The Tupelo journal., 1913-06-06
: ROAD
6Y4AaG
BOOST FOR GOOD ROADS LAW
Much interest Shown at Meeting Held
At Bloomington, lil.-Many I'M
provements Are Made.

provementS Are Mdoe.
When a little country town OF 7Oo
people raises $4,000 to put in IN
crete pavement around the square,
1T is a sure sign that the good roads
germ is active there. This is what
the people of Mclean, in Mclean
county, H., have done. Now they
have hard pavement the year around
where before the mud was frequently
so deep that it was unsafe for a man
to get out of the buggy to tie his
horse.
The good roads germ has been
working in several places In Mclean
county. Just outside Of Mclean is a
strip of macadamized road that Is
still in good condition after eight
years of service. Leading southwest
from Bloomington Is a stretch of the
finest country road in the state-as-
phalt-bound macadam. Out a little
farther on the same road a mile or
two of water bound macadam is be-
ing put in. Next year the plan is to
10y a III VI COUCI cue IOdu. lNOi oOCo
the effort stop with the attempt to
get satisfactory hard roads. There
are drained, well crowned, well
dragged earth roads everywhere
roads that good care has made as per
feet as an earth road can be.
These were some of the things that
members of the Illinois Highway I'm
provement association and others saw
on a hurried visit to Mclean county
November 80. They came on invita-
'tion of Eugene Funk, a member of
the state highway commission, says
the Prairie Farmer. They went away
more determined than ever to carry
the fight for improved roads to a sue
cessful finish.
In a talk at the evening meeting
President Edens of the highway i'm.
provement association stated that
the association was not organized pri-
marily in the interests of automo-
biles, but for the best interests of the
state as a whole.
S. e. Bradt of Dekalb county, a road
commissioner, said that his township
has put in an average Of two miles
of macadam roads per year for the
past seven years, at a cost of about
$4,000 a mile. This money was taken
out of the regular road funds. This
year a mile of concrete road was put
in. Mr.. Bradt believes that this will
prove the coming material for hard
roads, as macadam roads need repair
ing all too frequently.
State Highway Engineer Johnson
stated that if two per cent. of the
roads in Illinois were paved these
hard roads would reach all cities of
5000 or more inhabitants, with posi-
ply n exception; would reach most
of the cities of 1000 or more; and
would serve four-fifths of the through
traffic needs of the state. He advo-
Gated using the automobile license
fund to make a start on such a sys-
tenn.
c. S. Miller of Alexander county
stated that the people in the southern
end of the state want the state to
build the main roads, this to be fol-
lowed by county improvement of the
other roads, with perhaps some help
from the state. They also advocate
the use Of convict labor on the roads,
and the adjustment of two-thirds of
the present number of highway COM
missioners.
He was followed by Mr.. Donovan of
the Highway Commissioners associa-
ton. He said that the commission
ers do not wish to block all changes
of the present laws, but they do want
fair treatment. He stated that much
more would be accomplished under
the present system if the commits
sioners had more money.
There is probably no man in Illinois
who knows more about the road ques-
ton than Homer C. Tice, chairman Of
the legislative good roads committee.
His committee has devoted much
time to investigating the problem
from every possible angle, and is pre-
pairing a very comprehensive report
to back up the bill which it will in
troduce into the legislature. Some Of
the best information received by the
committee was from the rural mail
carriers of the state. Answers to the
questions sent out by the committee
were received from 1850 carriers.