
/, United States. Villages are springing
| UP along them, new farms nave beer
t laid out and blacksmith shops are put
r up at the crossways. to make broad,
( dred art wheels.
h The Railroad Movement.
AS to the railroads the government
has been slow in granting concessions
for them. Indeed it is a questio,
whether it has not been too slow. w
g have now had the islands over twelv'
g. years, and at the present writing W,
e have not more tina 1000 miles O
q railroad. This is true notwithstand
q Ing the population numbers 10000 0
and that the country Is about tn
richest OF the world.
In this estimate I include bot
q electric and steam roads. There ar
10 about 400 miles OF railroads bein
e operated in Luzon. There are Z
miles in Panay and so miles in Ceb,
In addition something like 500 mile
3 more are in projection and %construe
d ton. and these when completed, wi
"a give lines covering the princip;
islands. 1t would seem thai electri
roads might do we'll in the Philir
pines. The mountain streams Shout
furnish electric power and mar
rs parts Of the islands are so thickl
IA populated that the roads will pa
we'll.
President Taft says that the chi;
I'd hope for profit In the railways is tt
es passenger traffic. but when one co,
DIS stders the enormous possibilities
lg. tobacco. rice, sugar, hemp and 9th
Ia heavy crops It Is hard to see why II
ne freight traffic would not pay equal
he we'll.
al When we took possession Of Il
re islands tho only road was a line !:
Ii miles long running from Mani
les north to Dagupan through q vail,
u tons. I fOde through that regit
he keeping my head we'll away from Il
re windows which were occasional
peppered by the shots Of bandits WI
ere hid IN the bamboo clurnps hero Il,
ills there. The road was poorly built Al
poorly managed. being owned byot,
he English. That road has been reco
he structed and SO extended that It ope
au up the northern part Of Luzon.
nd has a good traffic and is aid to .
,ad we'll.
100 It is now sending out branches In
bed Southern Luzon, into Batangas Tay
err bas and other provinces. The
Its sayan Islands are being opened
be by the Philippine Railway Compar
;ial several roads being under constr,
ton in Cebu and Panay. Roads ha
.ns also been planned for the Island
Negroes
ted Improving the Ports.
ork A great deal Of work is going on
9Th lettering the water transportation
az the Philippines, and the shipping I
greatly increased. There are n
nds more h 154 steamers engaged
rec the coasting trade: and there