Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-06-06
To The Editors Of The Rennsbee Journal

| 10 Ns EdttSfs 81 IRE hsnnsose JoAfHnt.
Among the many important reform.
which f1iieI To receive the attention Of the
| recent Legislature Of the State none were
more deserving of consideration than tina,
of bettsr highway maintenance. II was an
| unfortunate oversight in view of the gen
orally bal condition Of the roads, and the
imperative need Of reformation in the
| mode Of repairing them. Already New
York anil Massachusetts have taken tb%
Initiative in this work, and have oatline.i q
| thorough aoa Systematic method of road
building. whose accomplishment mast be
| inv alusble to them in the near fainfe.
Their example has attracted widespread
attention to the question, AMI the Worlls
Fair contains exhibits Of the various kinds
OF modern and approved road-builling.
The striies Of bumsn achievement. have
been great in every direction save that oil
road construction, v bieh, notx ithstsn iiug
It's importance as a great commerce of thu
e0uBtry. has not only failed To keep It p
! with cvrtriaiisr Drogress, bus, in mary in
| stances, deelineh.
No better example of this i. shown then
ia the road leading from the kennebec TO
this place. A more villsnious piece Of pub
lie roadway never wrecked 4 wagon or
crippled horse. II has been thus since
the memory Of man. owing 70 the scarcity
Of population there is nobody to repair it,
1t never WAS repaired and under the present
law it never will be repaired. Thi. crown
ing triumph Of l3tb century roadway is an
unhroken procession of half buried logs,
ieep sanken holes, bold projecting rock.
and lodges and dangerous washouts. The
~,
whose only outlet is over
such thoroughfare is not
easily enumerated and amounts to almost y
blight upon its prospects. Here is a grow
lag village surrounded by a large and pros
porous farming section whose market is
l2 miles hence over tins road. Can it be
ienied that the loss to the community dur
ing these years has far exceeded what il
would have cost to properly repair it? 1t
has been check 10 enterprise, retardinR
country growth, dispelling rural delights
and minimizing the pleasures of travel.
Thi. has been endured for over half a
| century, and so long as the present obso-
Iete, inequitable and inadequate distribu-
ton of the burden of road mainte nance is
displayed, 80 long will it throw its darken-
| ing shadow over our prospects.
District responsibility for its roads may
suffice where such district ia populous, bu,
the question takes on an entirely
different aspect when the popula.
ton 10 scarce, and good highway mantle
nance difficult and costly. and as this IL
the actual condition of the case in the vast
| majority of districts, it clearly demon
strates the imprsctability of the present
law and emphasizes the need of its reform
alton.
The art of road repairing has now been
Of thorough and enduring character. In
sufficient sums of money are appropriated
even If judiciously and economically ex-
pended, and when it is understood that thi.
amount. as the outgrowth of the system i.
used in the employment of Indifferent anil
Intellectual labor, further inquiry into the
cause of poor roads would seem unneces-
sary.
e Efforts at repairing must contemplate
something more than the mere filing of H
hole which is soon excavated by TIL.
next rain. or by the placing of logs
across ioughs, whose ribs will be found by
every wheel before the season is past, or
burying rocks and lodges in gravel only to
see them resurrected at the next down pour.
The true art Of rosd repairing comprehend,
undoubtedly, well rolled crushed rock after
all protuberances and irregularities of tn.
bed have been removed. This implies the
introduction of more costly and elaborat'-
machinery, the first outlay of which woull
no doubt be a burden upon the tax payers,
but when once secured the progress o.
goo road building would go on uninterrup-
,edly and in few years we could point
with prie to u system of highways that
were a delight to rie over aud rejoice in
the increased facility of exchange which ii
afforded. W. W. GRAY.
Coopers Mills, Me-. May 2. 1898.