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

f. A good road - the highway obtained from mix
6ture OF the typeot road material which experience
has proved will carry the load, an application OF a
given number Of days of honest labor the carrying
out Of specifications that give evidence OF the use
of brain power and the whole thing capped by a
Z determination to make the construction such that
sit will stand for years.
- bad road is any Part of or all Of this combina
ton, mixed with cheap politics., which interpreted
means a greater regard for who builds the road and
gets the money for it, than for the excellence OF the
highway aad what it will stand after it is laid
Gown.
I There is just about the same relation between a
good road and a bad one in their influence on man
kind as there lie 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. ..:~
great many men are quite willing that others
than themselves should pay the money for the
roads, but the poor CRATER on other peoples money
we have had with .us always. . i
No Hawaiian wants to admit that 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
la 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 than one day aweek by one man at one
dollar day. a.g
Just at the present time the problem Of good
roads and bad roads in these islands is not so much
matter of money, or information regarding CON.
struction, as it is plan proposition Of getting a
fair return for the money that is 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
not 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
gence.
The men of the Hawaiian blood have come to be-
lieve 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 in connection with it
that is just sure the rising and setting of the
SUM- If any Of. thesmen on this kuleana think that
they are demonstrating their superior capacity for
selfgovernment and improving their status as eiti
zens by supporting any administration that will 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 realiza-
ton that such position is insult to good sense
and reflection on the ability and integrity of every
man connected with it. ~ ss#