Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-11-21
ROAD AGITATION IN THE SOUTH.
A Letter on Highway Improvement from
Harry IL. Hodgson, of New Orleans.


That the agitation in favor of the i'm
provement of public roads is not con
fined to the north is shown by the letter
given below, from Harry H. Hodgson,
of New Cleans. Mr.. Hodgson is thor
oughly ;%orversant with the %execrable
condition ~ country roads, and knows
what the rads of the time should be.
His rem9rb are therefore worth reading.
He says.
There D. no subject which has attract
ed more public attention throughout the
United States than hat of improved
public highways.
1t is a sad commentary that those
really most concerned take so little in
terest in a matter so closely connected
with comfort, business, increased value
of lands, and rapid transit.
1t should be given the attention of
every class of people, from the banker
to the laborer, and the driver of a coach
and four is not more vitally interested
than the farmer with his load of hay.
County boards are always willing to
contribute toward building railroads,
and large sums of money are annually
contributed to this end; but never once
have these same county boards contrib
ted any large amount for the construc-
ton and maintenance of good highways.
The useless waste of money by political
rings has been one cause that has per-
verted the money from its object, and
unintelligent methods have been anoth-
er and very real trouble.
The roads of the United States are a
disgrace. In many cases they are mere
bog holes. What little work has been
done, has been a waste of money and
energy.
No science has been displayed in the
construction of roads; no effort made to
build them on modern and sensible plans.
The old laws should be repealed and
present and future necessities met by
framing laws to compel the building and
maintenance of good highways and the
placing of sign boards on cross roads, so
that the farmer may market his products
and the traveller accomplish his journey
with the least expenditure and greatest
speed possible.
The present system is no system at all.
A tree falls across a road. 1t is not cut
out, out all drive around it. The most
primitive methods are resorted to, and
there is ne concert of action. Every road
takes care of itself, and if a little work
is done it is to meet present and tempo
rary emergencies with no regard for the
future.
The working out of the road tax is a
farce which cannot be too strongly con-
demned. Let such work as is done be
completed ON IA basis that will make it
count for something; let the unsatisfac-
tory work of the past be at an end; let
all future attempts at road building be
such as will give us a system of high
ways which we can point to with pride,
and u land values will be enhanced
and our national prosperity increased.
There is no necessity for concealing the
fact that our roads are in a deplorable
condition. We have few roads to boast
of and few are contemplated. Our
methods are bad. and no action is being
taken to get us out of the mud. We are
no better off today than we were fifty
years ago, and have practically nothing
to show for the millions expended dur
ing the last half century.
Is this not a sad affair to contemplate:
Can the intelligence and patriotism of
the Americans be so dead that none will
start this movement to urge an entire
change of present methods and establish
an intelligent and modern basis on which
to commence a system of road building
that will in time give us highways that
we can point to with pride:
Our eyes are now being opened to the
needs of the Union and we should be
ashamed of our slow progress in road
building.
Let the farmers in every state make
It their aim to start a system of roads
by adding a few miles EACH year to some
important road in their vicinity; and LEI
the work be done honestly and by i'm
proved methods. Let every cent count
use only good material, and always with
a view to do well that work which il
done.
immigration will seek localities where
good roads abound, for those localities
denote an intelligent and energetic peo-
pie. A very wise man has said: THE
road is that physical sign or symbol by
which you may understand any age OF
people. If they nave no roads they arr
savages, for the road is the creation o.
man and the type of civilized society.
If such is the fact, how much above tn,
savage is the average American farmer
+ Something must be done. Oar coun
try is improving in all kinds of indus
5 tries, our roads alone are neglected.
Let us blot out the past, let old time
and its methods be forgotten. let us in
augurate modern and scientific methods
so that we will leave a be
hind more lasting than granite, so TIA
= future generations may know us as
civilized people.
HARRY H. HoDGsoN.
From Friends of Road improvements.