The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-10-02
Gold and Silver Medals Offered to
Children for Best Essay on Re-
pair and Maintenance of
Earth Roads.

washington, -. u, sept. ZS.-Ine
Director of the Office of Public Roads
of the Department of Agriculture,
Logan Waller Page, has announced
that the time in which children may
submit essays on the repair and
maintenance of earth roads, in COM
petition for the gold medal and the
two silver medals, has been extended
to March 2, 1914.
The conditions for the essay con-
test are as follows:
1.-The Subject of the essay will
be "The Repair and Keeping Up of
Earth Roads,
Pit is open only to children from
ten to fifteen years, inclusive, who
are actually living on farms and who
are actually attending some school.
3-The essay should be not more
than eight hundred words in length,
in the handwriting of the child, and
should be written on only one side
of the paper.
An the upper left hand corner
of the first page should appear the
following statement: Essay on
Earth Roads by (name of child; age
of child; actual residence Of child;
school attended by child.)
5--Children wishing to enter this
contest may ask the advice OF their
parents, teachers, neighbors, high
way commissioners, and other people,
and read books or magazines giving
information about the subject. They
must not give the information they
gain in this way in the exact words
of an adult or the author of book.
They must express the ideas in their
own language. They will not be ex-
pected to use technical terms and
any words that make the meaning
clear will be acceptable.
6-The Essays will be rated by an
impartial committee according to
the understanding of the subject
shown by the child and according to
the penmanship, English, and spell
ing. The writer of the best essay
will receive a gold medal; the writer
of the next best essay, a silver medal;
and the writer of the third best es-
say, silver medal.
ALI essays should be plainly ad-
dressed, in an envelope stamped with
a two-cent stamp, to: Committee on
Childrens Road Essay Contest, Office
of Public Roads, U. S. Department of
agriculture, Washington, D. c., and
should be mailed to reach that office
not later than 8 a. m. on Monday,
March 2, 1914.
S-Children who have already
submitted essays in that contest
which was originally announced to
close October 18th, may if they wish,
submit second essay.
AS help to children, the sugges-
lions given below are made. Chill
dren need not follow these sugges-
tons absolutely. They must not
submit essays in the form of direct
answers to these questions. They
must not quote any OF the following
material word for word.
How to Tell a Good Road from Bad
~ Road.
To the Children: In getting facts
to write your essays for the prize
contest on the repair and mainte-
nance of earth roads, use your eyes.
Look at bad piece of road and a
good piece of road when both are
dry. Study, particularly, the ruts
and holes and uneven places in the
road to see whether they make it
easier or harder for the wheels of a
loaded wagon to go along. Study the
kind of footing that the two roads
give to the horses.
Now, study the same stretches Of
road after a good rain storm. You
Will see that one road holds small
puddles, or pools, of water that keep
the road soft and so allow it to be
cut up by the wheels of the wagons
and the hoofs of the horses. How do
road builders keep water from gath
ering on the travelled way of road?
Should the road slope to the side
bitches? How much higher should
the center, or crown of the road be
than the outside edges Of the road?
Why do good bitches at the side of
the road help make the center of the
road better for hauling? What hap
pens when bitches get full of rubbish
or weeds? When a ditch along a
road holds water or collects it into
pools, how does this injure the road?
Using a Drag on Earth Roads.
Have you ever seen homemade
road drag? 1t is made by splitting
in two log six or eight inches in
thickness and about six or eight feet
long The two halves of the log are
set three feet apart with their
smooth faces forward and upright.
They are fastened together with
braces. A pair of horses are hitched
to a chain fastened to the front half
of the log. Should these logs be
drawn straight down the road, or
should it be dragged at slant so
that little of the loose earth will
slide toward the center of the road?
Should the dragging be started next
to the ditch, or at the center of the
road? Should you drag the whole
road in one way, or drag each half
of it in an opposite direction? Should
the dragging be done when the road
is dry. or after it has rained? A
good strong pair of horses with a
we'll built drag can drag about three
or four miles of road in day. What
would it cost a farmer to drag four
miles of road? How would he be re-
paid for the cost of his labor?
Remember, children, you are not
to answer these questions as if you
were answering an examination pa
per. You are to think about the
answers and ask people for informa-