The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-02-08
smith CONTINUES
ROAD DISCUSSION
(By Roy ID. Smith,

L
road building in the past, reaching
far back in the history of nations and
peoples who have been gathered tt
their fathers. Nothing but memor,
is left Of many Of those countries
which were builders of roads. Thu:
we find that Rome was the master
| builder of roads among all the ma
tions of antiquity. She borrowed the
art from a conquered nation til,
Carthagenians. From them. too, She
learned the art Of ship building. Witt
these arts she was able to rule ant
dictate the politics Of the knowr
| world for over a thousand years.
When Rome reached the highest
place in the niche of fame under the
reign of Augustus Caesar she had g
magnificent system of national mill
tary highways extending TO every
part of her vast empire.
| II is stated by historians that Rome
had as much as $4,000 miles of mag
nificent roadway reaching to the
| remotest parts of her great empire
| 'Tis said that no less than 29 oi
these great military roads radiated
/ iIOul tilt lmpCi NitJ itSCits
Roman construction was extremely
massive. The Appian Way is said
to have been in good repair after SOC
years of neglect.
Now let us move down the corri
doris of time little. The modern
impetus was given road-building just
about the close of our great Civil
War. The rock crusher was invent
ed by Eli Whitney Blake of New Ha
ven, Conn.
The first steam roller used in the
United States was imported from
England in 1863 and was used in the
arsenal grounds of Philadelphia.
Auto Brings New Problem.
Thus we see the real beginning OF
road building in the United States
The macadam waterbound rock an
swered all purposes, but with the
coming of the automobile there was
presented an entirely new problem,
in road construction. The world
| awoke to the fact that the roads
| which had stood for century OF
more soon went to pieces under this
now traffic condition. The solution
of this problem is not entirely set
tied as yet. Warrenite is beyond the
shadow of doubt the best and most
durable road material under these
new conditions, and they guarantee II
for only about 10 years. So we can
| plainly see that the pilgrimage t..
wards the Mecca of the perfect road
has not ended yet.
Let us reason together on this
vital question, remembering that we
are all vitality interested. The ques
ton is not to be solved by the master
stroke of some genius, but it is my
humble judgment that It will be ac
complished by hard reasoning mixed
with good common sense and patient
endeavor on the part of those in
authority as we'll as the people them
selves, The old saying that Rome
was not built in day is quite true
And so is this question one which Is
economic and to be solved in col
lective and community way. 1t can
not be the work of one day.
Laying Out the Roads
In considering this subject it is
we'll to not lose sight of some we'll
known principles which will Of neces
sity have to be considered. One OF
| the very first is COST Next is the
geography and topography of our
county, also the lines Of traffic. The
maxim should be followed after this
wise, "The greatest good to the great
est number" Now in order to fol
low this rule it may become neces
sary for some persons to sacrifice
what may appear to them as a per.
sonal benefit. For example, the
County Court may perhaps build q
piece Of hardsurface road, but we
cannot all expect to have it built in
front of our individual property nor
on the road which we may travel to
town. This matter must, of course,
have to be settled by our Court and
they will be forced to build il in a
place to accommodate the largest
amount of traffic and where best suit.
ed to that kind of construction.
We of the West Side are perfectly
willing to let the East Side be the
pioneer in this manner of construc.
ton as we did in the matter of the
first macadam that was built in the
county. So far so good, and we hope
that the East Side will join hands
with us and show the same willing
spirit and forget self interest.
Old System Is Discarded.
About seven years ago we emerged
from the antiquated system of work.
ing the county roads with a poll tax,
each person going out at a stated
time, doing a little work and lots of
visiting with the net result that our
roads seemed to begin at no particu'
lar place and run in any old direc-
ton, always following the line of
least resistanace But just about this
time a new system was inaugurated
all over the county. Each district
was allotted certain amount Of mon.
ey and men were hired by the day to
perform road work the same as work
ing for any private individual. l will
say that marked improvement was
noticeable throughout the county and
feel that everyone will admit that In
the past eight years our county roads
have shown a marked improvement.
This was step in the right direc-
ton. am not asserting that we are
out of the fog. but we are a little
ahead of where We were then.