Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-17

A good road is the highway obtained from mix
ture of the type of road material which experience
has proved will carry the load an application OF
rgiyen number OF days of honest labor the carrying
out of specifications that give evidence OF the use
1 of brain power and the whole thing capped by a
determination to make the construction such that
/ it will stand for years.
bad road is any part of or all of this combina-
ton, mixed with cheap politics, which interpreted
means greater regard for who builds the road and
gets the money Tor it, than for the excellence Of the
highway and what it will stand after it is laid
down.
There is just about the same relation between
good road and bad one in their influence on man.
kind as there is between good egg and bad one
in their influence ones breakfast in the morning.
Few men outside of Jail or the lunatic asylum are
willing to admit in this day and generation that
! they do not believe in good roads, which we all
know are one Of the first evidences Of advancing
civilization ~ o. 81 s. @.>.. # .. I'D" ~,
A great many men are quite willing that others
than themselves should pay the money for the
roads, but the poor CRATER other peoples money
we have had with us always.
No Hawaiian wants to admit chat he doesn't
want any roads and would prefer to 60 back to the
grasshut age No japanese is willing to admit that
he prefers Nipponese alley to a wide boulevard.
No Chinese is anxious to admit that Canton lane
is better than street of macadam. And no one
Of the Caucasian races believes in going back to the
jackass trails of the pioneer days just because their
forefathers were able to make their way about the
world in slow and primitive manner.
All of this is true. And yet we find men of means
and otherwise rated as intelligent, devoting time to
q discussion of what splendid roads we had, say,
on the other side Of this island twenty-five years
ago, when the passing of one wagon in three hours
would be heavy traffic and. the upkeep of twenty
miles Of road would be expensive indeed If it re-
.quired more thanone day week by one man at one
dollar day.
. Just at the present time the problem of good
roads and bad roads in these islands is not much
b matter of moneys information regarding con-
struction, it plain prcPo Of getting q
fair return for the money that h being spent to
make the highway.
If we are to have good roads in Hawaii we must
build up and support public sentiment that does
mot care whoop about who builds the road SO the
road is built right, is permanent and represents
fair amount Of business honesty and human intelli
eence
The men of the Hawaiian blood have come to be-
ieve that they have special kuleana on the road
building work of these islands, do not know of
anyone who wants to disturb the men on this kule
ana. But there is one thing insconnection with it
that is just sure rs rising and setting or the
sun. If any Of the men on this knleana think that
they are demonstrating their superior capacity for
selfgovernment and improving their status as citf
zens by supporting any administration that win al
low them or anyone else to do slovenly, cheap and
wasteful work, they are laboring under terrible
mistake. Some day they will wake up to a realiza,
ton that such position is insult to good sense
and reflection on the ability and integrity Of every
man connected with 1t.