Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1912-05-31
from THE PEOPLE


he Oood k0Ads Movement.
= Il the Beacon,
surely Mr.. Cole had on his
lne glasses when he wrote che
icle on Good Roads, in last
ek's Beacon. A man Of intelli-
bee and with as much informa-
In as he, could not afford to put
hImself on record as an opponent of
|EoOd roads, so he simply objects to
<he means proposed to secure "a
Donsummation so devoutly to be
Fished. He claims that the de-
9ired object can be attained by q
much cheaper means than by con-
structing a macadam road. That
the same results can be accom-
plished by means of the split-log
drag, which is not at all expensive.
1t is this proposition that ]
Wish to discuss. 1t will be cheer
tally admitted that the drag will
greatly improve the condition of
The road until the next rain shall
eDme, but that you can build a
ermanent road. bed out of this
rairie mud, ,on our great thorough
pres, by simply using the drag,
to my mind, an absurdity.
If the great highways crossing
1ur county from east to west, were
|macadam, the drag could be ef-
fectively used in keeping up tine
|cross roads, the connecting links
between these highways, where
There is not such a concentration
|Of travel.
Il As proof of his proposition that
good roads can be made by simply
dragging, he calls your attention
TO the condition of what is known
rs the Glover" Brooksville road.
There is another one two miles
g0rth Of this road, and parallel
hayeh 4 the main roaal
fsew YoA Amongshe UliftonyilIe and |
Bissaild IN saey country, in going
TO Bfnl l,pfville. tits fact that
this road. west from Mr.. Coles
house, for mile, was good, after
the dragging was begun, but for
nearly two months during Decem.
Der and January conditions were
such that the drag could not be
nsed. Ask Mr.. Cole what was
bhe condition of this same road
yoing east from his houseg
It is true that along in April,
after the ''upper" Brooksville {
road had become impossible, much {
Of the travel from the eastern part s
If the county did use this road, {
put then the intervals between the G
'ains were longer, the sun was I
warmer, and thedrying out, much '
more rapid. a
Ordinarily 25 wagons pass over @
;he ''upper" road, where one '
,akes the 'lOwer," and this, in s
ny judgment, is the reason that c
he "lower'' was the better. You e
,ut the same heavy hauling on the a
lower" road, and it would have t
,een as bottomless as the other. .
In proof of this I will state that o
he road in front of my place, was Il
,ut seldom used. and though u
'ever dragged, had not single
nud-hOle in its whole length of a
wo miles. And further, Mr.. u
lem Douglass, who lives on the S;
road, says he dragged W
1NE TIMES during the winter, m
nd his road became almost i'm. 81
assable. The same was true of
ther places of this road which OF
ras dragged more or less frequent Of
7. So, from my observation, it fl
ras the amount of travel that gt
aused a condition different on the
wo roads, and not the dragging. OF
We often jump to conclusions on al
data, to sustain our V
leories, and think this a case D
! point. OF
Since the world was made, every to
ep In the march of progress, has dl
sen 0bstructed and impeded by wi
le too conservative and the pes.