Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-06-09

tanned By counties aud townships,
and DO located with reference to
the classes just mentioned.
"'rhose who advocate this idea
sly that II ourcommon roads were
improved BY some such plan as this
We should soon hays them in charge
Of competent ang educated cngi-
neera The national roads would
probably be III charge 81 army chi
ginccrs, the State roads in charge
of engineers graduated from Tie
agricultural and mcchanicalschools,
and the neighbofhood roads III
charge Of local men, who, once hay
Ing had The example sct them Of
how good roads are built, would be
entirely competent to do what is
necessary to DO done in making a
road Of lesser Importance. But
even under such 4 plan as this each
county should have an engineer 10
design the difficult work, determine
upon location Of routes, inspect con-
structions and repairs. Strange as
il may seem, the proper location 81
country highway presents to the
engineer moro complex problems
than the location Of railroad.
Country people do not understand
this and are not willing TO believe
|it therefore the crossroads store
keeper and the village blacksmith
arc usually thought q he entirely
competent to decide upon the best
route for country road.
TuF ECONOMIC ASPECT
1.-THE condition ~ The common
roads has . very Interesting eco
uomie bearing 81 direct nature,
aud an Indirect one not less impor.
ant. II ne matter 81 the earning
capacity and Yallie " hossss =na
other dranght animals Che common
roads have direct effect II a horse
can do one third more work on a
good road and 30 III O working con-
tiition one-thifd longer chan he can
on 4 bpd roaa then his earning en-
paeity, and hence BIZ value, Il IN.
creased just one.thfrd. This as
sumption d based upon q very low
estimate. u an probability, II il
were possible to make An exact call
cnlation, II would Be- found that
The earning eapacity and the total
lcngth 81 seryiceablc life Of draught
animals would be more nearly doub-
led than increased onc-third. The
census ennmeratora of 1890 found
that there were in this country
i4,2is,ss5 horses valued At sos
each 2,33l or mules valued at
s7s each, aud 81. si9, O24 oxen and
other drMght animals valued at
.sis each making total of 53,
393, Ss8 animals used on the roads,
at a total value Of 81 III, 535, 7as.
al those hofses aud mules work
AZ some time on the roads. and IN
deed, much the greater part 81 the
total work done BY them Ii upon
country roads aud city streets. n
all tho work done bY them was upon
the roads, tho increased valuation,
based upon the above hypothesis Of
earning capacity, would be s573,-
845, 1853, but as al the work is not
done on the roads, it is only fair to
reduce this by one-hali, and then
wo would have, by a general im-
proyement Of the roads Of the
country, our property III horses and
mules and other draught animals
increased IN value 81, 1906, 922 ,633.
] have no figures showing the value
Of carriages, buggies, aud othcr
road vehicles ID this country. TO
put their value at $500, 900, 900
would be placing it very low, and
there would be no chance to say that
the estimate OF guess was exaggera-
ted. Taking into consideration
tho cost of repairs necesaitatpd BY
reason Of bad roads and tile short
encd seryiceablelife to such vehicles
| feel safc IN assuming that with
good roads these vehicles would last
one-half longer aud their value,
therefore, 30 increased at least
$3.50, 900, 900. Taking these two
sources Of increased valuation to-
gether, we should have an enhanced
property valuation Of s556,922 ,633
All brought about BY the improve
mcnt Of the common roads,
THE COST or a GOOD SYSTEM.
Now let us see what it would