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TITE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, APRIL 28, 1913.
I . : SO HILL, LEADING AlJIHOPIii&;:,
' : - . ONROADS. . . F''-l
' - V . SrJi Thirty-Seven Years of Study Has Been Devoted by Mr. HiH -. . "
U c:'- ' " ., - " Aj't V'iMiHPff " "Vj. ill
- -J Ml
C-?ciZ2Z3Za-mc7 l7aAelC J7'teearit-t?-n JZjns2r7.
SAMtTEt. HTT.T. th pioneer road
builder of the Northwest, ha apent
7 rer etudylo roedbulldinn. He
lias traveled over the; entire world,
has studied the details of all the fa
mous hlchways of the world, has made
2 7 trips to Europe, has spent more la
roadbulldlnjr each year in the last dec
ade than the United States Government,
Is recognized as the leading; road au
thority of the West. If not the United
States, and yet. according; to his own
statement, he knows but little about
proper road construction.
He maintains that It requires more
exacting; workmanship, skill and knowl
cage to build a road than to make a
watch. He says roudBuJIdinc Is one of
the least known of the sciences. It be
ing- his opinion that there are not tea
men In all America thoroughly quali
fied. In erery detail, to build a piece
of thoroughly first-class rosd.
As a monument to the good roads
cause. Mr. Hill has combined all his
skill and the results of his lifetime of
study In a 10-mlle stretch of road at
Alaryalll. Wash, near the Columbia
Rlrer. 100 miles east of Portland. Af
ter spending; a fortune on the road,
which has required 10 years to build,
he has) handed it over gratis to the
Etata of Washington, with his compli
ments, and Invites the world, and espe
cially the people of the western part
of the United States, to Inspect It. The
undertaking, he says. Is his last contri
bution to the general cause, although
he Intends to continue the study of the
subject.
Mr. Hill says there Is much more to
building a wagon road than merely
scooping out the dirt and rock and
making a straight or level place where
horses can drag along a wagon. He
asserts that roadbulldlng embraces ex
acting knowledge on the subject of
conservation of motive power as well
as engineering skill of a class even
higher than that used on railroads. He
brands many of the roads of Oregon.
Washington and other Western states
at present as mere trails, declaring that
they are not scientifically, wisely nor
economically built. Ha predicts better
skill when the people come to realize
the importance of good roads.
slew Beads Are Built.
Mr. Hill began the study of road
bu Idlng 17 years ago. under A. J. Cas
sett. one of the world's famous railroad
bulloers. Since that time he has de
vo:ed fortunes to the work, and has
gained a worldwide reputation. He Is
president of the Washington State Good
Icoads Association: first vice-president
of the American KoadbutlUers' Associa
tion; president of- the Home Telephone
Company, and la one of the most wide
ly known men In railroad circles In the
United States. He declares be has made
Lis wagon road study on the same
tails that the most eminent engineers
tf the world have studied out the rail
road construction principles. The prin
ciples rc entirely different, he says.
Listen to Mr. Hill's explanation of
the good roads subject:
"The cost of building; a good road Is
much leas than the cost of building a
bad road, provided you use sclentlflo
methods In one case and the rule of
thumb In the other." he says. "In
Washington every four years the state
spends flS.07S.000, and J do not hesi
tate to say that the great bulk of this
Is wasted, Xna Ume will come whea
the money to be spent for roads will be
Just as sacredly regarded as the school
fund. I do not mean that all these men
who handle the road funds are dis
honest. I do not even mean that all are
utterly Incompetent. I do mean that
without some definite fixed plan, with
out some standardization, no permanent
system of roads can be built,
"Lets look at the roads subject from
a practical standpoint:
"In 1S70. 4i per cent of the population
of the United States were farmers. In
1(00, only 29 per cent were farmers.
How can we maintain our form of gov
ernment? By putting people on the
land and keeping them there. To do
this we must furnish them, first, good
roads; second, srood telephone service
third, good rural free delivery of mall;
fourth, good schools; fifth, a market for
farm products.
"The freight rate begins at the farm
house door. This Oregon and Washing
ton country Is famed, and Justly so. for
Its fruit. If the fruit be bruised In
passing over four or five miles of bad
road before It reaches the market, it
may change the quality from first grade
to fourth grade, yet the ultimate mar
ket for which It was Intended may have
been London. Paris, Vladivostok, or
Australia.
Economically, no country Is so ex
travagant as America. We have had
In no sense a distinctly constructive
policy. The United States has never
been operated as a business corpora
tion. We should ask ourselves. What
can we make out of our farms? What
can we make out of our ootton crop, our
corn crop, our wheat crop, or our fruit
crop? We have grown to be a great na
tion almost In spite of ourselves, but
we have left too much to the hired man.
and the hired man has not always run
the farm to the best advantage. By the
hired man, I mean the representatives
of the people who have been sent to
frame laws under which we can do busi
ness and develop the country. He has
not been a trained man In city, county.
state or Nation building. There are a
few simple rules which we have Ig
nored. We want the best operated gov
ernment, and we still have within our
borders people who believe as I do. that
we have the best formof government.
The real object of a nation should be
not to be rich, but to make the best
quality of citizenship. To attain thisi
end we must so shape things thst each
person will have a definite Interest In
the country. The great conservative
force In America has always been the
farmer. The farmer has always proven
himself equal to the emergency.
Valae ef Edncatloa.
"The United States leads the world
In Its low cost of steam transportation.
three-quarters of 1 cent per ton per
mile having been for many years about
the average cost of moving a ton on
the railways In America. No one knows
Just what It costs in America to move
ton one mile on the highwaya. We
do know that It costs more than 30
cents. We do know that the Central
European countries move their tonnage
for 10 cents er less per ton per mile;
so we see that the fanner la handi
capped by a bad wagon haul freight
rate of JO cents per ton per mile In his
competition with his European brother.
How can we obviate or lessen this un-
necesary cost? Only by building Improv
ed highwaya. The University of Wash,
leg ton at Seattle established the first
chair devoted exclusively to road build
ing In the United States, and built the
first building ever marked "Good
Roads" In the history of the world. The
politicians did not want good roads. No
matter what they tell you. they do not.
The politicians of Washington, under
the leadership of Governor Hay, have
practically stopped educating road
builders, and have rendered the build
Ing marked "Good Roads" useless: It
stands there empty and Idle even so
far as the purpose for which it was
Intended.
"You can do nothing without Intel
ligent organisation. Tou cannot build
roads without centralised power. The
efforts of Individuals are as naught.
They are neither equipped nor pre
pared for this work. Road building Is
a business all by Itself. It Is Just as
difficult to build a road as It Is to make
a watoh. It requires specialized train
ing. I have been studying the question
for more than IS years, and feel that
I am only a beginner. And yet. there
are legislators who have told me they
know all about roads. They have given
dne and one-half days to the study In
question.
"Now a word as to the method of
road building, the kind of a road to be
built, and the means with which to do
it. So eminent a man as John F. Stev
ens wrote an article for me, which I
published In a book. In which he said:
I do not think In all America there are
10 men thoroughly competent In every
detail to build a piece of thoroughly
first-class wagon road.' He said: 'I
could not build a mile of road myself,
yet I would not hesitate the building
of 1000 miles of railway tomorrow. Yet
the reader of these lines can on any
street corner find a politician who will
tell him Just how to build any kind of
road. First, then we must have the
brains to locate and determine where
the road shall be built; second, the
road to be built so as to carry the
traffic which will pass over It. By that
I mean It Is not necessary to build boule
vards over which to drive cows; third,
in locating the road it is necessary to
make a careful survey with proper con
tour lines so as to balance the quanti
ties both by vertical and longitudinal
curvature.
"The first road I built S5 years ago I
covered nicely with sand, then sent a
wagon with a load of hay drawn by a
pair of horses out upon the road, and
then I saw what you have all seen;
that to reet their muscles the horses
slg-sagged back and forth across the
road. Then I saw that the tractive
power on a highway was unlike the
tractive power on a railway. The
tractive power on a railway required
a tangent to get the easiest pull. The
tractive power on a highway did not
require a tangent. In other words, you
could so curve your road lengthwise as
to make the man or the animal take the
obstruction where nature put It, and
fold around the hllL If you built
straight through and made a straight
line, you would have to move great
quantities of material and when you
finished, the horses would still con
tinue to zig-zag back and forth across
the straight road, and the driver, to
rest his muscles, would take a long.
swinging curve and your money wouU
be wasted.
Maklag the Survey.
"Airaln. we all know that a footpath
Uroes Hold, 1a gaver. la a straight
fir . V.' v
naV.
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line. The man zigzags; If you doubt
this, the next time you pass a vacant
lot, look and see how the path zigzags
across the lot; or If you are not satis
fied, go out yourself and try to walk
on the crack of a cement sidewalk for
three blocks and see how you like it,
or ask any bicycle naer n ne cannot
go farther over a slightly rolling coun
try tn a day than he can over a level
road. The horse can pull a load con
tinuously over a moderate grade to
better advantage than he can on a dull
flat, road. So balance your quantities
i by vertical curvature. So much for the
location.
"Now for the construction. If your sur
vey has been made as it should be made,
and In passing I might say that 1 have
had surveyed In Oregon 10 such miles
of road and presented the survey with
my compliments to Governor West, you
will be In position never to pick up a
shovelful of earth until you know Just
where you are going to put that shovel
ful of earth and that stone before you
lay It down. It Is the unnecessary labor
that costs. It Is not the farmer who
tries to push on the plow handle that
gets over the biggest fields In the clay.
During the lifetime of all who read this,
the great majority of roads must neces
sarily be earth roads, and Just as much
care must be used in building an earth
road as In building any other kinds, be
cause the proper earth road always
serves as the foundation on which the
top surface of a hard-surface road Is to
be placed. In looking over the assets
which the State of Washington had, I
saw an hitherto uncapltalized asset In
the shaDe of convict labor. I saw that
these convicts were eating their heads
off in the penitentiary and rusting their
souls out In Idleness, or in planning
new schemes to be used when released,
and aside from the great problem of
maklner men of these cbnvlcts, I saw
that they could at the same time be
utilized as an asset for the state. There
Is no reason why any body of men, ncn
or poor, convict or free, should be sup
ported in Idleness. Somebody must pa,y
for their keep. So about 10 years ago
we started the use of convict labor in
making roads, and It Is my opinion
that better results can be obtained with
convict labor than with free labor. Did
you ever stop and think that it is only
the smart man that gets In trouble?
He thinks he is shrewd enough to evaae
thn law. and if you are careful to or
ganize your convicts, you have a chanc
to draw from every class ana want in
life, because a prison Is an epitome of
the world at large, in wasningion, we
had at one time a bank burglar and
safe blower for our powder man who
handled the dynamite. You cannot m
your every-day walk of life get a bank
bursrlar to work lor you: ne is mo
high-priced a man. The convicts earned
net per man per day on the Methow
work on the Upper Columbia in Wash
ington 4.03 for the state: they earned
on the Lyle-work In Washington ior
the state J3.95 net per man per day.
These figures were based on the North
Bank classification- for money paid for
moving earth and rock for the railway.
So I am heartily in favor of convict
labor on roads.
Raisins Money for Roads.
"Now, the question comes up how to
get money to build these roads. In
Washington, every four years the state
spends $15,078,000, and I do not hesi
tate to say that the great bulk of this
money is absolutely wasted. Tljere are
only three ways for the public' to get
money: First, when It Is given to them,
as In the very generous gift of Mr. S.
Benson, who gave (10,000 to help build
a road In Hood River County; second,
to secure It by selling Its obligations
in the form of bonds; and the third
way to raise it is by taxation. The
objection to a bond issue, of course.
Is that the moment the bonds are is
sued the interest charges start to run,
and that it makes a fund which In
improper hands Is likely to be wasted.
The objection to depending on money
.for road building by taxation is that
the sums so secured are so small rela
tively as to be frittered away in drib
lets on small pieces of road, and the
life of several separate pieces of road
is relatively shorter than the life of
a continuous highway.
Experience has shown us that all the
trunk lines of road, whether In Eastern
Oregon or Washington, or .Western
Oregon or Washington, should ulti
mately be covered with a hard surface
and with a bituminous binder. "At
Maryhill, Wash., I have finished sev
eral miles of demonstration road to
serve as a medol for the United States.
While It may be too soon to speak, I
believe that, regard being had to the
traffic, those country roads will out
last any Bingrle block of paved street
In Portland. I base that statement on
the fact that the Great North Koad of
England, built by E. P. Hooley. has
ben down for 16 years; I have photo
graphed It every year for the last five
years and I find no appreciable wear
and tear. Of course. It Is kept up by
intelligent maintenance. You can travel
over it and you find no dust. Steam
lorries or traction engines pulling load
ed wagons pass over this road averag
ing about nine miles an hour, and I
do not know of any highway in Amer
ica over which you would dare run an
engine. However, I am willing to have
one run on the road at Maryhill. In
Oregon and Washington we are well
supplied with road-building material.
The records have not been kept In such
a way as to show the cost of roads In
the country around Portland ana Se
attle, but adding to the cost money
which has been spent on repairs to
these roads, I feel safe in estimating
that one-half the money so spent will
build a permanent, first-class automobile-proof,
traction engine proof and
dustless proof road.
In saying what I h'ave. It Is not my
desire to In any way reflect on the men
who have gone before us, but Oregon
and Washington pioneer days have
gone. The minds of the people are
more centered on transportation meth
ods such as should be on the North
Bank road, rather than on the move
ment of ox carts.
"Did you ever think why a railroad
Is built into a country? It Is to get a
portion of the traffic of that country,
is it not? The railroad cannot get it
all, yet men spend $65,000 per mile on
the average to build railways In Amer
ica and hesitate to spend J7500 a mile
to build a good highway, yet over that
highway must pass all the traffic be
fore It can reach the railway station
or the wharf.
"To sum up, then: Only two things
are necessary here to have good roads.
First, to educate the people to the ne
cessity of such roads, and last, and
most important of all, to show them
how essential It Is to get men to build
the roads who know how."
Royalty and Wisdom.
It is to be feared that the good old
days when Kings and Emperors frol
icked around the garden spots of Eu
rope," cutting off heads, marrying new
wives every day or so, and having
sleighing parties on roads covered with
precious salt in Imitation of snow, have
gone forever. The Prince of AValcs,
for Instance, is sojourning Just now In
Paris and from all accounts having
a mighty gloomy time of It He drinks
only water with his meals, eschewing
the wine when it is red; rides his
horse slowly when he passes pedes
trians, goes to bed early, and keeps
the Sabbath by attending church reg
ularly. Paris is terribly shocked by
his conduct.. It was not like this in
the olden days, but times change and
monarchs change with them, or else,
like Manuel, late of Portugal, they
have to look for other jobs The high
rollers among kings went out of fasn
lon with Leopold and the wise heir
apparent, who doesn't believe in tempt
ing fate, cuts out the comic opera stuff.
as the sporting editor would say, and
attends' to business. By leading a se
rious life and fitting tlmself for the
duties of kingship, which will fall to
his lot some day, the Prince of Wales
is taking out the best insurance policy
that he could put upon the English
throne. Washington Post ,