St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1919-10-11
Engineer Huckaby Makes
Excellent Talk, Explain
ing Work Being Done
MEETING CALLED BY
ASSN. COMMERCE
Resolutions Unanimously
Passed Expressing Con-
fidence In Board.

Engineer Huckaby made an exec!
lent talk to the people ct the meat
ing called by the Covington Assoc,l
ton of Commerce and held at tne
courthouse Monday.
The object of the meeting was x
give the public a better understand
ing of the road building now beIu2
conducted by the Good Roads Com
mission. composed of ]. D. Grant, Of
Slidell; VIM. Oswald, of the Tenth
Ward, and F. W. Fatheree, of Tall
sneek. Mr.. Huckaby is the engineer
in charge, Mr.. Frank Comfort the
secretary.
Some criticism had been made AS
to the progress of the work, and ais }
il had been reported that some OF
the employees on the survey Were
seen sitting down smoking cigarettes.
Some, too, seemed to think that II
was not necessary to resurvey roa1s
that were already built, just to hard
surface them.
Mr.. Warner. president of the As
sociation of Commerce, was chair
man of the meeting, but as he could
not remain Mr.. Treen acter for him.
MIR. Huckaby made a very conservd-
tive statement of the facts in The
case, answered all questions put to
him anl was given unanimous vote
CT confidence, which was proposed by
DR.. Du,ell. Dr. Durell said that the
incideni reminded him of the ply
sic:ans experience in the sick room,
when members of the family and
90 off
what should be done for the patient.
He felt that the technical work OF
rOadbuilding was better conIpre-
hended by the engineer than by the
laymen, and he felt confident, after
Mr.. Huckaby's explanation, that all
was being done that could be done
and he moved that a vote of conf
dence be extended to him and the
Commission. AS stated above, this
vote was unanimous.
Mr.. Oswald also spoke relative to
the authority and power of the Com
mission. the sowing Of its problems
and its desire to do the best that can
be done with the peoples money"
Mr. HuCkaby spoke as follows
The object of this meeting was
just explained by the president of the
Association of Commerce, and the
Good Roads Commission deems it
privilege to have the opportunity to
take these matters up with you gen.
tiemen and explain in detail the va
rious points about which there seems
t0 be a lack of understanding by the
public with regard to the work the
Commission is now doing.
Before taking up the main part of
this discussion you will pardon me if
] read a few lines here from an
article in this Handbook of Highway
Engineering which is written by one
Of the most eminent highway au-
thorities in the country. l read this
to show you gentlemen that this is
not an unusual meeting and that con-
Gitions are often very similar even
though ct widely different sections
CT the country:
THE physical improvements OF
roads and streets is not the first
work to be undertaken or the first
expense to be incurred. When a
general scheme OF improvement has
Geen decided upon there is usually a
feverish desire to begin work on the
ground or to make the dirt fly"
! The public and the press are insist
ent that something shall be done
that they can see and they apparent
~ fail to understand that, If the
money is to be wisely expended,
thorough preliminary studies are
necessary. If a state is to devote
hllllons of dollars to general high
way Improvement the first thing to
De undertaken is a thorough study
Oh the organization best suited to
carry out the work; then should
come : careful examination of the
exist NJ h ghWay system with view
&c the selection Of the route which
would be Of the greatest benefit to
lie public. Following this will come
investigations and studies to de-
teFm.na where and to what extent
modlfcGt on of alignment and grade
are needed. Before contracts are
made there should be a careful in
NestigaI on OF the materials which
ere available in order to determine
Fhethe" it would be cheaper in the
enu to use native material or to
EFng others from a distance, even
though the cost of construction be
Increased -
Passing on the question Of sur
Feys, | will illu strate the necessity OF
ms work IN this way: suppose any
che OF You gentlemen should buy
cut mercantile bu7iness, would you
go IN and offer to put up a certain
sum on any Old stock of goods with
cut frs ticking an inventory? Sure
~ you would not. Neither would
you sell your busineGs without TAX
ne an Inventory Of your stock. Some
Dig concerns can tell every night
Nhat Their assets and liabilities are.
~ the Army Quartermaster Depart
heHt FL inventory is taken every
month and this is very common
procedure in the commercial world
while perhaps some departments
might take only one inventory and
That at the end of the fiscal year. !