The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1916-02-16

puts their head. hand and heart in
to the work II is as impossible 70
get good roads from the hands Of
unframed men as It is to get good |
houses from the hands Of unframed |
Iarchitects and carpenters. No man
would think of building house with
out the services of experienced de-
Isigners and carpenters. Neither |
would he want to place valuable ma
terials and equipment at the dispos-
lal of. unframed hands, because 1t |
costs more than mere time to put IN /
trained men III charge, especially II |
they are directing the energies of
Others where their mistakes will |
Icost more in money than their own |
time. Ii costs money to train men,
but Il costs less to train them Gel |
Ilectiyely than separately. All make
mistakes but we need not duplicate
Them.
This is a day of specialization,
and the people expect the man. who
follows any profession to be prepar
ed and proficient in it. They do not
expect him to cover many fields.
If they want law suit tried they
get a lawyer; a horse doctored a
veterinarian; tooth pulled dem
fist; farm surveyed surveyor;
| q house painted a painter; and the
time has come that, when they want
a road built they realize the need
Of a trained road engineer and road
builder 1t is as impracticable and
/ unreasonable to say that every man
can build road as il is to say that
blacksmith can extract and fill
teeth or a lawyer paint and paper
a house.
MANY of the fields of study that
confront the road builder are filled
with hidden secrets that time and
research will reveal to the careful,
Investigating mind. The highway
problem is not mastered, but each
man who attempts to perform the
duties of a highway engineer or adj
ministering official owes it to himself
and surely to the community whose
funds he is handling, to equip HIM
self with all the available informa-
tion he can possibly procure on the
subject and to keep constantly in
touch with the men an institutions
that are investigating the problems
with which those interested in the
construction of our roads are con-
fronted.
IN the early days of America,
road building was largely confined
to the efforts of local communities.
the villages. towns and cites. The
town road officials directed these i'm
| provements, sought appropriations
therefor and controlled the work
and expenditures. But this caused
the growth of a disjointed system
Of roads. One town spent more
money and built better roads than
the adjoining town. Thus differ
finally a larger unit, the county,
took over more important routes
and built roads OF more uniform con
istruction, connecting various por-
tons Of the county in much more
comprehensive and efficient man
ner But soon the difficulties de
veloped upon a larger scale. such as
exist in Texas at the present time
No attention was paid to inter
county highways and consequently
road development THAI did not prop
erly connect the various parts OF the
state; hence came the creation Of
the state hishway department in
all the states except Texas. South
Carolina, Georgia, Indiana and Mis-
sissippi. and the building of inter
county or state highways. No STATE
wide system Ct good roads has ever
resulted from any other than a state
wide plan Of road building. Those
Estates having q state highway de-
partment (4s in numberl are maxi
ing great strides in road building
in the way of efficiency and eeono-
my They are getting more mile
age FOR money expended than hereto
fore because their state engineer
has systematized. standardized, uni
fled ard modernized the method Of
road construction and has by his
ability and technical knowledge
saved the tax payers Of the state
thousands OF dollars annually that
had previously been literally thrown
away due to the ineXperience and
consequently insHciency of local
road officials Efficiency and econ