Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1921-12-05
DEF ENDS HIGH
Way Commission
F. r. White, Chief Engineer,
Speaker at the Webster
City Engineer
Club.
TELLS OF ROAD WORK
Shows What Commission
has Done in Improving
Highways.

| Defense of the state highway com
! mission against charges of needless
road changes, failure to cooperate will
! the county boards, reckless expenditure
of public funds and inefficicncy was
taken up at the banquet of the Web
ster City Engineers club Saturday eve
ming in the Wilson Hotel by F. II
White, chief engineer of the commits
sion. The program for the evening in.
cluded paper by r. w. Miller on
''The Relation of Fire Insurance to En-.
cheering Problems and a talk by Fl
\. Little. county engineer, in which he
read editorials concerning the highway
commission which have recently ap-
pcarcd in the newspapers, and answer
ed the charges as county employee.
Discusses Primary Roads.
Mr. Whites address was a bricf and
concise summary of the work which has
been done by the highway commission.
He gave facts and figures showing the
expenditures made to improve the U.s.
GOO miles of highway which are includ-
ed in the primary road system. Sixty
six miles of the system is in Hamilton
county.
Mr.. White said that in the past
three years $500 miles of primary
road have been improved. In 1919. he
said, five miles We're paved: three
miles gravelled and 40 brought to fin
inshed grade. In 1920, he said, 80 miles
were paved. 40 gravelled and 40
brought to finished grade. One hun
bred and sixty-two miles We're paved
before November /. 1921. he said. ::Ol
miles graveled and 952 brought to
finished grade. The program for 1872
includes grading of 100 miles while
the miles to be paved decrease to 400
and those to be gravelled to 400 miles.
Have Made Progress.
by the end of 1923. he said, the pri
mary road system in Hamilton county
will be graded, drained and gravcllcd.
Under the highway commission system.
he pointed out, more progress has been
made than was made under all prcvi-
Gus laws. Projects of the county
board in this county. call for improv-
ing IS miles of primary roads. The
present plans call for no expenditure
save maintenance on the Jewell to
harrisburg road. as that was in good
condition before the law was passed
Must Cooperate.
Answering the charge that the high
way commission does not cooperate
with the county boards, Mr.. White ex-
planned that the law makes cooperation
necessary. Under the law, he pointed
out. no project can be launched by the
commission. In Hamilton county, six
road and two bridge projects have been
outlined by the board and all these
with the exception of two road pro
jects, have been approved by the com
No Useless Surveys.
.'The1e seems to be the impression.
he said. that the commission spends
much money for useless surveys OF
road sites" He explained this by out
lining the various steps necessary to
establish Il road bed.
IN the first place" he said, 1T is
necessary to locate the section corners.
4 party goes over the road to do this.
The next step is to run the center line
of the highway. Another party goes
over the road. and people say, they
are taking another survey Then a
party must go out with levels to take
cross sections of the line. and people
saw they are making another survey
Before the contractor can start to wcT'k
it is necessary for another party to 20
ont and set stakes, and people con-
pla in again"
Have Been Efficient.
As proof that the methods used by
the commission have been efficient
Mr.. White declared that in the three
years of its operation the board has
spent S2J.O0O.0O0. had dealings with
400 contractors and has never had a
lawsuit.
He explained that money spent for
road Improvement came from motor
tax and federal aid and did not reprc
sent money paid in for real taxes.
THE tax levy in Webster City lir
pointed out. "has been reduced 13.S per
cent. but the county has reduced the
county road and bridge levy 1923 per
pcndicitis She is reported as getting
along well.
The Williams basket ball teams play
cd thp return game with EllSwOrf Ii