Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1916-09-02
BUYING GOOD ROADS
BUSINESS DEALING;
TAKES BARGA|NERS
GOOD 5ARGAINERs GET GOOD
ROAD VALUE FOR THE MONEY
THEY SPEND
IN BUYING GOOD ROADS MUST
CONSIDER THE AMOUNT OF
MONEY USED
COUNTRY is NOW ABLE TO BUILD
GOOD ROADS COSTING ste,-
900 PER MILE

Buying good roads is a business
transaction. Good bargainers bet bet
ter road value for their money than
poor bargainers. Poor bargainers usu-
ally do not know what good road
value is. They see something they like
in their travels and buy it for home
use, without stopping to consider that
this may be as ridiculous as to put
on a dress suit to feed the cows. No
man can make a good bargain for
roads who does not know what is
needed; yet large part of the $780,
10000 which is being spent on
Americans roads this year is paid out
| by men who do not know what is a
good bargain i'm roads. This is not
wholly their fault, for little has ever
been said about the real economics of
road construction
Nobody but a spendthrift thinks of
spending more money than he nas ON
something he needs. He fits his ex
| penditures to his income, If he is
sensible. A. sensible road commits
sion tries to do the same. but it is
| often hampered by a lack of knowl-
edge of how to proceed. Detailed
/ knowledge of this nature is only gain
ed by wide observation, keen insight
and shrewd judgment, and for this
season a competent state highway
commission possessing such knowl-
| edge can render great aid to local
authorities who apply to it for adj
vice.
| The first thing to be considered in
| buying good roads is the amount OF
money which it is wise for communi-
| ty to spend for them. Most estimates
Of this nature are based on the ex-
listing annual tax receipts available
for the purpose. This is not the best
basis for a sound judgement A fami-
| ly of three persons can make an in
come of $500 go further than a
| family of six persons can. 1t is the
same with roads To divide the assess
ed valuation of the district by the
miles of roads in it. This gives the
| valuation, or taxable wealth, of the
district per mile of road. For instance,
/ Lake county, Mich, has a valuation
of only $5,420 per mile, showing that
/ not even the entire wealth of the coun
| ty is sufficient to improve al its
roads. Wayne county, Mich, on the
other hand. has a valuation of $514-
931 per mile, indicating its financial
ability to carry out any kind of road
! improvements in reason. In a rich
agricultural district like Calhoun
county, Mich, the valuation is $751;
294 per mile, indicating that it is
financially able to construct what
every kind of main roads may be best
suit for the travel on them.
We look with pity on the young
saleswoman who spends all her money
on clothes she does not need, which
do not make her attractive to the
clear thinking and thrifty young men
of her acquaintance. We deplore the
mortgage the clerk puts on his home
to buy an automobile unnecessary for
the welfare of his family. And, yet |
we complain when a county with a
very low valuation per road-mile is |
not intersected with roads as smooth |
as the top of billiard table. This |
shows that we have our foolish IDEAS |
like the Eighty saleswoman and the !
extravagant clerk. AS a matter of |
fact Lake County. Mich, is showing |
good judgment in restricting its road /
building to gravel roads costing So |
geo a mile The county is not able now
to build roads costing $4,000 mile, I
as Wayne county Is doing, and such
expensive roads are probably not
yet needed.
There is a measure OF the need for
roads, Just as there is measure OF II
the financial resources for road build
ing. This measure is the travel the
road is carrying now and the prob
able increase in the traye' during Il
the next five to ten years. The inn
provement OF country road results
in the slow development of property
along it, so that there is slow an
nual increase in what is called the
residential travel If the road is on
a through route between important
cities some distance apart there may
or may not be material increase lin
the foreign travel, by which is meant
the travel between these cities This