Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., The work of the road commission, August 30, 1909

              Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://media.library.ohiou.edu/scripps
~aramar, Calif., August 30, 1909.
-T,-H--E-- .---W- •O.. RK OF THE ROAD COMMISSIOli. ------,.-..-.,--~---.. - .- -
The spending of a million and a quarter dollars in .a peri od of
. ,.,.....-t.. • ......... 7r
two and one-half years on county roads is going to be 1IIIIie. 1be in-terests
of the county will probably require that most of this work be
done by day labor and not by contract. .Among others these are the ob­jections
to the contract systam~
1. Such surveys as have been made are mo re tentati ve than final
in character. The surveyin,g parties were led by young men and al togeth­er
by men who had had no ertperience in modern count!"'J road building---
they v,'ere mainly railway ene;ineers. They had to work so far afield
that it was impossible for them to be thoroughly supervised; it is also
apparent that their instructions were not so full and complete as to make
it sure that they have always, or even in the majority of cases, laid
out the roads in exa.ctly the best place$. Innumerable alterations,
amall for tJhe most part I and in some cases great J will have to be made
in order to sarve econom.y":atla:. obtain the best possible road. All that
~~_,,.A ....... .J
the ori[~inaJ. survey Wag t8 ~ was to select routes where roads could be
(luil t with a ms.xinD.lm grade of 6 per cent and where comparatively safe
turns of blind corners could be made. 1he estimates of grading such
roads as were laid out indicated to the COmnlssioners the figures wi thin
which the total cost could be kept. Considerahl e ecol1omie sit is be-lieved
may be effected by such minor changes as following contours rath-
I
er t::!a.11 adhering to straight lines. In a similar way the safety and
rn,hili ty of t.he roads mi/!;ht be greatly increased by other changes.
"'~t is :;:1 :::.ccount of this condition that it may be impracticable to pre­~
Jt=:lXC:; S'L.:d: definite specifications as would permit the taking of bids.
2, .:~ irel~" important part of this whole work--namely the
of t.he roe"dsi'-~Ol" which an appropriation of $200,000 has been a.ppropri- ."
284ted---i s just the kind of work that no contractor could intelligently