Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-03
THAT HORRID HIGHWAY.

Editor Every Evening The furious
| throbbing OF some huge trucks engine,
mlred in one Of the many shell holes or the
| detour road from Philadelphia to Viii
| mington, makes sleep impossible, an1 SO
! am passing on To you for possible solii-
ton the query put To me by New ork
man. yesterday, after he had struggled
through this far on our abomlnable and
inexc,isaile roads: "What kind of polit-
| ical sedativc do they dope out to you
Delawarcans, that YOU sleep on through
from one end of the country TO the
other =
| couldn't give him any answer TO this,
and | am worn out, anyway, trying to
parry the one thrust we get every day IN
the year, many times a day and for the
four years past, that the tea house inter
estS have brought us IN such relation TO
the opinion of tourists It's the unvary-
ing comment of every m0torist, Il
knew | was in Delaware all right the min
ute ! hit the rottenest road IN all my
trip. Before repair work was started
on the direct pike. young man came to
use our telephone in regard to hIs truck
with war materials under rush orders,
mired very near the house. That truck
and six Others stayed from Saturday at
: D. m. until the following Monday noon,
in the several holes the road trapped them
IN. Vehement protests evidently stirred
tho Sevep Slecpers who comprise our
Levy Court. for the following week, two
or three doddering octogenarlsns, with
spades. scratched few shoveliuls of clay
from the bank sides and filled IN the holes,
and retired for another decade, satisfied
that Delawares most important roadway
v-uc rnnI.- 10 uiCKk- fFttrtGtn tb pt n
is the only one Of It's kind
Pending the period Of construction on
the Philadelphia pike, all ears must now
take detour along the trolley. In ten
DAYS | know personally Of two broken
springs due to the chasms and crevasses
IN that one short strip OF detour One
cost the car owner So for repairs The
other owner was too indignant To be
coherent as to figures though | was
interested to know how much private loss
the various car owners must sustain.
beside the interesting history that the
tax moneys are making since there is no
visible evidence Of their effectiveness on
any roads to be seen with tho naked eye
IN Delaware
In about four weeks, all traffic must
follow the Philadelphia pike 10 Naanans 3
road and then take n right angle over 10
the Fauk road This road has already
had such heavy wear u Is one long length
Of holes holes aud then more holes
Is the levy Court doing anything to re-
pair II 70 meet the present trafbc2 II -
not Is the Levy Court thinking at all
about the very near future heavier
traffic thus road must meet? II Is not.
| have asked II least one hundred and
onc Wrathful men from outside the state /
sl- matter 81 patriotic conscience II t
reserve the spIutterIng remarks expressed /
At the tea house for the ears of the Viii |
Hiugton men IN office who cosli and /
should remedy such conditions. But +
thct ali, through either that strange |
apathy many men show towards CIVIC I
or State matters ! am not a suttragist1. I
refuse or vote the situation palpabiy 50 t
hopeless that any protest from outsiders /
v ould lend no influence
II the lew Court won't do anything |
els.., Why can they toe at least forced 70 /
listen 10 this unccaslng stream OF bitter +
aud very Iust and true comments from all /
travellers, from every state IN the Cuion
] hnd II Is taking all my time, and am |
not a person Of leisure rs the Levy Court I
- evidently are I
Is It possible that a rapidly growing {
CITY Ike Wilmington will submit much F
longer to have her business interests
threatened bv ths remarkable lndIffer-
encc to the good opinion Of Others To f
be Known tie width Of our nation as the F
State with mnpassabie roads and wholly +
indifferent population Who +
accept for themselves the discomfort and +
loss that such wretched roads entail, .
and nfilct the discourtcsty and discomfort T
and irritation upon ali guests OF the /
State
Newspapers are such powerful mediums. I
Do lend your ,ength sud help further T
this important matter Many OF us /,
warmly the good words print
ed IN your daily towards an awakening
conscience generally on the road ques- /.
tlon. We are not dead. but sleeping. |
Let's wake up before the laughter Of the |
whole nations rdicule Is the first sound |
to perc0late our consciousness.
Mary A. Duerr,
Naamans on the Delaware, August,
|, 1918.