St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-05-03
Public Highways.

terestS and prosperity of a civilized COM
munity than good roads. They not
only make the cost of transportation
lighter. but they actually increase the
value of all real as well as personal
property. \ farm is worth Il great deal
more III Il town where the roads are
first rate. where the facilities for COM
munication are superior, than 1t Is I'M
der other conditions; and the popllla-
ton of "A town will increase more rapid
| ly where the roads are best, because the
whole country Is more attractive anu
desirable as IL place of residence, ana
people are more likely to move III. We
could name towns about Boston that
have grown up rapidly from the fact
that their roads are good.
1t is. therefore. the most short-sight-
ed policy to make and to keep up poor
roads. They cost Il great deal more i'll
the end than good ones, because they
are all the time getting ont of order,
and the average cost of maintenance Is
largely increased. \ first class road is
easily kept up. The wear and tear of
teams upon it and the destruction of
vehicles is much less, to say nothing of
the time saved and the economy ofpow-
cr. because ii horse can draw Il much
larger load with less fatigue, and d" II
quicker over Il good than over IL poor
road. One horse on Il good road can
draw as much as three on Il bad one.
\ good road. of course, costs more
| than that of Il poor or Indifferent quail
| tV, but take series of Years and the
/ best road will cost less than the worst,
| leaving out of the question the immense
practical advantage which the former
has over the latter III the saving ct
time and power in travel. This fact is
easily demonstrated in the prize ESSAYS
published two Years ago 10y the Com
monwealth.
But what we want to say is this: We
do not expect IL small and poor town is
going to make, or can afford to make.
its roads equal to those of il Weather
and more prosperous town all at once.
1t is IL work of time. The great point
is to adopt correct principles and to ;ld
here to them prrsistently year after
wear. to do what is done in the best
manner. do it for all time, or for years
to come. even if it is comparatively
limited in extent, and keep on doing
everything well. till. in the course of
five or ten Years, all the roads are rem
ovated and put into good condition.
| The great evil i'll our system of road
management has been that the money
appropriated by the towns has been
miSSpent. 1t has not done Il 1.-THE of the
good which il might and ought to have
done, because of the utter Incompetent
cy of those who have been entrusted
| with applying it. They have been men
who did not understand the very first
principles of road making, men called
from other pursuits, men who may
have been good farmers. or good me
chanirS, or good tradcsmen. but who
have never devoted much time OF
thought to the true principles which lie
at the foundation of this important art,
for it is anart which requires great skill.
mature Judgment and no small amount
of scientific training and experience. If
those appointed to the responsible po-
Sitiom of road surveyors had been will
ing To make :; reasonable outlay to Sc
cure the advice, and perhaps the servic
IS. of those who possessed the requisite
attachments, and to find ont just what
WAS best to he done. and how to do it
i'll the best and most economical man-
ner. our common roads would he to day
in Il vastly better condition than they
are. y certain percentage of the mon
ey laid out i'll securing competent adj
vice of Il Skilltul road engineer, would
have made the balance vastly more eff
tectivc for good, than the misapplica
ton of the whole amount. which has
arisen for the want of this very advice.
Every business man knows that mon
cy spent in the salary. of Il first class
foreman of IL business establishment is
the best investment he can make. The
success and economy of the labor OF Il
thousand hands will depend largely up
on the skill, the Judgment, the peculiar
fitness of the brain at the head If
there is to he any Scrimping anywhere.
it cannot be in the head manager. In
war. IL single officer may he. and often
is. equal to an army of twenty thousand
men. just so it is III the expenditure
of large sums of money upon the roads.
knowledge Is power there, because it
is economy both of time and money
There are certain kinds of business
where YOU can employ unSkilled labor
to Il greater or less extent with advan-
tage, provided there are plenty of brains
at the head to direct it. In such cases
the actual results will depend quite DIS
much or more Oh the head or direction
than on the hands. But suppose You
had the unskilled labor without the
weight of brain To direct. What then
Everybody knows there would he Il per
feet botch. Well now, this is Just the
case in many towns under the old sys-
TEN of road management, by the cleo
ton of surveyors of highways. often by
accidental nomination on the spur of
the moment, without the slightest ref
erence to competency. We got the I'M
skilled labor, but not the brains, the
knack, the experience, and the knOwl
edge, and so the money went, nobody
knew where. 1t was frittercu away.
miSapplicd, wasted. 1t did not do half
the good If might, indeed il was often
worse than wasted, and the conse-
qnencc is. We are to day paying il tax
indirectly i'll our miserably poor and
dangerous roads, greater than all our
direct taxes put together.
Now. in those towns where the old
system of having multitude of high
way surveyors" that no man can num-
Der, is unfortunately still retained. and
those that have gone so far as to take
the first feeble step in advance, and
elect Il Board of Road Commissioners.
and those where the responsibility of
| the roads is still vested in the Board of
Selectmen. the well established fact
ought to he kept i'll mind that the one
man power is quite Indispensable if they
would expect any efficiency in manag-
ing the roads: that inetficiency man
agement Is the result of Il division ofre-
sponsihility; that those officers are very
proper to stand between the road mas
ter and the town treasury, but that the
trIIe WY for thnm tn nnltIhl1n tlIuir In