WAUPACA COUNTY POST

October 20, 1920

THE MENGEL MONUMENT ON SHERIDAN HWY.

Like $36,000 Concrete Road and the Present Freight Rates,

Strikes Farmers as Too High

            The concrete culvert just west of the railroad crossing in the village of Sheridan on Highway No. 18, has very aptly been dubbed Mengel monument from the fact that Engineer Mengel of Wisconsin Rapids made the plans for the structure.

            Every man in the community and every tourist over Highway 18, has reason to criticize the bump in the road since the engineering feat was accomplished.

            It is understood that the future plans of the engineer call for a grade to match the culvert which will probably cost hundreds of dollars and may be a law suit as owners of building lots object to a grade three feet high in front of their property which in a season of freshet may flood cellars.  When Mr. Mengel was asked what effect his engineering feat followed by his proposed grade would have on the value of a property where a new house was built a year or two ago he answered that he did not build that house.  Farmers who will be compelled to haul over that culvert in winter predict that it will be swept bare of snow and all agreee that the thing is a nuisance and should be remodeled to suit the conditions well understood by residents who have lived for years in that neighborhood.

                                                            The Concrete Road

            The concrete surface has been laid between Weyauwega and the old cheese factory southeast of this city on State Highway No. 18.  Its cost, about $36,000 per mile, seems high compared with the prices farmers are likely to receive for the crops produced while the concrete road was under construction.  The fact that when speakers came to Waupaca to boost concrete surfacing of Highway No. 18, $22,000 per mile was the figure used in the argument.  When the county board at April session, became aware that the cost would be approximately $36,000 per mile, an effort was made to postpone the improvement until prices should decline somewhat.  However, the unanimous sentiment of the county board was overruled and the contract was made by the State Highway Commission.

            The farmers along the proposed route have undergone the usual inconvenience of having their road closed several months for construction, driving through fields which necessitated the opening and closing of gates with the usual good humor for which farmers are noted.

            The farmers living along the route and all taxpayers of the towns through which the road passes, want an interpretation of the state law so they may know to what extent this road must be swept of snow during the winter months to permit of the uninterrupted passage of motor vehicles, in other words, must the snow be removed so as to make the use of sleds by the farmers difficult or impossible.  Will it be necessary to proved a roadway through the fields in winter for use of farmers using sleds so the through traffic in auto vehicles may use this federal trunk line.

                                                            Advanced Freight Rates

            The recent advance of freight rates under the notorious Esch-Cummins bill is attracting great interest among farmers at the present time.  While the freight rates may have been inadequate to pay dividends upon investments during the first six months that the roads were operated or permitted to run themselves from March 1 to September 1, when turned over by the government to the owners, it seems unfair that permanent freight rates should be fixed during the period of inflation when every commodity was at the peak of high prices.

            It should be remembered that an advance in freight rates was made during the period of government control amounting to about 25 percent, advance to meet the advance in wages to railway employees.  No less an authority than Walker D. Hines, director under government control, stated in his report to Congress that he believed the roads should b tried out for two years longer under government control so that experience during peace times might be an element in determining proper freight rates.