Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-01-03

:Thirty-one Of the states>at least have
already done this and we know of no
case where they have ever returned to
the Old system. When this move was
first contemplated in Minnesota. very
bitter opposition was met from the
county officials. Since the matter was
brought about and a highway
Eensineer was placed in practically all
of tho counties, the county commits
have found that the arr;uige-
ment has worked out Very greatly 10
advantage.I%We belicveithe same
will be found to be true in the state
|of North Dakota. The great advan-
,tage to be ecured from such arrange
ment is that it ~contemplates that each
county will have a county system over
which the county commissioners will
have complete control and that later
Fas it is more fully developed. systems
will be established in each township
and finally that the complete system
reaches down from, possibly national
highway systems through state high
way systems in turn through county
systems to township systems and fin
ally to the. highway or street that
REACHES. t every citizens door. Such
organizations working in harmony
ieannot help. but hiring about u great
Saving 10 the taxpayers owe the pres
ent haphazard system which spends a
llltllH mere anu IL l1ILit tQeFc, OlEeT III
! many cases to be later abandoned.
!" The great value OF such a system
will be thai the experience gained by
1.-THE older states in meeting their
problems will be passed through the
channels OF the Bureau of Public
Roads and the Association of state
highway officials. which meets anru-
ally for 4 period of four days. to dis
! cues these problems.
Who ctatoS Of Illinois anil Toennsv1-
vania as we'll rs many other states
and the Bureau of Public Roads are
carrying on experiments in the matter
of highway construction costing hun
tdreds-of thousands Of dollars that will
| be Of as much value to. other states
having similar conditions if the infor-
nation is distributed through the
proper channels. This is being done
Through the state highway dcpart-
ments and the Bureau Of Public
Roads " @
Commission Can Give Advice.
knowledge and experience regard
ing local matter in like name can
tic distributed from county to county
Thy the highway commission. which
is In a better position to observe the
efforts of the counties along different
lines. This is particularly true in the
matter of maintenance. The highway
~ 40 IA I" ioH pNsbt lt-r1S "A7
iEisc the counties. as to which methods
are most successful without each in
dividual county having to go to the
expense of experimenting. For in
stance. we observe hat Cass county
has probably the most extensive and
best organized system Of maintenance.
If we were in a. position to secure the
actual figures as to the cost Of this
system we would be able to advise all
other counties regarding the matter.
Other counties are doing particular
successful work along similar lines
! with highway commission trucks and
{, other equipment. This knowledge
can be given to other counties for
their guidance. With proper engi-
neer:ng advice the county commits
sioners in each county would be in a
position to give advice to the town
ship. OFFICIALS as to the most successful
methods that come under their OBJ
servaiion. Such Il system could not
fail in giving the taxpayers much bet
ter results for their moneJ
There is no other enterprise that