Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-06-23
OUR COUNTRY ROADS.
They Are the Worst in Any Civilized
country-Their Improvement.

man IllOSH W DC 1Ouil4 40 ON~-
country in the world pretending TO be
civilized and enjoying stable forra OF
government. AS it has long been an AK
fo1n that the common highways OF a
country are at once the means and the
measure Of its civilization, it is some
what strange that in this country, where
re boast of enjoying higher type OF
civilization than is to be found else
where. our roads should always nave
been SO wretchedly bad.
Even in the colonial times the neces-
! sity to make better the condition OF the
common roads was seriously felt, and IN
those parts of the country settled by par
ticularly longheaded people, as, for IN
stance, in the neighborhood OF Boston,
there have always been pretty good pub
lie highways. But as rule all over
the country from then till now we
have been content with dirt roads, which
in the winter are muddy quagmires and
| in summer streaks of dust. Both Wash
ington and Hamilton, after the estab-
lishment of the republic, appreciated
fully the importance of general sys-
/ fem of common highways.
Washington recommended to Patrick
Henry. then governor of Virginia, that
the location, the building and the re-
pairs of roads be taken out of the han@s
of the local authorities; for he saw,
what we see yet more clearly today,
that where our highways are left TO the
tender mercies of the local authorities
they are mismanaged. badly built, and
even in their worst condition harmed
by any attempts TO pake them better.
This IS not because these local authoTi-
ties would not like to have good roads,
but il is because they have no means
with which to do much better than is
done. and if they did have the means
they lack the requisite knowledge,swlth-
out which no decent roads can be built
or managed
Strange though it may seem, the farm
ers. as a rule, take less interest IN tins
matter of road improvement than any
other people. Very few Of them are
travellers, and very few realize how bad
the country roads are. When they are
told nf the roads which were built II
prehistoric times by the lncas of Peru
when the Carthaginian roads are de
scribed to them, and those noble high
WAYS which radiated from accent RoN'
are mentioned, they listen as though
fairy tale were being told, and wher
they hear of the great highways II
France, in England and Switzerland
and Germany, they listen with the SAINT
incredulity with which they receive thu
warns which sailors and other traveller
are privileged to bring from beyond TN
seas.
They have never had better road
than those which exist today, nor dl'
their fathers or grandfathers. Con
sentative men that they are, they fee
that what was good enough in the olldel
time is good enough today; therefore
with a kind of contempt which Is mis-
erably pitiful, they "wallow in the mir
of their ways, paying excessive tolls, en-
during, in word, a grinding taxation
generation after generation, without ar
preciating the burden which rests upo
them"
Ii has been suggested that the Amer
lean roads be placed under system 9
government supervision and be divide
somewhat as the French roads are:
First-National roads. These 10
built and maintained by the general goN
: eminent and be located with referenc
10 military and postal requirements.
Second-State roads. These 10 be bui
!, and maintained by the several state
and connect the various localities of I'll
r states and be planned with reference
the national roads.
Third-Countyo or neighborhOod road
These 10 be built and maintained /
counties and townships and be locate
. with reference to the classes just me-
- toned.
: Those who advocate this idea say tn
J. if our common roads We're improved
some such plan as this, we should soc
have them in charge Of competent al
educated engineers. The national roal
would probably be in charge of arm
engineers: the state roads in charge
engineers graduated from the agricr
tural and mechanical schools; and q
neighborhood roads in charge of loc
men. VINO, once HdAluS nttt tdS SA"ihl
set them of how good roads are bui
would be entirely competent to do VIII
- is usually necessary to be done IN ma
ing a road Of lesser Importance. b
even under such a plan as this, ca
- county should have an engineer to
sign the difficult work, determine up
location of routes and inspect constr
tons and repairs.
Strange as it may seem, the prof.
location Of a country highway presei
= to the engineer more complex problel
m than the location of railroad. Count
II people do not understand this and
\ not willing to believe it. therefore
crossroads storekeeper and the villa
blacksmith are usually thought to
entirely competent to decide upon
best route for country road.-John 9
III mer Speed in Harper's Weekly.