Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-03-29

"Come, gentle SPRING. ethereal
Mildness!" That is how old James
Thomson felt about it something like
two hundred years ago, and a little
later Reginald Heber, following his
cue. or venturing among the Muses.
on his own account sang of the time
when Spring unlocks the flowers to
paint the laughing SAIL" Which leads
the American Highway Association
to point out that the spring thaws
and spring rains will soon be here to
remind the people who run about from
place to place, and particularly the
farmers who live out in the country
among the birds and flowers, how
grave has been the neglect of the
public roads i'm the largest part of
this so-called highly favored land"
This neglect has been almost criminal
because the people have sinned against
the light, in that they have not OBJ
tanned the advice and counsel, neces-
sary to the Improvement of impossible
conditions, readily available for the
asking from state and national road
officials. Either they have failed to
ask for such advice and counsel or
they have disregarded it when they
have received it, and with the result
that at the happy spring season, when
the heavens are bright overhead, the
roads are sloppy under foot, and the
farmer and his family find themselves
isolated sfrom their neighbors, from
the schools, from the churches, from
the market towns, from everything
that makes life worth living. Yet
men wonder why it is that there has
been steady drift from country to
town, and why the young folks, when
their wings have grown a bit, take
flight from the delights of rural life
to the crowded confusion of narrow
streets and artificial horizons.
The farmers income is small and
his taxes always seem large. He does
not see in the spring thaws any other
lesson than that of inevitable dreari-
ness. He and his neighbors often can
not pay for hard roads yet. He knows
that for large part of the year a
well-dragged earth road affords sat-
isfactory means of communication,
and so he waits patiently until the
water soaks away somewhat and
otherwise lets things drift. He could
not make a greater mistake. He
ought to know that the preliminary
essentials for good road building for
light country travel are not expen-
sive, and when the spring brings its
troubles in a few weeks he can utilize
the conditins Of discomfort, if he will,
for learning some very important
things about rational rural road
building.
In the first place, he should consid-
or the very important feature of road
location. In some parts of the coun-
try. roads were located years ago
without much respect to grades. AS
a result horses strain at their traces
through muddy bottoms, where no.
body lives. to the tops of windy hills
with their journey only half begun.
Teh relocation T parts of roads and
so that there will be only easy grades
and so that places may be avoided
where the maintenance of a good sur
face is troublesome is not beyond the
achievement of ordinary common
sense.
In few weeks there will be no lack
of evidence that the drainage of roads
is of vital Importance in most parts
of the land. 1t will not be necessary
to employ the highest talent in en-
gineering to determine where better
drainage must be provided When
the frost leaves the ground and the
spring rains soak the earth, the seggy
places will be clearly indicated to the
dullest observation, and will show
whether or not the road can be best
improved by relocation, or by the
drainage of the contiguous land.
There is nothing mysterious about it,
which the farmer cannot understand;
the drainage of roads is not different
in principle from the drainage of
land. The only reason the farmer is
puzzled when road drainage is sug-
gested is that in the engineering dis