The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1868-03-20
For The Vermont Transcript. ]
Country ROOds.


attention to the subject in all its details,
says: "The common roads of the Uni
ted States are inferior to those of any
other civilized country. Their faults
of surface and generally of deficiency in
all the attributes of good roads. Some
of these defects are indeed the unavoid-
able results of the scantiness of capital
and of labor in new country, but most
of them arise from ignorance either of
the true principles of road-making or of
the advantages of putting these princi-
Piles into practice
1t is not our purpose i'll the space of a
single newspaper article to attempt to
elucidate any of the real principles OF
road-making, but rather to invite pub
lie attention to the radical defects of the
present system of assessing and expend-
ing labor upon the repair OF roads al
ready in use.
The whole system of electing surveyors
ut town meetings, and receiving labor
instead of money, should be abolished.
The ''road-tax" system, of personal SER
vice and Communication, though nearly
universal with us is unsound in its prin-
ciple, unjust in its operation, wasteful
in its practice and unsatisfactory iii its
results. Borrowed from the statutes Of
England and France the law is q rem
nant of the times of feudal vassalage
when one of the tcnures by which land
was held was the obligation TO make the
roads passablc for the troops Of the lord
OF the manor.
Adam Smith says of it 'The money
levied is more than double of what is ne
cessary for executing i'll the completest
manner the work, which is often execu-
ted in very slovenly manner, and
sometimes not executed at all" How
fully and unreseryedly is this sentiment
adopted by every man who has ever
given the subject one hours thought
In the first place, the condition of the
roads, which is so important an element
of the wealth and comfort of the whole
community, should not be left TO the
mercy of the Incidence or false economy
of the districts through which they pass.
In one district, the public spirit and
pride of its inhabitants may have in
duced them TO make and keep up good
roads in another short sighted policy
looking only TO private interest in its
narrowest sense, may have led the in
habitants To work upon the roads barely
enough 10 put them in such condition
as viii allow wagon to be slowly drawn
over them, while / have at this moment
in my minds eye a district not over
four miles from the court house of this
county in which there has not been two
dollars worth oflabore expended in the last
six years, and across which though the
road leads TO one of the wealthiest tow ;
of the county, it is impossible to drive
an empty wagon thirty rods together
upon a slow trot.
In other occupations, an APPRENTICE
ship or a course of study, and frequent
ly both, are considered necessary before
person is considered qualified to prac-
tice with his own capital; while high
way surveyor the moment he is chosen
is thought fit to direct a work requiring
much science, at the expense Ofthe cap
ital of the town, and .,oos, lac mas
learned something by his years expert
ence OF more properly apprenticeship, he
is voted out and another takes his place
and begins repairing roads at the ex-
pense of their condition.
But the evil does mot stop here men
are taken from their peculiar occupa-
tions in which they may be skilled and
put TO work at one of which they know
nothing, and for the practice of which
their own wholly units them, yet the
law assumes that they are all alike skill
full road makers. Again working on
the road is generally made a half holiday
by those who assemble at the call of the
surveyor. Few of the men or teams do
half days work, the remainder of the
time being lost in idIeness and story
telling, and perhaps even half of the ac-
tual work being worse than lost by mis-
direction, and 4 natural consequence Of
this combination of circumstances is
that those who commute pay very much
more than their true proportion of the
taxes. But it very frequently happens
that, Notwithstanding the commuter
pays for days work, it is appropriated
by the surveyor in consideration of the
heavy standing around" that he has to
perform after his own tax has been
stood OUT
Such are few of the many defects of
the present system of managing the
town roads, but perhaps they are sutfi-
Gent to set the people thinking. Want
of space and time, will not permit
me to propose the remedies that COM
mend themselves to my own mind and
| will close by offering few suggestions
that may eventually 1e more fully Ella
borated.
Ihave said that the whole systemofelec-
ting highway surveyors should be abol-
ished. AS our law at present stands, the
alternative is to elect three commission
ers Of highways but the law should be
so amended as to put the whole re-
sponsibility upon one man, who should
be professional road builder, a man OF
science and ability, and he should be
permanently and constantly employed.
1t should follow as matter of course,
that he would employ only able bodied
men, who, having become acquainted
with and Injured to the labor, would ac-
complish vastly more work than the
same number Of the kind of labOrers
heretofore alluded to. Another advan-
tage would be that the work would
be done at just the right time, and in
just the right manner, and we would
not suffer the inconvenience of worn out
roads by reason of the excess OF repair
almost the other half. But the advan-
tage that would most directly affect the
taxpayer, would be saving of one half
of all the taxes after the system became
established.
cannot better close the consideration
of th;a cr,hiact than nv commanding to