The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-05-27
Roads Congress in
Atlanta Next November.

Every county and state official in
the south interested in any way in
thesbuilding or maintenance Of roads
or streets ought to be making plans
to attend the American Road Con-
gress. which will meet in Atlanta next
November, IN the opinion of the Manu-
facturer's Record. This ought%to be
made the greatest gathering of. men
interested in road building ever shield
in this country.
There Is no other section of the
coup&rys more vitality interested in the
BUILDING and maintenance OF roads.
There are q thousand questions which
must constantly present themselves
to every county commissioner and to
every road engineer, and many of
the more difficult to answer.
What kind OF material shall be
used7 How shall it be used?
Under what conditions shall roads
be builts ortrepaired?
What will be the best material for
road making? viii it be brick will
IL be concrete. will It be macadam.
will it, be san6-clay or will q county
in some. cases be justified N having
merely well-mades good dirt roads?
Which kind of road will give the
best service and in the long run prove
the cheapest?
Will 1t be less expensive to the
county to issue bonds and build thor
oughfy good roads of the highest type
OF material, or will 1t be better to
drag along slowly and potter away,
doing a little work here and a little
work there and trying to so patch
up the roads as to make them at
least passable?
What engineering will be required {?
Are the officials now in office equal
to supervising. laying out, building and
maintaining roads?
Are the roads being, used for poIiti-
cal purposes in order to give Jobs to
superintendent or to day laborers?
What are the influences that are
being brought to bear to Induce the
use of this material or that?
What7are other counties doing?
What has been the effect Of road
buildings elsewhere on material, edu-
cationa1 and religious progress?
These are few Of the many Dues
lions that must confront every man
holding any official position in any
way identified with road or street
work. At the Atlanta congress there
VIII be the opportunity of studying
these questions. Every phase of
road building will be intelligentIy pre-
sented to- experts. Probably every i'm
building and every variety Of mate
rial will be on exhibition. Hundreds
of engineers and contractors and ma
chinery makers will be there to study
every phase of highway improvements
1t behooves the people of the south
to see that every county is represented
by men of integrity who have an
earnest desire to study every phase
OF this road question
In advance of the meeting of the
congress all Of these subjects should
be actively discussed by the people
of every county. They should be in
quiring Of their officials what answers
they are prepared to make to these
questions and how far thew have
studied them
If the people OF Atlanta want to do
a great work tor the south and for
themselves, they ought to carry on
in the near future ac active campaign
TO induce the county officials of the
south TO come to this congress. They
ought TO induce counties that have
made progress in road building to any
marked extent to show what thew
have done and how they have done il.
The bacl1v ard counties that have not
yet ACCOMPLISHED much ought TO be
simulated TO send their ofi2ials N
order that they may catch the spirit
Of highway Improvement.