The Newtown bee., 1892-01-15
THE OPEN PARLIAMENT.
COUNTRY ROADS.

England is still a long way behind France. There is no doubt about the fact that the country roads of America are disgrace to civilization and, if we could be more charitable, we should like to say that they were not an index co the state of mind of the people upon the subject.
 If you talk with country people about the disgraceful condition of the road ways, they freely acknowledge it and quietly drop the matter. You will look in vain for any enthusiasm about good roadways or any intelligent conviction about the advantage of them. It is talk en as a matter of course that, if any one is to benefit by improved highways, it is the country people themselves and, as i've are the people," five" are satisfied with things as they are. I believe that here is one of the chief causes of the fact that the roadways of America have made absolutely no improvement for 100 years, the selfishness of the country people themselves. It seems as though this was and is the omnipotent power whereby everything in our country life is to be dominated. In the local political meet ing, it is this that decides the fate of an issue. But, whilst this is the prevailing attitude of the country people toward public movements, whilst they look at everything from the point of view of self interest, it is impossible for them to see the necessity of reforms, which, whilst not directly or materially rendering their life more easy and comfortable, never theRss confer a boon upon all outsiders and especially upon the dumb creation. A public sentiment is the first necessity, if we are to get better roads; an enlight- ened self interest, which sees more than the immediate benefit and reaches out af- ter the common blessing.
 Ignorance has been another cause of the fact that, in the matter of roadways, America has made no progress in 100 years. Any one who has driven, as l have, over the rOadWays of England and France and and sees the satisfaction of country people in America with their roads, four inches deep in mud on rainy days and dusty to binding degree on ufJ udS IS dLidLtu NilCh ltdtS lU Sttlu that these roads are considered good roads. The fact is the people do not know, having never seen what good roads are. Not far from where live, there has been a work of repair completed and great was the exultation when the work was done. Now the only thing that has been done has been partial levelling of the hills. There has been absolutely no improvement in the roadway itself, as any one can testify if they have driven over it recently. The Scotchmen, Tel ford and Macadam, devoted their whole lives to the study of the science of road making; and our local politicians think they know all about it without any study. 1 say that the opinion of experts is an ab- solute prerequisite to the successful pros ecutiOn of road reform. Such an import ant matter as good country roads must not be left to a committee of farmers, or to the blacksmith and the butcher, for the simple aeason that they have not studied the subject scientifically, good as they may be in their own craft.
 bClNFCS GildG you '" III uCN- CT get good roadways until the whole matter is taken out of the hands of the local authorities and placed in the hands of the state, as I believe it is in Pennsyl- vania at the present time. In France, where they have the finest roads in the world, the government manages the whole matter. It pays the cost of edu- eating specialists, engineers in the road making science, whose special work is the construction and improvement of roadways. In England, the board of trade has this matter in hand and the consequence is that in both these coun- tries, France and England, you have the best roads in the world. It seems absurd to leave this matter to the individual householder, who shall, under penalty, keep the piece of road opposite his prop erty, in good order. For what is good order to one is not good order to another and, by that method of doing business, no standard can be reached whereby a good road can be distinguished from a bad one. l cannot see how, by this sys- tenn, fine, even, could be we'll imposed. Of course the fear of the country people in the matter is that they will be taxed and they say they are heavily enough taxed already. Or they say, of what use is this reform to us; we do not reap much from it directly. But such argu- ments ought not to have force with the people possessed of such moral and prac- fioal rrit oe tba Amarioanc FoopOn,y we ought to know, is not to be measured by dollars and cents. It is a matter of averages. And suppose the state took this matter up, would the tax be so un- bearable after all when distributed over all the people? We must be public spirit ed, unselfish, doing those things which will in any way improve the reputation as well as the convenience of our con- munity. One of the things which this "Open Parliament' is doing is this very thing and l hope to see it do more and more. And, besides, would a tax levied by the State for the improvement of the roads benefit only outsiders? think not. For by good roads property itself will be enhanced in value. If it is accessible by means of a good roadway, some wealthy New York business man will find his way up to it. Ifthere is bad roadway, there are ten chances to one that he will not turn his dashing equipage out of the way to view it. And then would not the brute creation, the horses and mules used in our farming communities, feel the bene- fit of good roads. How is it that Eng land has such fine horses? How is it that