Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-20
American Roads
Here and Abroad
~ Frederic ]. Haskin

~
| ton from the ports Of Decentralization TO
| tho firing line Within range Of the enemy
howitzers and the deadly mustard
gas. American engineers have dragged
/ American road making machinery all
| the way TO the first line OF defense and
have calmly LAID the foundation Of maca-
/ dam necessary 10 the constant movement
Of supplies and troops
! The first company Of American road
| builders arrived IN France last winter
/ II was made up Of men who had held I'm
| portaut engineering positions m ciyil
! life men who had been trained m our
| best technical schools and were fitted for
! supervisory Jobs Naturally they had OK
pected jobs Of that kind awaiting them ~
| EUROPE Nevertheless, when it became
| evident that II everybody became super
visor there would be nothing to supervise
most Of them seized shovcls md pickaxcs
and started to work One young engineer.
who had been IN charge Of the building oi
a subway IN mn American metropolis,
found he Htill Ind great deal to learn
about breaking roclss
JUST LIKE PIONEERS
Those were difficult days. These men
/ had to prepare the way for the movement
/ OF the American troops 10 arrive IN France
| in the spring But they were handicapped
| hv lack of the labor and machinery, to
which they were accustomed IN the nltcd
States story ia told Of one engineer who.
made desperate al the slowncss with whleh
the work was going forward, bought 500
| worth of scrap metal from q French store
and made his own stone crushcr
At last. however, both machinery md
engineers started tn arrive ~ large mum
I 4,,I h,t ,
| American engineers arc now building
roads in France. and they are working with
the finest equipment tho United states
can send them equipment whlch has
been the cause Of much astonished inter
est among French engineers, who have
| bccn used 10 LAYING roads by hand. ~ =
| tho first time for instance, the French
| have seen nm up- to-date American stoneF
| crlisher with lts elevator scoop, Or
wagon with a coIlapsibe floor through
which tho rock may bc dumped
Tho problem confronting American
| engineers - not 50 much the building pt
new roads as the reconstruction and widen
ng of roads already there France has
plenty of national highways sufficiently
wide and which were. before the war,
| splendid roads Of smooth macadam
| Many of these have bccu literally pull
I
| of hnrles of motor trucks. and must bo
| repaired Onshots from these national
highways. necessary for military purposes
are also abundant. but cannot 10 nscd
| without being widened Their width,
winch averages between q and ~ feet,
must be increased 10 from IL 10 % ieet,
| "a make room for the passage oi artillery
] and motor-trick traffic.
| SOMETHING ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
American road-bmders are divided
| lnto DIVISIONS under . DIVISION sIperlD
| tcndent. who IL responsible 70 the chief
/ Of road engineers At the headquarters 0f
| the American ExpeditIonary Forces IN
| Paris The men work in gangs, and arc
| housed close to their work AccommOda-
| tIons are furnished according 10 the char
| acter Of the work About the quarrIes.
j where the work II Of q more permanent
/ character, for example wooden barracks
/ are erected, while along the road the men
| often 1--we IN tents or at some nearby
| French town An American engineer
| who recently returned from one Of these
road divisions saws the food served by
! the camp quartermaster is excellent, the
| clothes provided by the army are very
comfortable and the nomad existence led
by the road-buildcrs Is lots of fun,
except when interrupted by sudden
| bombardment from the enemy
The importance OF securing and main
tanning a free and lnbrokeu line Of trans
portatIon ( communications they call
| 1t IN the army Is obvious Cut of from
It's base OF supplies or reintorcefnents, an
army might Just as we'll lay down its arms.
This Is what the British Army Was com
pelled to do in the fall OF 1918, while
| waiting for materials and facilities with
| which to reconstruct roads of wet clay
and rock that had once been the pride
| of the French government.
Good roads in this country are rs es-
sentlal to the prosecution Of the war rs
good roads IN France The | nIted States,
never having been an aggressIveiy mill
tarv nation. has not built its roads for
military use nike France and Ger
many, il had no strategic system OF COM
munications at the beginning of the war
But In 1916, when the prophecies of a
/ German invasion aroused the nation TO
lis general state Of military unprepareJ-
ness, Congress passed a Federal road aid
act. approprlatIng SS5,OOO,0OO TO be dis
trlbuted on a cooperative basis among
+! the States for the purposes OF road con
| structiou The distribution OF the money
was placed in the hands Of the secretary
| 0t agriculture.
THE sTIMULANT HERE.
This measure has greatly stimulated
road-building throughout the country.
The State OF Texas, for example, now has
36 road-bulding projects under way;
Alabama plans to carry out % road i'm
! provement projects, while the State Of
illinois is working on a ngle project for
the construction of 75.6 miles Of concrete
and bituminous macadam road, extend
ing through six counties This last is to
cost 81, 146, ,673 So and Illinois has re-
questcd Federal aid for so per cent Of this
| sum.
But, while the States have been won
over to the idea of good roads bv the Fed
eral road aid act, their enthusiast n has
been somewhat damped by numerous
difficulties 1t has been impossible IN
many eases 10 secure materials for ma
eaiam roads The Fuel Administration.
iesrous of conserving the oil supply for
the American fleet, has become very
strict about the use of road oils, asphalts
and tars in street and highway work
These materials are released by manu-
facturers and rehners only on permit