Oxford Democrat., 1920-06-22
The New Road.

There is to be new road built dowr
10 Oxford, or rather an old one rebuilt
1t begins down on the Oxford Plains
and extends to Norway village. 1t ID
proposed by the state, which is building
it, TO make It the very best and latest
kind of . road, one with concrete face,
and they hope 1t will last forever.
There has been some controversy
among the farmers who live on either
side Of this road as to whether 1t is be-
ing built for them or the owners of
autos, "red devils" they used to call
them until most manufacturers forgot to
mix potassium hydroxide with their
mercury and sulphur, so the vermilion
faded, oxidized, or suffered some other
reaction and the cars treated with the
mixture came out in mourning.
But then the farmer lost his case
when he came to the conclusion the old
gray mare was not good enough to travel
the roads, and invested in machines OF
the later and more somber shade, the
wheels OF which prefer hard surface to
roll upon to six inches of loose sand to
mine tunnels in; 80 they were ready to
settle the case nolo contendere.
1t might be said parenthetically, that
II one wishes to get anywhere In time
for breakfast, an automobile Is the thing
to make the trip In; but If one wishes to
rubber" at the landscape, especially II
one is driving, 1t never can take the
place Of the above mentioned "old gray
mare" who did not not need any guild
Ing, but simply logged and logged, and
left the driver free to use his eyes and
bis arms also, which sometimes was
more important, for other things.
II we are to use automobiles we must
have roads suitable to run them on, and
perhaps we can make the new arrange
ment pay dividends.
Big trucks solve local freight trans
portatioD. At one time 1t looked as
though the country highways would be
occupied by tram lines; but the auto
and truck sbooed them off. Really q
concrete road simplifies matters. Roads
are public utilities and should be and
generally are owned by the public.
While the public has been willing that
railroads of any kind should be owned
by private parties, a private toll high.
way never has been tolerated a great
length of time. Privately owned bridges,
or toll bridges as they are generally
called, have had q longer life but they
all 90 at last and there are not many OF
them left In the State of Maine. So it
seems the ideal kind of transportation
scheme, to date at any rate, is a public
highway over which privately owned
vehicles run.
A country Is known largely by it's
roads, and is also remembered by them
after the country is dead. They are not
the smallest thing by which Rome is
These roads centered In
the Eternal City and radiated through
her provinces, one extending as far as
the Breton coast, even jumping across
the English Channel and making an
effort to continue on the Albion shore;
but then ancient England never was any.
thing but far off Roman colony. These
roads consisted of several strata of
material cemented with lime and capped
with pavement of nicely fitted hexsg.
onal blocks of stone. These roads have
had the wear of two thousand years and
are yet in evidence as q reminder of the
grandeur of Rome.
1t would seem the irony Of fate, If two
thousand years hence people should 60
70 the Oxford Plsins-a stretch of sand,
mostly, which people have thought was
Jumped there just to hold the world
:ogether, but which, nevertheless, makes
IN admirable surface to build road
,n-for evidence of the civilization of
he down-east Yankee, q creature who
will be as dead at that date as
he Caesars are now.
Perhaps our roads may be in q better |
'tate of preservation then than the
Roman roads are now; for, perhaps,
hey may not have been used as much
,r as long as the latter. Perhaps 1t may
20 in good deal less time than two
thousand years hence that autos and
rucks may fly through the air, and all
he money now spent In concrete roads |
will be unnecessary; but In the mean
lime we shall have to stick to the earth |
,arthy and make the best roads possible. |
AQUARIUs.