Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-01-26

road would it not be necessary to dig
| thru from two feet to four feet of eX-
ira dirt to get the tile the same dis
lance below the road bed, as would be
the case IL the tile were laid on the
road side? On the hard surface Of the
road the water will run off into the
bitches. Would not the water get into
the ditch sooner with the tile on the
| side of the road than in the center? At
| the prevailing prices of thing in this
county the extra cost Of laying tile
| two feet deeper would lay an addition
al tile in a new ditch three and one
half feet deep, to say nothing of the
extra cost Of digging thru the hard
| road.
Your estimate of the cost Of a profile
of mile Of road is as much too high
as your estimate on grading. In this
county the profiles average s29 per
mile, including the preliminary survey
and cross sections Of the road every
100 feet and closer when necessary.
You ask what harm would result If the
law were so changed that the profiles
would be required only when the boara
contemplated an expenditure of $1,000
or more on a mile Of road. Will you
please tell me how you are going to de-
termine what ought to be spent on any
mile Of road until you have had a sur
vey OF the road to determine what is
required? Would You want to be re-
sponsible for a law that compelled the
board to say how much they would
spend on a certain mile of road, with
out anything on which to base their
judgment? Would not that be waste
Of the peoples money? In Buena Wis
ia county we have had very few miles
OF road out Of the 100 miles that have
been graded that cost $1,000. and I am
sure no member Of our county board
would think Of grading a county road.
until they first had a survey and pro-
file OF that mile to see what was re-
qured. If you had no profile for grad
ing amounting to say 5000. how would
you pay your contractor" Would You
let him say how many yards OF dirt he
had moved or would you have some
member Of the board or the county en-
eneer guess it off? The very thing
that you are trying to prove in your
article can not be prevented in any bet
ter way. where grading is being done.
than to have a profile OF the work and
the grade line fixed before any work is
done. I think you misstate the facts
when you say that profile is required
when the board wants to spend $3.50
for filling around bridges. There is
one thing that has impressed me the
past summer in the road discussion
and that is the number of people that
look upon the road law and the high
way commission as green monsters"
that will surely get them. Nine-tenths
Of the troubles in the counties that
are finding so much fault, is with
themselves, and the other tenth is i'm
aginat!on. The highway commission
want to see good work at a reasonable
cost and II your county officials will
get busy and try to do something the
highway commission will be the last
people on earth to bother them. We work
In this county trying to follow q rea-
sonable law, as we think the present
law is. ana when we want to renew &C
quaintance with the commission we
have to go to Ames to do it. You may
be able to read into the law some
where, altho can not imagine where,
that these Unnecessary profiles" are
required. but the common sense view OF
the thing would be that such a profile
would be useless. Then why not do
the common sense thing, fill your
bridge in the same old way. and see if
any one makes you trouble. There is
a case where the expenditure of $50 or
5000 can not be made, and indeed ought
not to be made, without the profile, and
that Is where the road is to be partly
put to grade. For instance, if the
county should decide that on account
Of the cost Of grading certain mile,
they would be able to do only part of it
in one year. and that part should be
done toward a completed grade. In
that case a profile would be necessary,
else how would you know where you
were working toward a completed
ade?
You really did not consider the state
ment you made about the engineering
cost to the county. You say. NO
county should spend more thas $4,000
for engineering services" Would you
think Il n fair statement to say. NO
county should spend more than $780,
900 for permanent bridges" regardless
Of the number of bridges they have?
Your statement is equivalent to this,
The cost of engineering services should
vary in accordance with the amount OF
work done. and I know you will agree
with me on this
In conclusion I want to say that
large part Of the imaginary waste in
road and bridge building does not eS-
list. Many people who have heard
garbled account of the cost Of work or
who do not know anything about the
cost at all vii! make statements which
spread and soon become accepted as
the truth. The only fair way to find
out about the cost Of building roads
and bridges, and the amount spent for
engineering is to get the data from the
counties that have really accomplished
something. You haven't tried the road
law in Buchanan county so you have
no means Of knowing how it works. In
1915 you graded 20 miles of permanent
road and in 1914 you did not grade
more than one. Are you prepared to
say, after such a trial, that this road
law is not workable? I do not know
whether or not you were a member Of
the general assemblies which brought
this law to It's present shape. II you
were. you are to be congratulated. IF
not. would suggest that YOU spenl
some time looking up facts in regard
to it before you decide to support a
substitute. for the present law is far
ahead Of anything we have had before.
Under it we can accomplish something.
and the work that is done is uniform
thruout the state. If there are any
more facts in regard to the work in
this county Or the methods used wfirii