Show ROADS STATE HELP FOR ROAD WORK wisconsin highway commission re belve reports that large increase in fund HAS been voted full reports have been received by ahe wisconsin highway commission of the money voted for state aid road and bridge construction in 1913 there are 1195 towns in wisconsin of which voted for state aid road construe alon on 1 different pieces 0 road asking for state aid to the total amount of two hundred and ave towns voted for the construction of bridges a total amount of which calls for state aid in all different towns in 68 counties voted for state aid a total amount of calling for tha sum of in state aid these figures show a very large in crease both in number of towns vot ing and amounts voted over last year last year towns voted a total of for roads and towns vot ed for bridges in all towns in 65 counties calling for SOO state aid in 1912 alie state highway fund tor 1913 work Is to which Is added in accordance with aw one quarter of tho net proceeds from the automobile license of 5 per car amounting to about 28 this total sum of Is less than the full amount of state aid requested somo few counties will get tha fall state aid requested as the votes of the towns were light but about 60 of the conn ties will get less than they askel for many of them getting less than one fifth of the amount requested it Is hoped anat some method devised whereby the state may give each town what it expected to receive when it made its appropriation baya the wisconsin agriculturist the growth of the movement for better roads in has been BO rapid that legislation has not kept pace with it in 1907 permanent road construe alon was practically nothing in 1913 it the state could pay its full share it would be fully 2 there has never been in the united states a movement tor better roads so statewide or so generally popular and th results so tar secured under the state aid road law promise well for the fu ure development of the roads 0 als consla automobile AND GOOD ROADS farmer who bought machine imme starts to make improve ments on nearby highways by M A some months ago one of our neigh bora purchased a good substantial automobile he and another neighbor drew an oak saw log to the mill and had material sawed for two good road drags the umbers beang 11 feet in length one foot aldo and three inches thick the edges that moved the dirt were faced with pieces of iron tour inches wide and three of an inch thick after constructing this most eitek live implement for road making our neighbor hitched three horses to the drag climbed into it and proceeded to drag the road he lives at a cross road and how he does improve every highway he traverses ho makes frequent trips with his drag to town tour miles away and already good effect of his owning an automobile Is being observed and felt on our roads far and near DIRT ROADS ON THE PRAIRIE chief assistant in information department part ment at washington says first cut down the hills we have had a great deal to eay in the last twenty years on the read ques alon we have believed that speak ing generally in the prairie country we shall have to be satisfied with dirt roads having macadam or other hard roads wherever the material Is avail able which Is only here and there we have maintained that a very good road for most of the year could be mad from dirt provided the road bed had lost its vegetable matter in the course of travel provided it was properly drained graded and maintained by the use of the road drag and provided the cu lverts and bridges are of concrete or iron and the grades reduced to the minimum it affords us some gratification to know that mr M 0 the chief assistant in the information department part ment ot the roads division of the department of agriculture at wash ington who Is now investigating the roads in iowa full endorses all these propositions says wallaces far mer he Is apparently as firm a believer in the dirt road properly man aged as he would be if he had been brought up on a drag in an interview mr baya that he regards the first thing to do Is to cut down the hills and remarks that iowa has more steep hills than switzerland Is no doubt due to our habit of laying out roads on sec alon lines this reminds us of our ex per lence in new york and pennsyl vanla from ithaca to harrisburg we were never outside of the mountain section and yet on that whole trip we did not cross as many steep hills as will be found in going from res to winterset or across any of the counties in the southwestern part of iowa the roads there are not laid out on section lines but take the best grades in pennsylvania where the same custom prevails we used to think they were determined by the springs the cows who roamed tbt woods made paths to the spring and being excellent engineers they chose the best grades the houses were built at the springs the roads fol lowed the cow paths to the bouses and hence good grades no matter how far around they had to go mr el dredge believes that no road should have more than a five per cent grade one great difficulty in the hilly parts of illinois iowa missouri and adjoin ink states Is that the roads have been laid out on section lines and the douses built with reference to the roads we very much fear that they will remain there tor all time as the expense in cutting down the bills be terrific mr eldridge further says when once a road is made it is essential that it should be dragged after every rain of consequence the only way to do this satisfactorily Is to have a EU for each township or county drags no man should have men more than three miles 0 road to take care of after each storm then the super visor can call upon the men to get to work at the right time the man in charge must know when the time comes to do the dragging on this we remark that the county Is too large a district there Is frequently a two inch rain in one part of the county which would necessitate immediate dragging and a mere sprinkle over the rest of it and there Is never any good done by dragging a dry road mr eldradge next answers the ques alon as to what kind of a road could be made under this system as fol lows with the right kind of work a solid roadbed can be made from the boil in this state it should be round ed and triffle should be in the center and not one road on each elde 0 a ride that will soak up the water he then adds good roada will come when the farmer realizes the benefits that will accrue to clr land from having them with good roads the farmer can raise products that will 1 ay better profits than those he now raises it costs more now to transport grain from a farm nine miles a railroad thin it does to transport the same grain from ow tork to ller pool all of which is undoubtedly true |