TIIK OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: OCTOBER 22, 3911.
Good Road Work United States Government is Doing
8
w
ASHINQTON, V. C, Oct. n.
On the corner of Fourteenth
and B streets, southwest. Just
opposite the bureau of enrrav-1
Ing and printing, where Uncle ;
Bams money la made, and
across the way from the new Agricul
tural department, where the scientists are
making new plane for the farmer, standi
a building which haa much to do with
the Vnlted States of the future. It U
Mot connected with the Irpartmcnt of
Commerce and Labor, but It affects cvrry
merchant and every one who works with
Ma hands. It affects the factories, the
farms, and. In short, every man. V.omnn
and child In the country. It H the office
of public roads, where Uncle Sam Is
Jlamng how to bettor our highways. It
Is not an automobile Institution. It Is
working for tiie jilaln people and Its
motto Is good roads from the farm to tha
market. uch roads will cut down the
juices of nil farm products. They should
reduce the cost of living; and put money
Into our pockets.
Vncle Sam's Itoadmaster.
Have you any Idea how much we lose
from bad roads? The scientists rstlmata
that the cost Is over $:,OuO,00O a day, or,
Jn round numbers, about OO.Ci0,COO a
year. I have had a lone talk with
Iokhji Waller I'awe, who has charga of
this road work, and who perhaps knows
more about our roads than any other man
In the country. He is a civil engineer,
who graduated at Harvard a tfecadn or
o ago, and who for a time ax ted as
geologist and director of the testing
laboratory of the Lawrence scientific
school there. Ha was on the Massachu
setts highway commission, and then bo
came chief of the dlvUlon of tests In the
J)epartment of Agriculture, after which
lie was made the director of tho United
State office of public roads. The Im
provement of the roads practically began
wttn him, and the great work that la now
g'ofrig on la under his management.
: Oar IllsUwura we, Europe's,
According to Mr. Tag we have about
the worst roada of any civilised country
on. earth. Uurope la griUlroned with
magnificent highways, and In France,
Oermany and England one can ride for
miles without striking a etone or puddle.
Said Mr. Page:
'"Tha coat of hauling over our country
roads U now about 13 cents per ton to
the-mile. In the European countries as
long as eighteen years ago the cost had
been reduced to 10 cents, and It Is much
lower today. On some of the roads go
lag into London, by the motor cars now
In line, It is less than 4 cents, and by
wagon freight can be hauled almost any
Where on the contlnont lor from one
bail f to ono-thlrd Its cost in the United
Stales."
A Savins of Millions.
"Can you give mo some Idea of the
Saving that good roods would bring T"
''Not accurately," replied Mr. Page,
"but I can show you some figures which
will convince you that it will run Into
the hundreds of millions of dollars. Ac
cording 'to the report of the Interstate
Commerce commission In 1906, our rail
toads handled more than 800,000,000 tons
of freight which originated on their re
spective linos. All this had to be taken
to and from the cars. A great deal of It
was made up of the products of the farm
and the forests, and it is estimated, that
a least 200.000,000 tons of It had a haul
of nine miles si cost or U cents a
tab. That bill alone would represent
wore than tQ,000,00a, and other freights
aad hauling would run the sum to 600,
CuO.OOO or over. Now suppose we cut the
wagon freight bill In half, or to HH
cents a ton, which Is still far above the
cost of hauling In Europe, and tha sav'
lng would be fO.OOO.OUO.
"Indeed.- it ia impossible to overeat!'
mate our loss by bad roads," continued
Mr. Pag. "The. Fruit Growers' Asso
ciation of Oregon lost In one year by
damaged fruit from the Willamette val
ley, owing to bad roads, IlMO.OuO. The
cant to the fruit crop is enormous, and
It- la so with every crop of the fanner,
Take the wear and tear on the horses.
We have more than Zi,0o0,0u0 draft anl
mala, which are worth more than 12,000,-
OO.OCO. Better the roads and the work could
be done with half the number, making
a, saving of 11.000,000,000 In capital. We
stave (00.000 farm wagons manufactured
each year. The wear and tear upon them
guns high into the millions,
rl dalck Transit auil High- Prices.
'And then look at the money which
tie farmer makes by getting his crop
te the market on time. Wheat and cot'
ten .have rapid changes of prices. In
117 the range of wheat at Minneapolis
ws from 7 cents to Il.U per bushel.
abd there was a difference In the selling
prions of corn at Chicago of 2i cents per
Ljinhel. If tho man got his grain to the
ntarket while the prices were high he
did well, but if the tad roads kept uitn
back he had to take a low figure.
' 7'ThIe loaa from bad roads prevails all
over the country, but especially In the
s4uth. I have Just returned from a long
tpp through that region and have made
a study of some of the conditions. Let
lua show you what good roads would do
far com and cotton, which, together with
tobacco, are the staple crops of the
iuth. The southern roads are worse
than those of other parts of the coun
try, and the average cost of hauling Is
therefore, far more. The average cost
vt taking corn to the station the United
tate over Is about T cents per hundred.
While in eleven of the southern states
K is more than IS cents per hundred.
Those eleven states produced last year
&V,,OU0,0cO bushels of corn, slid If U had
bven hauled to the market the total
ftwiKht cost would have been over 171,
0OU.UU0. Now, suppose that four-fifths of
this corn were consumed on the farms,
aba that only liu.uoo.uuo bushels were
luwied.. in thai case iiie vosi vt hauling
Would have been more than 114.000,000,
and If it could have been hauled as
cheaply as In other states of the union
one-half of that amount, or more than
gr.OUO.OuO, would have been the saving on
ttx. corn haul alone, 1
;Wsf BaoKIioada Blraa t Cottaa.
"i tn loss on the cotton crop Is very
TrtUcU greater, continued Mr. page. "At
i;. cents per 100 the cost, of hauling
about M cents per bale, and aa the av
erase diatanoe each load is taken Is about
cieven nuies, me lime consumed Is one
day. The average load is a little more
than three baits or 1,700 pounds, so that
it costs about S2.&0 to get each load to
the market. The cotton crop of last year
wj just under 12.000,000 bales, and to
make a long story short we figure that
the transportation cost of taking It to
the ginnery and then to the railroad. In
eluding the tost of hauling the seed, was
auuut t.''j.-'Aj. ii me roaas were as
good aa the average this sum would be
cut down one-half, making a saving of
Vj.0ti.tioO. But this Is In the south. Klin
liar cuiiittlons prevail In many parts of
the Lorlh. aud altogether Ut loss on uur
'ps ' '"V.' y?
' - - ' " : , '
hauling Is one of tho blggent leaks of our
whole Industrial system."
Vncle tiara's Itoadways.
"Who Is the extent of our roadways?"
"I suppose you mean the United Btates
over, said Mr. Pago. "Y e have alto
gether something like 2,M0,0QO miles of
roads of one kind or another. We have
enough altogether If placed end to end,
to reach 100 times around the earth and
have some to spare. Much of this length,
however, Is of a character not worthy
of the name road. Home of It Is little
batter than a rock pile, and others are
wide tracks through ditches and swamps.
Of the whole only seven miles In each
100 con be said to have any Improve
ments whatever, and on the most of It
the Improvements are such as to be un
worthy of note. Altogether not 3 per
cent can be called first class."
"But I thought we were doing a great
deal as to Improving our roads, Mr.
Pager
"Bo we are, but a vast amount of the
money .spent does no permanent good.
Th ordinary way of handling th roads
Is through a road superintendent or super
visor, . who ' is usually a politician and
who knows nothing about roads. In mon
oases he patches up the highways in front
of ihe farms of his principal constituents,
digging out the weeds from the sides and
throwing ' them to the center. In many
places the road taxes are paid In labor.
This gives ' unskilled and Irresponsible
workmen, and In other places the roads
are let out by contract, . which often
means graft. In some of our towns the
streets have been torn Up - and relald
again and again, and the same will be
the case with roada of the counties which
are contracting for highway Improve
ment' First a gravel road may be made
and the contractor will make his profit
off that. Then another vote of the peo
ple may change the gravel to macadam,
and a third tearing up may change It to
brick. Millions of dollars are now being
appropriated for roadways by the various
counties and statos, but In many cases
the money Is being unwisely spent."
How Highways Should lie Manaaed.
"What would be the best system of
rosd Improvement?" I asked.
"If we could have a general road or
ganisation such as that of some of the
countries of Europe It would create ' a
revolution In our public highways. Take
France, for Instance. Its roads are all
under the department of publlo works,
at th head of which Is a cabinet minis
ter. Each province has its road or
ganization and each district Its roud em
ployes down to the road cantoneer who
has charge of two or throe miles of road
way, for which he alone Is responsible.
The system Is such that every road In
Franco Is under the direct control of
the minister of publlo works, and If any
part of the system Is wrong ho knows
Jilnt who should remedy It and who Is
responsible. Home such organization
might be made in tho varloua states, or
for the whole United Btates. At any
rate, tho roods of every state und county
should be under competent engineers, ex
perienced In road construction and main
tenance. These men should have au
thority to make the plans for the roads,
and to Improve them subject to the di
rections of the higher authorities, and
they should be paid enough so that they
can devote their entire time to tRo work.
Such engineers are now employed In
many of the states, and in those coun
ties, which are bonding themselves to
make better roads."
Government Hoed WerU.
"What kind of roads does your office
make?"
"We are making object learon and ex
perimental roads here and there over the
country, to show the people what good
roads are and how they should Improve
those of the present. As It Is now, we
have built In the neighborhood of 800
such roads In thirty-four different states.
These roads are of the various kinds best
suited to th several localities. Borne are
of macadam, some are of brick, some of
gravel or sand-clay and burnt-clay, while
others are of shell and others arc oiled
and cement roads. In this work the gov
ernment furnishes the engineering su
pervision, and prepares the plans, speci
fications and estimates of the work. The
locality pays the other expenses. In ad
dition to this we tent road materials and
advise the people as to what roads are
th best for their special localities. Ws
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make plans for th construction, main
tenance and administration of roads
adapted to the country which applies for
them.
"At the same time we have lecturers
going over the country to tell the people
how roads should be made, and to show
them the importance of good roads. We
are now equipping a certain number of
cars with models of roads and specimens
of road materials as well as of bridges,
culverts and other such things. These
cars will be sent over the country, stop
ping here and there to instruct the peo
ple as to what good roads are amd how
they should . be made. They will be
handled somewhat after the method of
the grain exhibition cars of the corn
belt.
"In addition to these things, the office
of publlo roads is a training school for
highway engineers. Our men are all
civil engineers, the graduates of the best
sf the colleges who have passed our ex
aminations. After working with us a
short time they are In great demand over
the country, where road Improvement is
now going on. Many of them are em
ployed by the states or by cities and
countlos, where tho salaries are latter
than thOBe paid by the government."
What the States Are Doing.
. The conversation here turned to the
work of road Improvement now going on
throughout the states, when Mr. Page
said:
"Within the last fifteen years nearly
half of the states of the union have
adopted the principle of giving state aid
to road building. New York has author- ,
Ized the Issuance eof $50,000,000, to be 1
spent at the rate of Ti,000,000 a year,
the various counties to supply an equal
amount. A great deal, of such Im
provement is going on In the south.
Virginia haa appropriated JJSO.OuO
year to be spent under the state high
way department, and Louisiana will levy
a tax of onVfourth of a mill on all of
her taxable property . as a highway
fund. Alabama has made extensive ap
propriations, and Maryland will spend
this year $1,250,000 In the same way.
At the present time the sixteen southern
states have available for road expenses
about $40,000,000, which Is Just double
the amount devoted to such purposes in
11HM. Indeed, the south has become highly
Interested in improving Its roada."
Working? the , Convicts.
"I understand that maty of the south
ern states are working their roads with
convict labor?"
"Yes. and I think with great profit. In
Virginia the state convicts- are employed
In road building, and the supervising en
gineers say that the convict labor Is even
more effective than paid labor. Georgia
has nearly 6,000 prisoners at work on Us
ng as to new roaas, ana among
many other tnings nave maoe vaiuauis
discoveries as to the use of oil and ce
ment on the roads. The Ideal road of
the future will be without dust, and some
model roads now constructed are bound
together with bitumen and other' ma
terials which make them practically in
destructible. One of the most valuable
discoveries of recent years as to roads
and all sorts of masonry Is an Invention
of Mr. Page, which has been patented
by him, but which Is given to the publlo
without charge. This is a process of mix
ing a little oil with concrete or cement
which makes It absolutely waterproof.
Upon such concrete the water stands In
globules as It does upon glass, and If the
cement mixture is whitewashed on bricks
they become waterproof.
FRANK O. CARPENTER.
SOME SHOW FOR BACHELORS
Fifty la Just the Right Age for a
Bridegroom, a Vibii
Says.
An interesting and unusual estimate of
the proper age for matrimony is that ad
vanced by Mrs. Vivian, heud and founder
of the National Society of the Daughters
of California. The happiest and most
successful marriages, she says, are those
between the man of CO and the woman
of 35. At that age of discretion, she
claims, the mole has become more mel
low and tolerant as well as more solvent.
On the other hand she Intimates that a
girl of 20 Is much harder to get along
with than to get along without, and that
there ought to be laws prohibiting people
marrying before they are 30 years old.
We do not know what authority the
Daughters of California have In such
matters, comments Success, but we fancy
that Improvident young people will for
the present continue to rush headlong1
Into matrimony at assorted tender ages.
When Mrs. Vivian's theory gets Into
working order the bachelor entering the
bald, corpulent age of 60 may as well
leave hope behind. If Dr. Osier doesn't
get him the Daughters of California will.
roada. Louisiana will use Us Btate An-
vtcts In the same way, and a part of
the Alabama appropriation for roads
comes from the convict labor fund, I see
no reason why convicts should not be
worked on the roads. In such cases they
do not compete with free labor as In the
prison factories, and the open-air work
should bo healthy."
What Good Roads Cost.
"What does a good road cost?" I asked.
"That depends much on the location
and the material at hand. It is cheaper
to build good roads in the south than
In the north, for the southern wages are
lower and the working period Is longer
throughout the year. The most of the
southern soil Is good for the purpose.
There is plenty of gravel and sand-clay,
and we can make macadam roads there
cheaper than In the north. In Louisiana
a macadam road can be made for $1,800 a
mile, and the average cost In nine differ
ent states of the south is less than $4,000
per mile. In Butler county, Ohio,
where they are now making bituminous
macadam roads, the cost is $7,000 a mile,
while In Massachusetts the average mac
adam costs $$,000 per mile. The aver
age cost of making state roada in New
York Is more than $9,000, and Ohio,
which has many brick roads, has re
cently let out a contract for the con
struction of five miles of such roads near
Ravenna, which will cost altogether more
than $70.X. or over $14,000 per mile.
Good roads cost all the way from a few
hundred to $10,000 or $15,000 per mile, ac
cording to their character and the ma
terials of which they are constructed."
Roada of Oil and Ccmtst,
Before leaving the 'office of public
roads I took a walk with Mr. Page
through bis laboratories. The bureau has
a large force of chemists, engineers and
other scientists, who are planning out and
testing materials for the roads of the
country. They are always experiment-
ECZEMA ITCHED SO
I COULDN'T STAND IT
Began by Little Pimples. Scratched
Until Blood Came. Kept Getting
Worse. Could Not Sleep Nights
Used Cuticura Soap and Ointment
and the First Day They Relieved
Itching, In 3 Weeks Eczema Cured.
"I suffered with eczema on my aeek for
about six snontba, beginning by little pim
ples breaking out. I kept scratching till the
blood came. It kept getting worse, I couldn't
sleep nights any more. It
kept Itching for about a
month, then I want to a
doctor and got some
liquid to take. It seemed
aa U I was going to get
better. The Itching
stopped for about three
days, but when It started
train, waa eren worse
than before. The ecsema
Itohed so badly I couldn't
stand It any more. I
weal to a doctor and he
gave me some medicine, but didn't do any
good. We have been having Cuticura Rem
edies In the beuae, so I decided t try them.
I had been using Cuticura Soap, so I got me
a box of Cuticura Ointainnt, and wasied off
tha affected part with Cuticura Soap three
times a day, and men put the Cuticura
Ointment on. The first day I put it oa. It
relieved me of Itching so I could sleep all
that night. It took ab I a week, thea I
could see the scab come oil. I kept the
treatment up for three weeks, and my eczema
Was cured.
"My brother rot his face burned with rtm
powdsr, nd he used Cuticura Soap aad Oint
ment. The people all thought he would have
scars, but you can't tee that be ever had his
far-e nurned. It was limply awful to look at
be' jre the Cuticura Remedies (Soap and Olnl
rrtntl cured it." (Signed) Mist Uumbelh
Cehrkt, Forrest City. Ark., Oct. 16, 1S10.
Although Cuticura 6oa and Cuticura
Ointment are sold by druggists and dealers
erery where, a liberal samplr of each, with
-par DOomei on toe ticin ana nair, wui
e sent, post-free, on application to Potter
rug UMsm. lyorp., uepi. Boston.
i
How to Absorb An
Old Complexion
(From Popular Monthly.)
A girl signing herself "Discouraged,"
writes she has "tried everything" for
her "coarse, horrid, muddy complexion"
and asks, "Is there no really effective
remedy?"
Poctorlng your complexion with stuff
that comes out of jars and bottles Is
liable to make It mure unsightly. The
only sura wiy to rid yourself of a bad
complexion Is to remove It take off
the offensive sidn. Ordinary mercollxod
wax, securable at your druggist's, will
do this. Apply at night, as you would
cold cream; wah off In the morning,
The wax absorbs the dead and dying
outer skin, revealing the clear, soft,
healthy aud beautiful skin underneath.
Naturally all surface defects go, too,
as pimples, blotches, liver spots, moth
peicnee, rreonee ana blackhead. The
treatment causes no discomfort No
one can tell you are using It, (he old
skin coming off so giadually Adv.
Me Has Come
FERULLO
and Hit Famous Band at
Land Siioiu"
as I sill I
icaay ana an ween
I- -V" :. - v-
j V. iatW(' ''K''W',U",I''"W'
"Just Right Pianos"
-AT
"Just Right Prices
-ON-
That is what THOUSANDS of Piano buyers who have purchased Pianos of us in
the past ALWAYS SAY. You will say the same thing if you will buy of us
any time in the future. MONDAY IS TO BE
Nruuij. mi
A DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES
Prices on Used
Pianos
KIMBALL, $50.00
KIMBALL, $G5.00
VOSE & SON
$119.00
DEC1IER & SON
$149.00
CTIICKERINO & SON
$119.00
If you wish to keep
up with the times
The Piano Question
Must Be Met
in every home in Ne
braska. What one to
buy where to buy
and how much should
you pay t are easily
answered if you will
but pay IIAYDEN
BROS.' Piano Dept. a
visit.
i
t
We Will Save You
at least 25, and in
some instances can
sell to j'ou a piano at
a saving of 50.
"We will Guarantee
the quality on every
instrument we sell.
"Wo will make
Terms that will satis
fy and please jou.
Prices on New
Pianos
Large oak case, was $225.00,
now ....$149.00
Large mahogany case, was
$225.00, now. . . .$150.00
Large dark oak case, was
$300.00, now. . . .$199.00
Large fancy mahogany case,
was $350.00, now $219.00
fi&xsjy I Hayden Bros.
i i i ... '
AVe can meet the demands of all tastes, having the largest and best assorted
stock in Nebraska. All styles of casing the unique, the plain, the ornamental all
are represented in our stock. '
We represent as Nebraska's sole distributers the World's Better Grades.
Our regular lines consist of the Everett, the Chickering Bros., the Price &
Teeple, Fischer, Schaeffer, Wegman, Milton, Estey, Sohmer, Smith & NLxon, II. P.
Nelson and AVeiler. "Write for catalogue, prices and terms if you cannot call.
Terms
that
Suit
i.-wiuidnaUr: m iafm ,'I"J '.I '.'PHI JP'JPWUS1 mm