Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-08

did not make the sacrifice entirely OF
their own will France has but one set
of tax gatherers-those OF the central
government They hand over to COM
munes townships. and departments
tstates) part of the annual taxes col
lected in them, and. sometimes. outside
them. Now. department legislatures.
while they can force communes to use
only two-thirfs of their Improvement re-
sources on roads connecting principal
towns, can demand that the totality OF
any year be spent on local roads connect
ing little communes.
At the top is the governments public
works The feeding school Of it's high
ways and bridges gives two-year courses
to Polytechnsque graduates. IL they do
not enter the highways and bridges serv-
ice they may be salarfed as road masters
tagents-voyersp by the departments
which have a right. IL the, choose. TO
employ merely practical and "unedu-
Gated" men OF experience. In practice .
third are such and excellent Now. these
higher road masters have lesser ones
under them In a network over the land
Suppose a small locality wants a road
and a capable engineer 10 study IL out
gratis They tell the road master near
at hand He sends il up 10 his superior.
who TO be covered. sends II on up.
So the problem gets high expert discus
sion and an elegant solution.
And. more. IL gets departmental money
as well as roads and bridges money In
a word. a little township gets helped out
from one-third 10 three-quarters OF the
total cosby state and central govern
ment.
YES" l said. but automobiles spoil
your good roads. "Ali macadam roads
seem doomed. The danger and its pos
sible remedies are to be chief topics at
the coming road congress in London
E.nginear-fn- Chief I,orieux suiled
Tell Americans to go ahead and build
macadam,'' he said. Here is the prob
lem. Doubtless automobiles have torn
holes in many French macadamized
roads. The repairs are expensive But
all this applies only 10 certain enormous
~ travelled sections or circuits; the mass
of our maradam roads are still perfect.
Routes like that to Versailles and circuits
like the Loire chateaux attract In one
year more automobile vehicles than, say,
ten years OF previous normal travel had
thrown on them by horse vehicles. 1t
has been going on ten years. Each year
those roads have lived ten Make the
multiplication their territory has had the
travel and the >eneht-those roads have
lived a hundred years In ten-aimost
without re-air."
"Ah." said; you contend that the
same quantity of horse vehicles would
have done inc same damage
Il lean that way. but We cannot tell. "
he said Such an increase of horse We
hicles is uninaginable. Undoubtedly.
very heavy autos. going Very swiftly
sweep the macadam top clean of the dust
n.cked up By horses shoes. Also an in
tense circulation OF swift and heavy
autos gives shocks 10 surface not COM
pletely smooth. prizes up bits of stone and
begins hole. But I come back--a hun
dred years Of horse-and-wagon trafhc,
might it not have done as much dam
age?
And your remedy" 1 asked
Continual repairs" he said. This for
the mass OF French macadam roads,
which are not too intensely automobiled
For the more afflicted ones. 1 have here
(showing papers) orders from the min.
lister of public works to experiment with
, all likely topping surfaces like tar mac.
adam. bitulithe. plain tar spread and paw.
ing The congress of the road will have
lot to say on this subject. Bitulithe |.
a heated mixture of b'tuminous materia
and cracked stone. spread and rolled
But. underneath 1t all. the good macadau
stays.
Merely an extra protective cap?'
said.
About that" he answered
And your advice to America" l con
cluded. Many American states have
voted. or are voting. or will vote consti
tutional amendments for road improve
ment loans 1t is a timely subject
Tell Americans to go ahead and build
macadam,' he said for second time
For all roads not crushingly Travelled
by swarms of swift and heavy touring
cars, macadam in repair is almost per.
: feet for its price. As to the exceptional
roads. you will profit by the worlds ex-
perience in top surfaces wher
| the world has attained that experience
And when We have attained the
roads, l said. THE question won'i
) arise. at least till they are built"
Ais we'll. STERLING HELLO.