The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-08

! is all the more noticeable from his program.
 A HIGHWAY CRISIS
 Not long ago public sentiment in Tuscaloosa county was recorded as being emphatically opposed to hard surfaced roads, on the ground that the cost and upkeep Is prohibitive, while the roads themselves are never in smooth condition except directly after receiving the attention of the mainte- nance or repair forces. It was gen. erally agreed that clay-gravel and the cherts are about the most expen- sive material of which heavily travelled roads can be built. The people of Tuscaloosa want main paved roads, be- cause they have paid lot of money to find out that inferior kinds are not adapted to heavy traffic. In this connection, the remarks of Chairman A. s. Towle, of the Mobile county board of road and revenue commissioners, are pertinent. Says MT. Towle, who is himself an en- gineer: "Clay-gravel roads, after all, can be claimed as scarcely more than 2 makeshift. Such roads necessitate continued attention, especially after their existence for some time, which means, of course, that appeals must be made to the county treasury to supply money for maintenance and repair. Funds thus expended bring relief for only limited time.'
 The experience in Mobile county is conclusive proof that money spent on hard-surfacing with gravel and other soft materials is money wasted. Twelve years ago Mobile county started on a program of hard-surfac- ing, and in that time has spent up- wards of two and half million on roads, yet with the result that today the gravel and chert surfaces are worn out and all the money must be spent over again. The only economical, ef- ficient and satisfactory surfacing the county possesses today from it's ten year program consists of eight or ten miles of county and state paved roads, out of total highway mileage of some twelve hundred miles.
 These two outstanding examples should give the state highway com mission further pause in it's consider ation of any program of graveled or dirt highways to be kept up either by state or the individual counties. The counties could not afford to agree to any such wasteful program, and cer- tainly the engineering intelligence which is supposed to guide the state commission would strongly counsel against any such folly. Undoubtedly the state commission needs more than anything else to take stock of the present needs, to check up assiduously on construction now under way, and to visit advanced highway projects in other states in order that the people of Alabama may benefit by the ex- pensive experience of others.
 The slowness with which state pro- jects now under way are proceeding is also a matter for public concern. The Shelby county highway, for ex. ample, is proceeding at snails pace. Although it has been under way for upwards of a year, it is said that not a yard of surfacing has yet been laid. The public is being deprived of the use of this important convenience for what appears to be no very good req son. Perhaps, however, the state of the work will give the commission the desired opportunity to take public ad- vantage of the serious errors in con- struction of the base of this highway, which have not been corrected. It is true that the federal engineers in dersed the materials now being used in the base, but it is felt that the in- dorsement was in part a defense of the engineers themselves for permit ting such wrong construction in the first place.
 The public Is far more inclined to accept the view of Commissioner Scruggs that the construction is wrong and should be safeguarded by supplementary specifications designed to make the base more substantial. It is known that Commissioner Scruggs still clings to his original objection to this construction, and it is hoped that the commission will be brought to ex- ert every effort to have the faults cor rected before it Is too late, and another highway disaster Is added to Ala bama's long record of highway fu- tility.
 PARK BOARDS OPPORTUNITY
 To those who are interested in the establishment of an adequate park