| OCR Text |
Show GOOD COUNTRY ROADS Narrow-Tired Wagon Is Most Destructive Agent. Highways Also Have Bten Ruined by Wrong Method tf Working Different Dif-ferent System of Supervision Is Advocated. Good country rouds arc ruined In j many ways, some of which must be In Id at the doors of the official lu i charge, and some we can only bold ;he farmers themselves responsible 'or. Good roads are ruined by weather, weath-er, water and wanton neglect. Man is the chief destructive agent and we niUKt pay some attention to him and his ways, says the Western Farmer. Any good dirt road can be ruined In t short time by hauling heavy loads aver It In narrow tired wagon. Tbe common one and three fourth inch tire Joe more harm to country roads han any olner destructive agent We sender why the farmers will continue buying thee w lulls when a broad tire ay four-Inch will n.ake rather than destroy good roads. The broad tired wagon pulls taster and that ihould be eufiicieiit reason why the :hange tbould be madp. It seems a waste of money to make i dirt road hard and smooth, druRKd j it the proper time and all that, and 1 then have a lot of men haul big leads f grain, hay, wood or what not over It Just after a rain and their narrow ;lres cutting away In. or course they ill keep In the one track so each succeeding suc-ceeding tire cuts a little deeper. If mother ralu cornea before the ruts are lragged full then the whole road goes jo pieces. There should be a tai or tome legal penalty against the narrow lred wagon. We are not pleading for ow wt.iels. though we believe In hem, too. but we do urge every one o buy wide tires. The old wheels :an be made over and wide tires put n at a slight cost. Roads have been ruined by tbe mile )y the wrong method of working, j The old system of working out tbe ! oad tai under a supervisor or road kiss Is wrong. It never yet has made La good stretch of road. It never will. The practice of tearing up the road n the fall' after harvest because .hat'a the only time he can get fartn-rs fartn-rs to work plowing the sodded sides ip and scalping the whole conglomeration conglomera-tion of sods, stones and c lods Into the middle of the road Is the worst system that ever can be practiced. The sea-ton sea-ton Is wrong, the system Is wrong itid the road is bad all winter and text spring. Who has not seen brush piled In toft places, gravel dumped In mud loles. and even sand put In chuck Soles by these road bosses? It's a ture way to make a bad road worse. Who has not seen dense groves of tall willows pile the road full or snow which made a mud hole exist there 'or weeks after the rest of the road ii dry? What Is the remedy? A llfferent system of read suervlBlon. Remove the office from polities, get men who have studied or will study j ond building and keep theni as long' is tbey are efficient. I'ay road tax j n cash and let Ibis skilled road boss! Sire his men. lie should keep the tame men all the time. They become nore efficient all the time. |
