The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-10-30

What W"nid Happen ;" the Town u They
We're Improved.

1t has brought with 1t many things, or Il
u has not yet brought them 1t is likely
70 For instance, perhaps 1t will give III
roses Then again 1t may give us prom
ise of big crops, II we are farmers, OF
promise of cheaper produce. il we are OF
the people who buy Of the farmers.
There are two things which it is certain
to bring, They are colds and mud.
There IL no excuse, however, for the GER
tainty OF the mud's coming. and il the
mud failed to arrive the colds would,
many Of them. be side tracked before
they got here. Therefore let us Danish
the mud.
Now that it is decided that the mud
shall be banished. the next question is,
How shall it be done? There is only one
way Of doing it, and the essentials of it
are hard work one part. money one part
and common sense ninety eight parts
The work and the money are easy
enough to get, but the common sense is
scarce and good deal of it is needed.
The difficulty is that most of our path
masters and road commissioners don't
recognize what little there is of it lying
around when they see it, They have
way of regarding propositions for the
improvement of public roads as PROPOSE
tons by contractors for feeding at the
public crib. In reality they are propo-
sitions for the enlargement of the public
crib itself, so that it's legitimate users may
find more to appease their hunger, and
for the improvement of its surroundings,
so that those who do feed may do
so with greater comfort and convenience
Suppose we take, for instance, the
township of Wayback, which is situated
in rolling country, fifteen miles from
the city of Bigmarket, where all Way
backs produce must be sold if it be sold
at all. There are thirty miles of road
in Wayback, and they are like the roads
in most country towns, mere rivers of
mud in wet weather and gullies of dust
when the days are dry. Estimating the
cost of putting down q macadam-tel-
ford pavement at s., 900 mile, it would
cost 100000 to improve every inch of
highway in the township. It may be
said that $4,000 mile is too small an
estimate, but it must be remembered
that in making it include the little
used crossroads, constituting by far the
greater part of the mileage. which would
require much narrower metaled SER
vice and less elaborate drainage and care
than the few miles Of main thorough
fare. In order to raise the money re-
quired for making this vast improve
ment it would be necessary to bond Way
back for that amount, but this could be
easily done in way that would avoid
oppressive taxation. In calculating on
such loan it should be remembe red
that the posterity of the present genera
ton will be the greater gamers by the
and that therefore it is
not only just to borrow the money for
ong term Of years, but that it would be
unjust to do otherwise.
The advantages which would accrue
o Wayback from such step would be
manifold. As the roads are now, an i'm
'assable barrier of mud is imposed be-
ween the township and the city for
7eeks after the frost leaves the ground. t
'armers who have held their hay or po- l
atoes or grain for ''spring prices" start
ut with their loads from Wayback ear e
= in the morning for the fifteen mile ]
rive to Bigmarket. If they get there |
t all it is only after a whole day of I
and tugging through the mud.
f the roads had been good, three or four
lours would have sufficed for the drive.
When the bad weather of fall comes
n the state of affairs is little better.
f the roads are not in quite so vile a
condition the additional amount of
,roduce to be hauled more than evens
matters up. The unnecessary hours on
he road rob the farm work Of the time
# men and horses, and natural exasper-
ltion and dissatisfaction with life in
ach very sticky world units every
,ody for doing his best work. The
Dads that can be drawn are compare
lively small, too. :
Waypack is made up of fertile farms
# great productive power. But the bad
'oads, as any one who stops to think will
zee, must necessarily largely reduce the
Profits by wasting time of men and the
yitality of stock and vehicles. Let us
,ay that Wayback landowners value
heir holdings at 800 to 5000 an acre.
The only way in which we can judge Of
he effect good roads would have on this
,aluation is by examining results in
,ther places. personally know of one
,ection where within two years the i'm
on roads has almost doubled
he cash value of land and can furnish
names of land owners who will cheer
'uliy testify to the fact. Such an in
,rease in valuation would more than
pay the extra taxation imposed on Way
back by that $50. 900 loan. wouldn't it? !
Another thing which the opposers of
road improvement in Wayback fail ut
,erly to take into consideration is the fact
hat it costs much less to keep good roads
IN repair than it does to keep bad ones in
ruin. If Wayback adopts an intelligent
system of road maintenance, keeps the
matter out of politics, and, above all,
does away with that relic of barbarity
working out the road tax" her thirty
miles of roadway, after they have been
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