The herald and news. (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, March 02, 1909, Page SEVEN, Image 7
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* THE VALUE OF GOOD ROADS *
* *
(In ithe issue of The Herald and
News of February 23, an article
by Mr. H. E. C. Bryant, the Wash
ington correspondent of the Ch-ar
lotte Observer, on "The Value of
Good Roads," was continued to this
issue. The remainder of the article
is as follows):
Automobile Traffic.
It is probable that the most serious
modern problem that ihighway engi
neers have ever been called upon to
face has been created by the advent
of the automobile. In fact, it was the
introduction of that machine that
brought about the first international
road congress, which was held in Par
is in October.
To Tresauget, who was engineer in
chief of the District of Limoges in
1775, and to Telford and MacAdam
who .came after him, the broken
stone, or macadam road, traces. Tre
sauget's repont to the council of
bridges and roads, which was writte:
in 1775, is generally regarded as the
best ever written on that subject.
Since the passing of those three
great. engineers, there have been mod
ifications and improvements in road
building. -Though methods of con
struction vary today in different
countries and different localities, road
engineers have always had in view
one objeet-the withstanding of the
wear of iron-tired vehicles. For a
century these conditions were success
ally met, a sis road did ail
that was expected of it.
But conditions !have changed with
in the past decade, for the automobile
has done more to destroy the integ
rity of these highways than any oth
er known influence. It has created a
new and an unlooked for problem, and
has brought this problem up for solu
tion with such ihaste that road con
struction has in no wise kept abreast
of lnodern traffic conditions or de
mands. Roads which in former years
easily withstood the wear of horse ve
hieles are now quickly stripped of
their fine surface-binding material
and made to disintegrate.
Under the constant passing of wa
gons equipped with iron-tired wheels,
the roads not only lived, but improv
ed; the wheels crushing a percentage
o'f the rock and the dust particles
sifting their way into the interstices
and forming a cemented, bonded, im
pervious, water-shedding shell. When
in its highest state of perfection, the
rock from which sneh road is made
*must be so suited to the ch!araJcter and
the volume of the traffie which pas
over it, that the amount of dust form
ed by passing wagons will be only
sufficient to replace that which is tak
L- -way by rain and wind.
Automobiles have done none of the
helpful things donre by i.ron-tired ve
hieles. Proceeding, as they asually do,
at thigh rates of speed, they have
lifted up this dust-binder and sent it
Sswirling away, while their soft, rub
ber tires have crushed no rock to sup
ply that which they have stripped
from the highways.'
This is a menace from more view
Spoints than one. Not only are 'te
clouds of dust created by the passing
motor cars a distinct loss to the road
itself, but when swept by the wind to
adjacent property they 'have depre
e iated the value of real estate, affect
ed publie health and brought down
the price of truck and orchard pro
ouets, while adding vastly to the dis
comfort of pedestrians and nearby
residents.
As automobiles are coming more
and more into general use, this condi
tion is becoming more and more se
rious. The problem is a great one,
and it has called forth the best
thought of the leading highway en
gineers of every civilized country.
There are but two ways to overcome
this unexpected and newly created
condition-to build roads which
create -no dust, or to so care for those
already constructed that the dust
which forms the surface binder may
be restrained and not pulled up by
the soft tires of ~the modern vehicle
and blown away by every passing
breeze.
Various writers have advanced
numerous tiheories to explain the ef
feet of the automobile upon the ma
cadam road, charging that the dam
age was due to skidding, to the
shape of the car body, and to the suc
tion of the .tire, but it has been de
monstrated that the great tractive
.froce, or shear, which is exerted by
the driving, or rear wheels, is the
main factor of injury. By conneet
ing the front and rear wheels of mo
tor ears with separate speedometers,
it has been demonstrated that there
is a -considerable amount of slipping
of dlriving wheels on the road surface
on account of numero)us irregularities
on the average road surface.
This is what should be expected.
This slip, due to the decrease in tl.e
baring surfaee of the tire, un
doubtedly increase~s the amount of
Thil divi.ded material of the road
suface tirown ito tne air. It, there
fore, follows othat the increased
amount of damage done will be in
proportion to the irregularities of the
road and to the s-peed of the ea-r.
Much stress has been laid upon the
effect of the car body and its shape in
lifting dust from the road surface.
Some experiments seem to furnish
convincing proof that but little dust
is taken from the roads by this means,
though the dust lifted by the wheels
is greatly accelerated by the action
of the ear body and the air currents
set up in its rear. This must be con
sidered an important factor, as much
of the dust lifted by the wheels would
not be carried from the rail but for
the air currents developed by its
shape.
Some montihs ago a series of ex
periments were held on the Conduit
road by Logan Waller Page and Dr.
Allerton S. Cushman, respectively,
director and assistant director of the
office of public roads of the United
Staites Department of Agriculture,
for the purpose of studying the phen
omenon of dust removal by the shear
ing force of automobile wheels. Mo
tor ears ranging in size from the 4,
000-pound limousine to the stripped
racer and the small runabout were
pressed into requisition. They were
sent over a strete'h of road at various
rates of speed, and their effect studied
from a great collection of photo
graphs taken with instanta.neous shut
ters as they passed a given point. By
far the most interesting result was
obtained with a heavy 60-horse power
stripping raeing car. This maehine,
with driver and mechanician, weighed
2,800 pounds. The wheels were 36
inches in diameter with 4-inch front
tires and 4 1-2-inch rear tires. At
rates of speed varying from five to
sixty miles an hour this car traversed
,the .road.
The section used was a government
road in good condition, it having been
resurfaced two years before. Up to
a speed limit of fifteen miles an hour,
the car produced little or no effect,
but from -twenty miles an hour the
effect was notioeable, with each in
-crease in speed until. as the ear whiz
zed along at the terrific rate of a
mile a minute it fairly picked up the
roek dust surface and sent it swirl
ing to adjacent fields, fog-gray cloud
of dust hanging on ithe horizon for
many minutes.
Dusty roads existed before the mo
tr vehicle 'was ever thought of, but
they 'have aggravated this condition.
They are in no wise to be c,ondemnned,
however, for while the above facts
may by some be regarded as an ar
raignment of the automobile, in its
relation to public roads, it must not
be foi"gotten that the application of
mechanical arts which work for the
comforts and convenience of civiliza
tion must inevitably produce new pro
blems, and those must be solved by
patient experiment.
The motor vehicle also is a friend
of the roads, for Wlhile it tends to
desaroy them, it possesses an uplifting
influence on road construction. It
has had much to do with the building
of .thousands of miles .of better roads
in the past ten years. It,has as well
made necessary the study of road
preservation which will.ultimately 're-,
dound to the benefit of the civilized
world.
Good Roads Mea.u Better Health.
"I have 'noticed that wherever I
see bad ro.ads I invariably see neg
leted, unkempt, unwashed children.
If I travel along a good road I see
children well cared for. I do not say
that one directly follows the other,
but ithey undoubtedly go together. A
community that is negligent of its
roads will be negligent of its children,
and a community that is negligent of
its children will not produce good
citizens, nor, above all things, will it
have a~ 'high standard of public
health.''
This observation on cause and
effect was recently made by Dr. Al
lerton S. Cushman, assistant director'
of the office of public roads of the
United States Department of Agri
culture, at a meeting of th'e Ameri
can publiec health associa.t.ion.
Dr. Cushman was asked to justify
this statement. "'It is, I think, justi
fied by a .da.y spent in a:n automobile
in any country section,'' said he,
"and, insisting as I do on the condi
t-ion, I tihink it has a bearing on the!
question so frequently asked by un
thining Americans: 'What possible
relation can there be between the
public road and public health ?'
"If the medical men of thie world
know what they are talking about
*the relation is intimate. Dirt and
dust mean disease. Cleanliness and
sanitary surroundings work for a bet
ter citizenship. The relation of
sience to mundame things is evident,
if one will use even a percentage of
Ithe powers of deduction which Conan
Tole ig:we to Sherlock Hlohnes.I
Science hiolds~ in her archives a de
:ltful little story which well ill us
t:::es i m prpo~se. It is related that
at me time the flavor of the fanmou
Stfrdhire (cheese had depa.rted
an a splndid industry was endan-'
Sered. ir John Lubboek, tire great
naturalist, made a prolonged investi
gation and finally reported to the
farmers that in his judgment the best
restorative measure possible would be
to import a. great number of cats and
set them free in Staffordshire.
"Naturally the unbelieving scoffed
at the proposed antidote, for they
deemed the suggestion ridiculous.
They asked a reason for so extraordi
nary a prescription.
"The peculiar flavor of the Staf
fords'hire cheese comes from a hybrid
clover which formerly grew here in
great abundance" said Sr John. "The
bumblebee s the ne means of cross
fertilizing that clover. The field
mice have increased very rapidly in
numbers of late and t-hey are destroy
ing the nests of the bumblebees. If
you .can destroy the mice, the bees
can work on that clover and Stafford
sbire cheese will soon be as good as
ever. Get cats, therefore."
'"I don't vouch for the story,'' con
tinued Dr. Cushman, "but I endorse
it for its power of .illustrating the de
licte equilibrium which. under our
complex eivilization, exists between
the public health and public utilities.
Nobody will deny that the 2,150,000
miles of public roads of America con
stitute the national dust factory and
furnish fully 90 per cent. of the dust
we inihale. The d-licate breathing
apparatus of the human body was
never meant to harbor sucli sub
stances as every passing breeze blows
from the thoroughfares, and the per
eentage of people dying -from disease
carried by dust is higher than is gen
erally believed.
"When the public will concede that
to be a fact the director of public
roads and the State and county road
builders and overseers will get a
greater degree of popular support
thian they now receive. Tell th-e or
diai: citizen or the busy farmer
that the bad, dust-heavy roads are
not merely disagreeable but danger
ous to health as well, and he ismiles
sareastically and shifts the conversa
tion.
"The American becomes a skeptic
when you confront him with a propo
sition which, to him, is akin to the
'eats of Staffordshire.' If he doesn't
understand what you are talking
about, he assumes that you don't un
derstand it yourself. He finds dusty
roads a menace only when it is
brought home to him that they cost
shim money. That was demonstrated to
the orange growers of California -a
few years ago, when dust-covered
fruit no longer commanded so high a
*price as when free from dust. The
result -was an aroused interest in road
improvement and in dust suppression.
Appeals on -the score of cleanliness
and good health -never stirred the
Californians, but a skimp in the price
of oranges brought about a wonderful
era of activity. The outcome was
gratifying, and California soon had
dustless oiled roads. In that .State
t:he oils possess a higher as-phaltum
base than the oils of any other section
of the world, and when they are
spread on the roads the volatile por
tion of the oil evap-orates and the
asphaltum remains as a binder.
" The almost immediate success of
this plan attracted the attention of
highway engineers throughout the
world. In France and some of our
Eastern States it was at once assum
ed that oiling was the best road
treatment and'that t-he longed-for so
lution of the dust nisance problem
had been found. This 'has not been
prved to be the case, because in
many localities the only oil available
possesses a petroleum rather than an
asphaltum base.
"It -has been found thiat when the
volatile portion evaporates the oil
left behind becomes greasy and sim
.ilar in consistency to vaseline. Such
quality of oils do not adhere -and
bind tihe road, but it is picked -up and
scattered by passing traffi-e, and the
man who gets even a reasonable qual
itv of it on his clothes becomes a con
sistent enemy to road oiling, but if,
even as the doctors say, dust means
dirt, dirt means disea.se and disease
means death, dusty .roads -have no
place in our national economics.''
The Annapolis Appointment.
In a-n examination held at Clemson
college recently, for the purpose of
sleting candidates for appointment
to Annapolis, there were just two can
didates present, t.o fill the two va
eances.Notice of tihe examination
had been sent to every paper in the
distrit, and as far as I recall, had
been published in -all of them.
The -apparent indifference of the
young men of this district toward this
the best opportunity for free educa
tion that this country 'affords, and
the failure to make good by so -?aany
of my :appointees, lead me to think
that there must be something wrong~
with our educational system.
Oni former occasions, I dhave held
ril examina tions for West Point,
and Annapolis. in large towns, that
w~r easily :,cessible from -all p)arts of
tle distri-t. In some of these examin
ations, there were so few candidates,
an h geera aveae of scholar
.,lip was so poor, 11t I Voud scare
ly make up my appointments from the
lists. The result of this low average
of scholarship has been, that my ap
pointees could not, in many instances,
pass the entrance examination at the
government institutions, I ad hence
this district, more than half the time,
is without its full representation in
tho schools.
It occurred to me, thiat if I would
hold these tri-al examinations at the
three male colleges located in the dis
trict, each in succession, that the lo
cal applications would swell the num
bers as well as raise the average of
cholaxship. Accord6ingly, I named
Clemson as the first place. The ex
amination was fixed on date, immed
iately after college examinations clos
ed, :o as not to conflict. Clemson ap
plicants would not have incurred a
single dollar of expense nor the loss
of a single moment of time from their
college duties, and yet, not a Clemson
boy applied.
F0 those. who know anything of
West Point and Annapolis, merely as
educational institutions, to recount to
them t'he advantages they offer is a
waste of time. To the student who
has a military tendency, the advan
tages afforded are simply incalculable.
The trouble then, is not in the gov
ernment institutions themselves.
On every hand parents are regret
ting their inability to send their boys
to college. In many instances where
boys have been entered in college,
they axe maintained at a great sac
rifice by the parent. There must be
many then to whom these appoint
ments would be most acceptable.
Why then are there so few appli
cantsI
There may be many reasons, but I
am driven to the conclusion that the
main obstacle is the lack of thorough
education. This idea has been streng
thened, too, by the fact that almost
withoat exception, my appointees
have made low averages on the .trial
examinations, and many of them have
failed on the entrance examinations.
Thoroughness is one of the first les
sons impressed on the West Point or
Annapolis cadet. Thorough prepara
tion is necessary in order to enter and
continuous hard work is necessary in
order to stay there. Is it not possi
ble then, that young men, who are
most conscious of defective scholar
ship, shrink from this test of their
knowledge and endut'ance? I cannot
believe that Southern boys are infer
ior mentally to those of other sec
tions of this country. I do not believe
that they are less 'appreciative of the
advantages afforded. I must 'and do
believe, then, that there is a laxness
in our educational system, since
Nothern congressmen do not seem to
meet with the same trouble.
Respeetfully,
Wyatt Aiken.
Oconee News, Feb. 11, 1909.
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STATEMENT3
The Commercial Bank of Newberry, S. C., con
densed from report to State Bank Examiner Novem
ber 27. 1908.
RESOURCES.
Loans............................... $268,751 87
Furniture and fixtures...................... 3,116 93
Overdrafts ............................... 12,645 6o
Cash and due from banks.................. 1oi,i8i 65
$385,696 05
LIABILITIE9.
Capital stock........................... $500,0o 00
Profits less expenses taxes paid................ 54,677 53
Dividends unpaid. ...........-.......1,277 00
Cashier's Checks........................... 255 00
Re-discounts ........... ................ 15,Ooo 00
Deposits
Individual................. $261,000.03
Banks ............ ... .... . 3,486.49-$264,486.52
$385,696 05
The Commercial Bunk,
NEWBERRY, S. C.
JNO. M. KINARD, 0. B. MAYER, J. Y. McFALL,
President. Vice-President. Cashier.
THIS BANK'
WANTS YOUR BUSINESS.
We confess it. On the other
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We offer you every facility
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Open an account with
THE EXCHANGE BANK
ON JANUARY 1ST.
We Pay 4 Per Cent, Interest in
'Our Sayings Department.
J D. DAVENPORT, ,E. R.H IPP,
President.. V. Prdsident.
M. L. SPEARMAJ, Cashier.
YOUR BANKING!
THE NEWBERRY SAVINGS DANK,
Capital $50,000 - - - Surplus $80,000
No Matter How Smanl, 1*4e Matter How Large,
The Newberry Savings Bank
will give it careful attention. This message
ipplies to the men and the women -alike.
.iAS. MclN'l OSH. J. E. NORWOOD,
F esident. Cashier.
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