The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-08-21
CONCRETE ROADS :
FOR THE MICHIGAN
R. +. D. CARRIERS

| R. +. D. CARRIERS
| A. M. caves, rural mail carrier on
R. F. D, No. : out Of this Office IS the
recipieh Of the following letter from
George H. Van Pelt. q veteran road
man, who is thoroughly imbued with
the idea that concrete roads should
be constructed wherever roads are to
be built and that the mail carriers
should be the first to boost this cause
along at every given opportunity.
The letter follows:
August II, 1918.
Dear Sir:
OF course was sorry not to attend
lyour last meeting but / cannot be
everywhere at once. / had a good
time with you two years ago and ever
since l have been thinking what a
chance you have to develop sentiment
for good roads.
Just by the way, there is nobody
that needs good roads more than you
do and you know it. Uncle Sam
doesn't send you off to the worst
stretches. He just tells people they
get enough bad roads to satisfy you
that to build anything short of con-
crete is pretty close to homocide on
the part of those responsible and the
homo" it kills is the rural mail man.
So / am going under the SUPPOSE
ton that you want concrete roads and
that you are willing to boost them
with every man and every woman
along the thousands of miles that you
make every day.
In fact, think that every mail man
ought to be the secretary, manager
and promotion man for a road asso-
citation in his territory. Nobody
knows better than he what is needed
Nobody knows better than he the
character of the voters. NOBODY can
spread the right kind of information
better than he. He doesn't need to
write letters-he tells his message
man to man, which is the most force
full way to get message across.
And he has lot to gain by taking
on that little job on top of his own
work. He will get home one, two
or three hours quicker just as soon as
roads are built right. He may get
a few additional miles to cover but
they will be covered in such quick
i
His horse, or his motorcycle or his
I"Lizzie" VIII last years longer. He
will be on still better terms with the
people along his route because he
gets there more surely on a closer
schedule.
But he must net talk about his adj
lvantages to him. He can only sell
concrete roads by talking their adj
vantages to the other fellow, and
they are not hard to find.
You know | have taken on a little
job for the next % years--that will
round out hundred for me. / pro-
! pose to get the whole Dixie Highway
lconcreted from Miami, Fla. to Char
levoix, Mich, and if can take on
labout 1000 miles can't each of lou
linen take, on about 30? We will work
i together where your route is on the
N Dixie. We will work in harmony no
matter where you are.
1t isn't so impossible as you might
think. You know back in 1909 there
was practically no concrete and now
therek something like 5000 miles
built in this coutry and the work has
just started.
i And don't think for a minute that
concrete roads don't save more than
! they cost. 1t doesn't matter what
they cost at all You've got to put
to their credit big saving in gaso-
line, tires, horse power, repairs and
depreciation. You've got to credit
them with big time saving for the
, man who goes to market or to church
or to town You've got to credit
them with making the average farm
er suburbanite instead Of a ruralist
But nothing short of concrete will
do. The blamed stuff that we're get
ting on some of our roads isn't good
enough It's better than gravel but
the Lord never intended soft stuff to
run autoes over If He had man
would have found a few such roads
when we came to this earth. Tar
and pitch ought to be entirely con-
served for boiling the members of the
German war party when our boys get
into Berlin. 1t has no place on the
highway.
sYou know up in my county, Charlie
voix, we built lot of gravel roads
several years ago and spent ire
mendous amount in repairs to them
The upkeep has now become VERT
able mountain on our county which
grows larger and larger each year
If we built it all of concrete like we
built couple Of short stretches out
of Charlevoix and East Jordan, one
seven years ago and two eight years
ago, one Of which hasn't had any re-
pairs and the other just few dol.
lars worth, we could have gotten fed.
eral and state aid and the actual cos,
pwould have been no greater than what
| we paid plus what we've spent in
| maintenance. That's why l want con
crete and why you should want con
crete.
Are you with me on this? / an
writing letters to editors every weel
or so. all along the Dixie Highway
route on both sides of the state wher,
two or more of "our boys" are in tn,
same town. Why not get together
and have your newspapers print m,
letter to you? If you men back mi
up so that every farmer is with yo,