OCR Text |
Show H I , The Struggle With Mud 1'' ' Tho struggle of the American peo- H ' pie with mud, particularly In lato H;, -winter and early spring, Is one of H he regular experiences of life t In H iho rural districts. People who live Hy In well paved towns or along hard H, Toads, do not realize what a handl- H "'up mud Is to Industry along the H .back roads or a country having soft bsbWsbV . olIs. H Several of (he Congressmen went Hhr down to Camp Oreenen'Nortn Car-' H"'. ( ollna and struck mud. The visitors' H reported tho mud at the cantonment Hv ' as being a foot deep. On army wag- B. " -ona It was nearly up to the hubs of i' the wheels, and almost up to the HTf liclhca of the mulos that drew them. B There are millions of miles of V "highway In this country whero mud a foot deep is not at all unusual. Ht' ' While the mud season UbU travel' ' over the highway- Is practically pro- Bj hiblted. It comes at a season when K' the farmers are preparing for tho B -spring work. The remnantB ot last fa'VB Produce are also being hauled Xf over tho highways at a tremendous Hi! "" bbbbbbbP ' bbbbbbbbbbbV1 bsbbbbI ' ' mmm" I. I exponse of time and horso flesh. ! Not merely does this condition delay de-lay mral Industry, but It must havo n discouraging erfect on all the country coun-try people. Thoy nni3t fool tho do-cadenco do-cadenco of n neighborhood that has to wallow through sloughs of despond cvory time It goes out on the roads. Tho nnclont habit of scraping (ogeth-, er the dust of tho road from the gutters gut-ters and heaping It up In the center aggravates muddy conditions. This dust Is worn out road material having hav-ing no binding power, 'and ready to turn' Into paste at the first application applica-tion of moisture. There are some soils that are naturally nat-urally muddy and m'roly need the coming of spring rains to turn the roads Into pig Vtles. Industry cannot bo prosperous In those localities until steps have beon taken to rebuild such roads with somo form of material superior to tho original foundation. |