Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-08-31

la-scs stll COO away the time in the
sweet Italian moonlight nights,
as i'm times of old, listening 10 the
sweet music of the silvcIE waters be-
low as they ripple over the stones on
their way to the sea.
Such a road would now ttst over
two hundred thousand dollars per
mile, with the modern machinery
now i'm use TO move earth and build
ing material. 1t would be cXtrava-
CANT and out Of place; yet little did
the emperor care, SO long as it made
"a fine place TO drive his golden char
lot drawn by six male lions, and the
bills footed by his subjects.
At Least One Lesson.
However, proud, vain, wicked and
destined TO fan this nation was, we
may well take lessons in road-huild-
ing, and profit by the example set
by our Old-fashiOned ancestors. Their
system was crude and more massive
in construction, but we can notice
the industry foresight and good
sense used by them, and hide our
faces in shame, when we look at the
conditions of our roads throughout
this enlightened -(?D nation Of ours.
With the fan of Rome came a long
period Of inuctiOn and these fine
roads were left 10 go down along
with a proud people-to ruin and
decay.
Thus the good lessons learned from
Egypt Babylon, CathaEe and Rome
were forgotten unul Louis XIV Of
France took IL upon himself TO do q
little road work I'm his domain col
Der was named comptroller of finance,
md given absolute control of the poor
people, whom hc forced into work ON
the roads fifteen thousand miles Of
hard surfaced roads were built under
this plan but being don" under fore
ed labor it was not popular and had
to be changed.
Napoleon a. Road Builder.
Evidently, after Napoleon had
Crossed the Alps" he rslt the necrs-
sity of better roads II was he who
founded the present splendid road
system now Iu use iu France. Treat
-auget telsford and m1cadam each
came in for their share of horors for
fine fct's Of engineering and road
construction. Although it seems that
rclfurd. the Frenchman made q bet
ter "h.r In England. MarAdam,
"a SCotCmlan and English subject,
made great fame for himself in
France
France has a school i'm which men
are specially trained i'm the science Of
road building, in an its branches,
from the chemical analysis Of the diff
tCrent materials. and tcnsil strengths
# same To the practical work on the
road. 10 is under the direct manage
mcnt of an inspector general Of
bridges and highways. who has for
his assistants chief engineer in each
with rndcr-Cncinccrs.
supplied with stll other under off
GERS down TO small officials who have
to inspect small strips Of road and
report the conditions each day. This
places the system under one manage
ment makes it uniform In cOnstruc-
tion. treats all parts Of the country
alike and right, and gives the local
men the employm n also cducates
the whole community throughout the
nation, in the work and usefulness Of
the improvements. France has her
national roads, connecting her prin-
cipal commercial centers. Then come
the local interests that build and
maintain roads: then come the can
tons. which may well be compared
with our townships. I'm size. but all,
being directly under government sup
ervislon. they are uniform and sub
stantial.
What Good Roads Mean.
II is said that France can mobilize
her armies, equip them and get them
under marching orders quicker than
any other nation Of the world. for the
simple reason that the roads are al
ways passable, day or night, year in