Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-04-28
WHY our eoAos Aae BAD.
Causes of Slow Development of the
American Highway.

most phenomenal enterprise and achieve
ment in other directions, the construc-
ton and management of their public
highways have been singularly loose,
unsystematic and im~provident. Except
in some of the New England states and
some in New York and northern New
Jersey adjacent TO the city of New York.
fhere can scarcely be said TO be anything
like a system of public highways con-
itructed with reference TO permanence,
durability and affording the best service
to the community at all seasons. There
are, of course, local exceptions where
by individual or associated enterprise.
aided by special conditions as to surface
and natural character of the soil or
proximity to bodybuilding material, good
roads have peer constructed, but they
are few in number and limited in extent.
The commissioner of agriculture. in
his report for the year 1883, comment
ing upon the importance Of the common
roads as the feeders to the railroads of
the country, made use of the following
suggestive statements:
while our railway system has be-
come the most perfect in the world. the
common roads of the United States have
been neglected and are inferior to those
of any other civilized country in the
world. They are deficient in every nee
essary qualification that is an attribute
to a good road-in direction, in slope. in
shape and service, and, most of all. in re-
pair. These deficiencies have resulted
not only from an ignorance Of the true
principles of roadmaking, but also from
the varied systems of ro~adbuilding in
force in the several states of the Union.
due to defective legislation. The princi-
pies upon which the several states have
based much of their road legislation is
known as the road tax system of personal
service and Communication, which is un-
sound rs a principle. unjust in its opera
tions, wasteful in its practice and unsat-
~isfactory in its results. Ii is a relic Of
feudalism, borrowed from the statute la
Dor of England, and its evil results are
today apparent in the neglected and i'll
conditioned common roads of the
try" And as the benefits to be secured by
a change in these conditions, the commits
sioner forcibly adds: by the improve
ment of these common roads every
branch of our agricultural, commercial
and manufacturing industries would
be materially benefited. Every article
brought to market would be diminished
in price; the number of horses necessary
as a motive power would be reduced.
and by these and other retrenchments
millions of dollars would be annually
saved to the public. The expense of re-
pairing roads and the wear and tear of
vehicles and horses would be essentially
diminished, and thousands of acres of
land, the products of which are now
wasted in feeding unnecessary animals
in order to carry on this character of
transportation, would be devoted to the
production of food for the inhabitants of
the country. In fact, the public and
private advantages which would result
from effecting this great object in the
improvement of our highways are meal
culable, not only to the agricultural com
munity as a class. but to the whole popu-
lation as a nation"
Undoubtedly one of the chief reasons
for the hardness in the development of
a complete system of country roads in
the United States is to be found in the
unexampled rapidity of growth and inn
mense extent of our railroad system.
and the facilities it has afforded for in
accommodation over vast areas and
between widely separated portions of the
country. By furnishing the means for
regular and speedy communication over
long distances. the necessity for other
and more primitive methods has been
rendered less urgent and imperative. In
some portions of the country-especially
in the west-the railroad has even pre-
ceded the common roads,; n yet the
importance of the latter as feeders to
the former in agricultural or CONNER
cial sections is so apparent that no intel
ligent railroad man a fail to recognize
it or refuse to encourage the develop
ment of the common roads without dis
regarding bis own interest. In this way
the railroads, when in the hands of in
telligent and en~terprising managers, can
be counted on as the most efficient aids
in securing permanent and well con
structed public roads.
Another u of slow development has
been the lack of uniformity in the road
laws of different states. and the conse-
quent inccpgruity in systems of con-
struction and maintenance. not only in
different states. but in different sections
of the same state. With our vast area
and sparse population in some sections
this would be impossible. The road laws
of France. which are pointed to as models
of practical efficiency. have been made
for a people who have constituted an or
ganized nation for centuries and form
compact communities occupying an area
but little sreater than the New England
states, New York, Pennsylvania and
Ohio, and considerably less than the
whole Of Texas. while the United States
exceeds the whole Of Europe in extent.
1t is apparent that the laws Of the for