Gov. Ayc.ock' will-Speak 'AvL. ' . Meiidersonville Tuesday, .OcioBer; fl&tk
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SHIPMAN & OSBORNE CO.
HENDERSONVILLE. N. CjTHURSDAY. OCTOBER 4, 1906.
VOL. XV. NO 41
GOOD
I
ow to Have Good R.oa.ds witK
out Money or a Road Law
' The following- article, taken from the
Saturday Evening Post, will , be of in
terest to the farmers and citizens of
Henderson County, where the roads
have disappeared:
There is something startling in the
statement that a drag made of a split
log and costing only the price of a
pocket-knife is the implement that is
going to revolutionize the wagon roads
of this country and save many millions
of dollars to the rural population of the
United States yet I make this state
ment and put upon it all the emphasis
of which I am capable.
So much by way of suggesting the
size of the problem which the split-log
drag has come to solve. What has al
ready been accomplished, so far as the
spread of the movement is concerned,
maybe put in few 'words: It has been
backed and pushed by the Missouri
Board f Agriculture; one railroad, the
Northwestern, has sent out a "Good
Roads Special" for the purpose of
evangelizing the farmers - of its terri
tory; other roads are eager to install
the same kind of a broad-gauge, public
spirited campaign; thousands of miles
of wagon roads have been permanently
reclaimed from bad to good, and hun
dreds of meetings have been held in the
nine states 'in. which this gospel has
been dlsseraliated by means of practical
demonstration:. At these meetings
thousands of persons have pledged thena
sefVes to make and to use a split-log
drag; 'hundreds or newspapers have
taken up this movement, giving it gen
erous space and a square deal; hund
reds, if not thousands, of dollars have
been raised and offered in prizes for
the best miles or half-miles of drag
roads, and most important of ail, per
haps, the public sentiment of scores of
communities has been stired to self
respecting hopefulness and energy by
this new gospel of "good roads without
money."
Eight years ago I was'devotlng almost
my entire time to my farm, three miles
north from the little town of Maitland,
Missouri. My interests demanded fre
quent travel over the road between my
farmhouse and the village, and I al
ways felt a keen resentment when bad
roads made it difficult or impossible to
drive to town a state of things that was
altogether too frequent.
A little investigation and experience
demonstrated to me that this was by no
means the result of indifference or in
activity on the part ofour road com
missioners. Then I reached the con
viction that it was the fate of the farm
er to spend $1500 to f 3000 a mile for
macadamized road or else travel in the
mud in all periods of continued wet
weather which is to say a very large
proportion of the year.. This convic
tion is almost universal among farmers
who have really wrestled with the road
problen and know from experience its
difficulties.
However, this state of doubt and dis
couragement did not long continue, and
I began to investigate and experiment
in an irregular sort of a way. Acting
under this persistent impulse to experi
ment, I one day hitched my team to a
drag made of a frost-spoiled wooden
pump stock and an old oak post, held
parallel to each other by three pieces
of fence boards about three feet long.
Smooth wire served in place of a chain,
and a strip of plank laid between the
post and the pump stock gave me a
rough platform upon which to stand.
The horses were attached' at such a
point of the wire as to give the drag a
slant of about forty-five degrees in the
direction required tr force the earth
that it would gather from the side of
the road up into the centre. We had
just bad a soaking rain and the earth
was in a plastic condition. I had driven
this drag but a few rods when I was
fully aware that it was serving, at least
the initial purpose for which it was in
tended that of leveling down the
wheel rut and and pushing the surplus
dirt into the centre of the road.
At my neighbor's gate, toward town,
I tamed around and took the other side
of the road back to my home. The re
sult was simply astonishing. More rain
fell upon this road, but it "ran off like
water from a duck's back.'' Prom that
time forward, after every rain or wet
spell, I dragged the half-mile of the
road covered by my original experi
ment. At the end of three months the road
was better than when it had been
ragged for three weeks, and at the
end of th ree years it was immensely
improved over its condition at the end
of the first year's work. I studied the
result of each step in my experiment
and finally learned that three elements
are required to make a perfect earth
road and that the lacs of any one of
them Is fatal to the result. To be per
feet an earth road must be at one and
the same time. oval, hard and smooth.
All of these indispensables are acquired
by the use of the split-log drag in any
soil-that I have. ever come in contact
withand I have worked in the various
kinds of clay soil, in the gumbo of the
swampy lowlands and in the black' mud
of the prairies.
Observation of my experiment taught
me that two weeks of rain would not
put this bit of road in bad condition at a
time when the highway at either end
i of it was impassable for a wagon. Of
course, it was plain that the reason the
road was not bad was thai there was no
mud in it. But why mud would not col
lect in it was not clear to me until I
was taught my lesson by the very hum
ble means of the hog wallow. One day
I chanced to notice that water was
standing in one of these wallows long
after the ground all. about it had be
come dry. 'Probably I had many times
before observed this fact, but not until
now had it occurred to me to inquire
into its cause. Examining the edges of
the wallow, I was impressed with the
fact that it was almost as hard as a piece
of earthen ware. - Clear! yHhis war be
cause the wallowing of the hogs had
mixed or "puddled" the earth and the
water together, forming a kind of
cement which dried into a hard and
practically waterproof surface.
The next important lesson in my un
derstanding of the real elements of road
making was taught me by studying
what we farmers call a spouty spot'
in the side of a clay hUl. AH who live
in a clay country knew the unspeakable
stickiness of one of these spouty places,
and are familiar with the fact that, af
ter ten days or two weeks of bright,
hot sunshine, you can take an axe and
break from one of these spots a clod so
hard that with it you can almost drive a
ten-penny nail into a plank. Naturally,
it occurred to me that, if this puddled
clay soil would stay hard for the months
when left in a rough condition, it would
surely stay longer if moulded into the
form of a smooth roof, so that the wa
ter which fell upon it would easily run
off.
This original half-mile of road was
dragged steadily for four years before
I had a single active recruit in my new
crusade. At first my neighbors poked
good-natured fun at me, probably be
cause the thing was new and so absurd
ly simple and, perhaps, also, because I
did the work without pay or any ex
pectation of it. Road-making In the
country, it may be well to explain, is
not generally followed as a fashionable
philanthropy or a popular diversion.
From the outset of this work, so many
questions have poured in upon me indi
cating points concerning which "the
public is prone to go astray in its un
derstanding of how to build and use the
split-log drag that I have prepared the
following road dragging "catechism"
as covering, with fair completeness,
the main working facts in the prob
lem: Would it not be better to plow the
road before dragging? '
No. Plowing gives a soft foundation.
Plowing the middle of the road is a relic
of the old dump-scraper days.
What do you do when there are deep
ruts in the road?
Drag them. If you drag when the
surface is quite loose and soft, you will
be surprised how soon the ruts disap
pear. .
How do you get the dirt to the mid
dle of the road?
By hauling the drag slantwise with
the end that is toward the centre of the
road a little to the rear of the othe end.
But suppose the road is too narrow?
First drop the wheel tracks. After
three or four rains or wet spells, plow a
shallow furrow just outside the dragged
part. Spread this over the road with a
Continued on Page 8 .
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g GOV- GLENN
Who will speak in Hendersonville Oct. 12
Uiimuitiiuiiiiiuuaaass&iiiiiiiiuiuiiiu
Congressional Campaign
Messrs. Britt and Crawford after
speaking at Franklin took two carriages
and went, through the mountains in
their campaign to the lofty Highlands,
the highest town this side of the Rockies,
not even excepting Boone. En route
to Highlands we saw magnificent falls,
cascades amid the lofty mountains and 1
racing,, deep, wide and swift, rivers
Fording in the rain the swollen Buck
creek, we had a narrow escape. As Mr.
Crawford had to speak in two hours at
Highlands, we had to ford to reach the
appointment and rush into the swollen
stream, whose waters reacnea aoove
the seats of the carriage and we three
were wet men, I told Mr. Crawford
that he had two seats a wet seat and a
seat in congress In the future. At
Highlands, a beautiful summer resort
perohed 3,828 ft. on the mountain top,
and with a summer population of 1100,
and 350 people in the cold winter. The.
building was crowded with voters, tour
ists, male and female, in charming con-
.rast, the audience had a metropolitan
appearance, wouia nice to aescnoe
some of the grand water-falls in the
narrow defiles, scenery, lofty colunnar
rocks where eaglet cry in their peerless,
wonderous mountain land, which
frames its beauty in rock, cascade,
rhododrendron, fir and balsam, but my
mission, which Is political, forbids.
The mountain roads were sometimes
good along the swiftly racing rivers and
streams up to the gap where lovely
clouds, like islands, gathered amid the
crags; other roads were rough and
perilous climbing, three miles an hour.
The people of the mountains, noted for
their proud independence of character,
and individuality, were kind and hos
pitable; some of their homes isolated in
the mountain fastnesses were stylish,
costly and large, . interspersed with
mountain cabins beside the spring cool
as ice ana surrounaea oy ierna anu
mountain flowers.
Then we climb, following the streams,
superb surveyors for roads and railroads,
up the mountains of Cullowhee, yiew
with rapture Tuckaseages, the grand
Tuckaseages River Falls with afcout 200
ft, descent, then down the mountain to
Olennville. At Cullowhee is a fine $11.
500 building built by the State and a
Normal and Industrial School of about
100 pupils under the presidency of J. A.
Monroe, a great-great nephew of Presi
dent Monroe. At CuUowhee the house
was crowded by voters and students;
cheer and the incense of flowers from
fair hands animated Messrs. Britt and
Crawford.
Crawford is an aggressive and able
campaigner and is an adept in the use
of ridicule and sarcasm, two 'formidable
weapons in debate. He 'is one of the
people, a tall, broad-shouldered, athletic
mnnntnlnAAr with blank hair, black
ujlw mm w - - . a - .
mustache, ruddy complexion, slightly I Taft's speech at the republican conven
bronzed, andstandssix feet high, weigh-1 tlon an-Greensboro, where he said in
ing 190 pounds. His age Is fifty years,' i thundering tones, "It is best for the
has a wife 'and four children. He is a j republican party in North Carolina that
better and more Incisive talker than his ' all. federal officers should be held by the
more scholaristic opponent, Britt, who
is very respectful to Crawford, and
seeks bv his sef t words to catch demo-
ii r L.mj.m Lin.j.iii j is j i ?
SI
cratic votes in this race, for he knows
there is no chance for him without dem
ocratic aid.
Mr. Britt is a pleasant and forceful
speaker, lacking: in magnetism and often
fails to enthuse his crowd likeCraw
ford, but democrats must remember
that he is no man of straw and think"
that democratic work Is unneccessary
'b&fen children; "Ho lu&ks iike a preach
er in his clerical black suit, standing
collar and gold spectacles.
Mr. Britt was born in Tennessee and
moved to North Carolina 22 year ago,
where he has taught school about a doz
en years, and has been in the internal
revenue department hunting blockaders
for 5 years and then disbursing officer
for 3 more years at Asheville. Neither
one uses tobacco or intoxicants in any
form and are honored members of the
Baptist church. Each "wears without
reproach the grand old name of gentle
men." The campaign has been able and ag
gressive, yet innocent of mud-slinging
and personal abuse. They fight nobly
under their respective banners, yet af
ter debate they reman good friendsj
whlle striving for supremacy. Each is
a superb representation of his party, and
bravely holds aloft their party's
achievements for the voter's approval.
The Webster court house was crowd
ed to hear the two opposing candidates
ably discuss the issues of the day in a
debate free from strife. The debate
began at Robbinsville two weeks ago
and terminated for the present at Web
ster in Jackson county and no quarrel
marred the amity of two friends, while
the crowds were respectful and gener
ally orderly. In this county there is a
local issue injected By the republicans
to catch democratic votes. The ques
tion is not now the removal of the court
house from Webster to more progressive,
Sylva on the railroad that is now im
possible, but to discuss and allow the.
right of the people of Jackson to vote on
the removal, provided the majority of
voters so petition the legislature. This
is a local issue and cuts no ice in the
congressional race. Crawford will car
ry Jackson by the usual majority
about 100.
Mr. Crawford opened the ball at Web
ster in his usual able, aggressive and in
pislve manner, and held his crowd which
frequently cheered him. With sledge
hammer blows he dealt in arguments
and answers to his opponents fallacies,
and his speech was interlarded with
ancedotes that pleased and amused re
publicans and democrats.
He began with the three oft repeat
ed charges against Britt and his repub
lican party in North Carolina. He told
about Bfitt's resignation of his office at
Asheville, which office he may again
hold after his defeat in November. He
read from the ponderous Secretary
. - m
democrats of this state!" -
Then he read rom Judge Bynum's
republican and caustic criticism of hi
own party when he 'said, "George
Washington was first in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of hi a
countrymen: the republican party are
"always in war, never in peace, and al
ways in the pockets of their country,
men!'' 1 -.
Remember, republicans, this is what
your own men have said of . your own
party, not my words. . ' ,
The republican convention at Greens
boro, where rows and police were pres
ent, was also exposed, for it was a strug
gle between Judge Adams and Congress
man, Blackburn for control of party
machinery and to- determine which
faction should control the distribution
of "pie" to hungry offioe-seekers.
Britt for Adams' Paction.
Mr. Britt says he favors the Adams
faction; he has been a Internal revenue
officer for 5 years. Then he was a
faithful disbursing officer for three
years. Although a young lawyer of
less than one year's practice, he admits
he was appointed assistant district at
torney to help prosecute Congressman
Blackburn, the. only republican con
gressman in North Carolina and the
last one for the next ten years,1 yet
Blackburn was acquitted, notwithstand
ing Britt's efforts and speech. Britt
tried to send the only republican con
gressman to jail for high crimes and
misdemeanors.
Thus I have shown without malice
the misdeeds of this party that Britt
defends, and ask you to vote for honest,
good government. The republican
party is in favor of Protection that pro
tects the rich manufacturer, upholds
trusts and monopolies and robs the
masses to enrich the classes; the demo
cratic party is the friend of the masses;
helps the "agricultural south and fights
against unjust taxation, monopolies and
the hydra-headed trusts.
Then the tedious, and gen
erally uninteresting Dingley Tariff on
4,200 articles of trade, was discussed at
length too long for this paper to give
all his arguments against Protection
that protects the manufacturer, and
robs the Southern farmers, whose pro
ducts are not helped by Protection, but
the farmer has to pay a high tax on
what he buys. .
This Dingley tariff is a tax, a heavy
burden, and no tax can make a nation
rich and prosperous, yet this is what
Britt claims. The idea of a tax making
a nation prosperous is ridiculous. Here
is the Ding-dang Dingley law that I
hold in my hand, and this little pam
phlet of about sixty pages made you
rich and bought you all your property,
so Britt claims. Why, Britt, are you
not ashamed to attempt to fool intelli
gent voters this way?
Prosperity is world-wide, and nations
in Europe and Asia are prosperous,
tariff or no tariff. A hundred things,
as varied as the . intonations of our
Southern mocking bird, natural causes,
the blessings of Providence, the wealth
of our mines and forests, our agrieul
tural'resources, increase of gold output
and increase of money in circulation,
our exports of 1,400 millions to foreign
markets, the toil and sweat of millions
of laborers, all these have combined to
make this grand country rich and
The Purity. Laurvdry
A HOME
The Purity Laundry is strictly a home institution.
The large amount paid out in wages by it is spent right
here iri Hendersonville. The more work done by it, the
more money is paid in wages. You help the town and
your own interest always when, you patronize the Purity
Laundry or any other home enterprise. You work against
the best interests of the town and of yourself when you
send money out of the city, for any purpose, when you
can get equally good service right here at home.
We guarantee our service to , be equal in every re
spect to any laundry in North Carolina.
We will cheerfully correct any mistakes of any kind
whatever.
What we want is satisfied customers, and we are in jbl
position to satisfy the most particular, both as to quality,
and price. ' . . v
Our handsome delivery wagon will call for and de
liver your work promptly.
Our machinery is strictly modern. Our labor is ex
perienced and high class. ? '
We know we can please- you in every particular,
and solicit your patronage.
We guarantee satisfaction in quality of work, in de
livery service and in price.
Liberal commissionsffered Agents in surrounding
territory- Write for particulars. ,
Yours trulyi
Purity Laundry, Ice & Fuel Co.
HENDERSONVILLE, N. G.
. . Phone 142
J.. B. SEAWELL
prosperous in spite of the tariff,
The cotton crop exports from
Rnnfh KAclrloB what WM lisnri VV".f
own mills in this country, amounted
400 mlllinna total, or more than anil
lion dollars for every' day in this yea
The toil of the laboring man, upon.
whose grave no costly marble shaft is
ever reared, helped to make us rich, '
yet Britt puts a stain on the brow of
toil when he says Protection did it all
Mr. Britt was introduced by Mr. Zeb
Vance Watson, and replied in an able
and forceful manner that evoked ap
plause from his side. He had no apol
ogies to offer for his eight years' ser
vice in the Internal revenue depart
ment, that" ha did his duty fearlessly
and faithfully, and disbursed $13,000,000
at Asheville and the balance was cor
rectly kept, and of that record I am
proud. I also admit that I as a lawyer
with scarcely one year's practice, helped
to prosecute my friend, Congressman
Blackburn, who was acquitted; he and
I are still good friend."
Then he claimed that Mr. Crawford's
charges and indictment against the ' re
publican party in this state were gen
eral not specific, dealt in glittering
generalities without specifications. A
lawyer as you all know, and I see some
lawyers here today must present in
court charges and specifications in his
indictment. Tom Taggart, once a dem
ocratic chairman, was" indicted and
evicted for keeping a gambling . saloon
at his hotel at French Lick Springs.
Then from a different view point he
discussed Protection that under repub
lican rule had added wealth and brought
prosperity to this country. Then he
dwelt at length on the panic under dem-.
ocratic policy of "Free Trade" that had
brought ruin to this land. Protection
and republican rule are synonymous:
panic and democracy are in unisoii and
go together. .
The price of farm products from the
government report of Secretary Cortel
you was read differently from Mr. Craw
ford's statistics as Mr. Crawford had
read these prices to show that under
some periods of democratic rule, corn,
wheat, oats and cotton were higher
than - under republican rule. ' Under
theiigh prices of these farm prodncts
I ask you to vote for the republican par
ty and prosperity. W. H. Mill.hr.
When a horse is so overworked it lies
down and in other ways declares its ina
bility to go further, you would consider it
criminal to use force. Many a man of hu
mane impulses, who would not willingly
harm a kitten, is guilty of cruelty where his
own stomach is concerned. Overdriven,
oyer worked, when what it needs is some
thing that will digest the food eaten and
help the stomach to recuperate. Some
thing like Kodol For Dyspepsia that is
sold by F. V. Hunter. . a
After a woman gets to be about so
old she doesn't waste so many . pins.
. . :
A cold is much more easily, cured when
the bowels are open. Kennedy's Laxative v
Honey and Tar opens the bowels and
drives the cold out the system of young or 1
old. Sold by F. V. Hunter.
INSTITUTION
& Son. Proprietors