Mat 21, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



769 



country roads whieli should be cleaned once a 

 week, once every two weeks and some only once a 

 month, depending upon the amount and character 

 of the traffic which largely governs the frequency 

 with which the cleaning should Toe done. The 

 amount and schedule of work and the force neces- 

 sary to perform it can be determined upon in ad- 

 vance and carried on in a systematic manner 

 under a regular organization, more or less mili- 

 tary. 



General maintenance includes repairs to streets 

 and roadSj and involves different characters of 

 work, each requiring special knowledge on the 

 part of those engaged in the actual performance of 

 the physical work for which special gangs have to 

 be organized. Stone block, wood block and brick 

 repairs, for example, require skilled laborers who 

 have made a specialty of this work and are em- 

 ployed under the title of pavers and rammers; 

 while repairs to asphalt and bituminous pavements 

 must be performed by men specially skilled in this 

 line of work, in addition to the necessary force 

 engaged at the mixing plants. Macadam road re- 

 pairs, the care of earth roads, and bituminous sur- 

 face treatments, also require men specially trained, 

 and while it is desirable to train the gangs for 

 each particular branch of this work, such, for ex- 

 ample, as bituminous macadam built by the pene- 

 tration method, water-bound macadam, bituminous 

 surface treatments and the care of earth roads, the 

 three classifications, namely, block repairs, bitu- 

 minous pavement repairs (mixing method), and 

 macadam, earth road and bituminous surface 

 treatments, represent the three branches into 

 which the organization is usually divided. 



Methods for the Elimination of Politics from Ad- 

 ministration of Highway Departments: Logan 

 "Waller Page. 



We have a system, if it may be called such, of 

 public roads approximating 2,300,000 miles. The 

 people as a public corporation are yearly consent- 

 ing to the expenditure of about $200,000,000 in a 

 haphazard endeavor to make this vast road invest- 

 ment pay. That it is a losing investment, con- 

 ducted on lines directly opposed to those of the 

 best managed private corporations, is an estab- 

 lished fact. It is estimated by road experts who 

 have made a careful study of the various phases 

 of the road question, that the American people 

 yearly lose at least $50,000,000, directly and in- 

 directly, because of their careless supervision of 

 these traffic facilities. 



State supervision seems to be the first and most 

 effective step toward obtaining satisfactory road 



conditions. But there are certain evils for which 

 the people of the state should provide safeguards 

 in planning their system of state road manage- 

 ment: First, the appointment in each unit or sub- 

 division of only that number of road officials nec- 

 essary to do the definite duties required of each in 

 that unit, and the necessity for distinct placing of 

 responsibility for work done. Second, some ar- 

 rangement should be made whereby the road offi- 

 cials shall give the roads continuous and syste- 

 matic attention, instead of the existing irregular 

 care, which has proved so costly in the long run. 

 Third, the requirement of necessary qualifications 

 which the road official must possess to discharge 

 his duties efficiently. Fourth, the demand that 

 wherever practicable the incumbent of any road 

 office shall be appointed because of his qualifica- 

 tions, in this way avoiding election of those who 

 may prove more able politicians than engineers. 

 Fifth, road officials would best serve the people if 

 the term of office were limited by merit, and not 

 terminated at regular periods. Sixth, provision 

 should be made for a careful study of traffic needs 

 in the individual localities so that political con- 

 siderations may not be the deciding factor in the 

 location of road improvement, distributing of ap- 

 propriations, and appointing of needed officials. 



Illinois has recently made a notable advance 

 toward centralizing road control, and the placing 

 of men on merit, as each county engineer takes a 

 competitive examination, and is made an assistant 

 to the state highway engineer, thus providing 

 correlation and centralized oversight. In fact, the 

 whole trend of state participation has been toward 

 placing a broader scope of duties and authority in 

 the central state department. This continued 

 trend, it is hoped, will be one of the main factors 

 in solving the problem of supervision, wliile the 

 intelligent application of the merit system in se- 

 curing this skilled supervision in road work is the 

 only promising method of eliminating politics 

 from road administration. 

 Plant Inspection for Pavements: Julius Abler. 



It has been a recognized fact that the complete 

 inspection of any engineering structure begins 

 with the materials to be used in that structure, 

 and it is safe to say that this statement applies 

 with full force to street and roadway pavements, 

 in which such a wide variety of materials is now 

 being used, and in which the life of the structure 

 depends so very largely upon the strength, dura- 

 bility and suitability of the materials in resisting 

 the effects of traffic and the atmosphere. The 

 fact, however, that so many uncertainties and diffi- 



