The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1920-10-29
Our Public Roads

The building and maintenance Of ou
highways as well ss other constructive
work has received staggering blow
within the past twelve or eighteen
months. 1t 10 estimsted that in some
sections Of the United States only ten
percent Of the roads that were layec
out for construction to the standard
given by the Federal Government have
been completed during the year 1920.
Some assign the chief reason for this
delay, to the failure Oh the part of the
railroad companies 70 furnish open -op
cars for transporting hardsurfsced ma
tcrial. The territory surrounding Mem
phis is peculisr in the fact that there
are no rock quarres nor good self-con-
creting gravel pits within radius Of
125 miles which places the road building
Industry at the mercy Of our transpor-
tation companies. Other sections that
have rocks so near that 1t could be
hauled BY wagons or trucks, have not
felt the blow so keenly because they
haveIbeen independent of railroad trans
portation facilities. What contracts
that have been let in this section We're
apparently very high and il is thought
that the contractors would reap har-
vest from such exorbitant prices but
the failure to get the hard surface ma
terial ard the disorganizaticn of labor
together with the high cost of feed
have resulted in loss TO these men
engaged in road construction.
But for the optimism and constant
boosting efforts of few of the faith
ful ones, there would be an utter col
lapse in the sentiment as well as the
efforts to lay out and construct our
public highways and the financing Of
same.
The necessity for better roads ia be.
coming more and more apparent each
day because of the change that has
taken place In the means of travel and
and 10 the excessive tonnage. The ef-
feet Is seen as the surface of the reads
is ground into sand holes and ruts and
powdered into dust. particularly on our
main highways. The wooden bridges
are being destroyed at a rapid rate. oil
of which brings increased cost to the
maintenance of the dirt road such as we
have in this section.
The funds available in the treasury
Of the different counties for construc-
tion and maintenance purposes are slway
inadequate and in many cases, the taxes
for the year to come, have been antic
ipsted in the expenditures. This pre-
sents rather gloomy outlook to the tax
payer who Is asking many q1estioDs as to
whether the present system is giving
an honest returns for the money spent
and the officials in chsrgs, :are there
fore, receiving serious criticisms which
many Of them are not justly entitled
to. The public should ever keep in
mind that there is no such thing as
good dirt road. speaking from the
standpoint Of the requirments Of the
modern methods of travel. They should
also remember that the freezes and the
rains are destructive agencies with
which we must reckon and these forces
have seemingly been working overtime
within the past two years, bringing a.
bout greatly increased cost In main
enance alone, The fact is. most of the
taxes collected for road purposes with
In the last few years have beer. expend.
ed on repairs and not on constructive
work. The repairing has been made
necessary by heavy floods which have
washed the roads into deep gullies and
by the freezes which have made them
exceedingly soft. AL this makes II sp-
pear that our highways hare been wos-
fully neglected, but the truth H. the
officials have not been given meane nor
have they bad the corporation of those
who live along the highways and those
who travel ever them. The travelling
public - well as the taxpayers must
not require the highwsy officials TO
perform the impossible that is, to
maintain high class system Of roads
upon the revenue that is placed 10 their
hands.
There is another fact to be borne In
mind and that is. that the cost Of road
bulldog and maintenance have been
from three 10 five times greater than IL
was eight to ten years ago and butsiittIe,
il any more. revenue from the tax fund
with which to do the work. Besides
this, the increased travel and the great
er tonnage psssing over the highw sys,
add greatly 10 the destructive agencies,
will these conditions prevail for any
length Of time or is there sbettsr out.
look in the near future? The state
ment has been published recently that
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