Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-05-18
TROUBLE ON TROUBLE
IS HEApED UP
That's What Has Come
In the Highway
Problems

Problems
Work Of the Old Road ovsrsser Of Is
Years Ago Much Different from
What confronts Road Officials To-
day.-Wheell Improvement, Against
Increased Loads
(By James W. Brooks)
Director, American Highway Educa-
tional Bureau
The problems of the old road over
seer Of twenty-five or thirty years ago
were very different from the prob
lens which confront road officials to-
day. There was no need in his day
for an extensive educational cam
paign, for the reason that the roads
under his supervision were not ex-
tensively used. Traffic originated
and terminated mainly within the
narrow confines of his neighborhood,
so that whatever his road problems
may have been they were in plain
view of everybody. The propaganda
end of his job was, therefore, a very
simple matter. A few hours on horse
back to notify the neighbors when
! and where to bring their axes and
picks, and the thing was done.
But as population increased, traffic
, grew and mileage heightened. Our
| processes of development have gone
| on until today our highways extend
| in their daily use miles beyond the
mere range of neighborhood vision.
| With this new traffic extending I'M
| der the pressure of modern needs
| against an all-too-slow extension of
| modern roads to meet those needs,
complex problems have been created
| with the result that an educational
campaign for highway improvement
how amounts to more than a ride
| around the neighborhood to collect q
group of farmers with primitive tools.
1t means an exhaustive research into
the true relationship of the road to
the entire PUBLICITY and country
and the presentation of facts so OBJ
tanned honestly and clearly before the
people. The truth is, much as we
discuss good roads, we very often go
into campaign with a woeful lack of
actual bedrock, vote compelling in
| formation.
Few of us realize that thousands
| upon thousands of acres of land have
Deen set aside as routes over which
to haul produce and supplies from one
| point to another, and yet these routes
are permitted to remain in such con-
dltion as to prevent the full use for
( which they were intended Such
| land is worse than idle. 1t becomes
an lnexcusable and enormous drain
on the public, a drain which will in
crease annually until we shall have
completed the construction of COM
| prehensive systems of we'll connect
ed highways in every state.
The public must be brought fo y
realization of the fact that inventive
genius, IN the application of motive
power to the wheel, has improved both
the wheel and the vehicle which if
conveys. 1t must also realize that
man by his industry has increased
the load, while the road remains prac-
tlcally in its primitive state. AS re-
suit OF this uneven DEVELOPMENT. the
modernlzed wheel with it's increased
ioad has stalled on the unimproved
| highway, making the delivery of food
products in sufficient quantity irregu-
lar. difficult and expensive.
Here the road problem begins IN
lork IN every known direction, pilins
cerned. The farmer is forced to de-
vote TOO large a part of his time To
unproductive work, thereby lessening
MS chances of profit, and upon the
"hole discouraging rather than slim
uiatlng the extension Of farm opera
tions. The average loss of farm time
Que TO unimproved roads has been
estirnated as equivalent to the loss
VI more than quarter of a million
men engaged in farm labor. On the
otner hand as a result of this same
uneven development the consumer.
VINO is engaged in necessary com
merclal and Industrial ENTERPRISE is
purdened with ever increasing prices
LOT lood' due primarily to traffic con-
! oitiohs which discourage maximum
production and direct delivery from
'he 1arm. Both producer and con-
sumner are therefore paying toll to the
| unlmproved road and the amount
they pay benefits no one-not evon
the road itself-for the money and
energy thus expended ultimately dis
appears in mud.
80 That the educational side of
| highway work has become a very
important matter. Loosely drawn
arguments in favor of road improve
ment are as bad as poor construction.
Both defeat their own object.