LOBBYING MAKES A BUMPY ROAD. By Jess Wilson When General Eisenhower became President of the United Stats in 1952 one of his first acts was to ask the Congress for a bill creating an Interstate System of Highways, a much needed development. In due course the Congress acted. No doubt hearings were held and suggestions were made as to where, when and how such a system of roads should be constructed. One of the specifications of the act was that half of the roads should be surfaces with the modern method of "black top' and that the other half was to be concrete. This was to satisfy lobbyist If the duly elected members of congress had consulted the engineer rather than the lobbyist they would have learned that the smoothest road was "black top". The reason was known to road engineer since the days when Rome ruled the whole known western world and the Romans were the world leader in the construction of roads. They had learned that solid masonry was not the most satisfactory method of road making. The problem was a matter of expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature. A road made of solid concrete will buckle on a hot sunny day unless it is divided into blocks. This is done by making a grove across the pavement intervals of several feet. This can be done with a special dividing tool when the concrete is first poured. This can also be done with a masonry saw. The latter method produces a smoother surface, and when first done the result is a clicking sound when a car is driven over it. However, after a while the heavy trucks will cause the concrete to break into separate solid blocks. The blocks will shift so that in due time the clicking sound becomes a decided "thump." If you have occasion to make a long motor trip as I did recently, Kentucky to New Hampshire, most of your way will be on the Interstate roads. Soon you will be gliding on smooth blacktop then on the same distance hearing the tires going THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. Then you will hear yourself muttering, "The Devil take the politician that listen to the lobbyist instead of the engineers." Happy note: I have noticed that where parts of the Interstate Highways are rebuilt the roads are resurfaced with blacktop. Perhaps, if we live long enough you and I will be able to travel without hearing "THUMP, THUMP, THUMP," beating the be gibbers out of our wheel alignments and our backsides.