Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-09-18
WORKING THE ROADS.
Tho Present system Of Highway RePA
 ing Is Labor Thrown Away.

Inc tTcscnt system or HlkhNAN hepAlE~
 ing Is Labor Thrown Away.
 As gencI al thing. the country roads on this continent have been so badly To- cated that to huild costly pavements upon tine present lines and previously provide elaborate systems of drainage would be n dreadful waste of money. As il is ordinarily beyond the means of country people to do more than improve the present condition of their roads, this Is the task that they should undertake as soon as possible.
 In beginning such task. the first step to be taken. in my opinion, is tu stop do ing that which has generally been the custom Cf this country that is. work ing the roads Working the roads as II is usually practlced ln this country con sists n "alling ont in each road district q gang of men who work out their road tax under an overseer elected by the people The labor done IS worse than thrown away, for t is rare in n3ec6 for either the overseer or the men under him to have any clear comp-ehcrs:o- ot what is needed.
 -Fortunarely tor tho well beng of o0- roads these men do not work very hard, but rather choose to regard the few days on the road as a kind of holiday outing, picnic frolic. and means of getting rid of q certain amount of tax. If they really work i with all their might, they VOL mak,. the roads almost as impass- able in the summer as they now are in the winter and early sNring. With some kind of a g,:lnmering idea that ditches ; on each side uf road are good to have, they blow up these ditohes. together with the scd that grows downinto them, and Inle all of this muck in the middle of the road.
 This mat, rial, it may be said, hes a most excellent fertilizing value, and if it wer, put uI.,n the tielis instead uf in the roads it would amply repay the farmers who carted il away. But in the roads 1 i: is a sad and an imm e,iiate 6 hindrance tC tiave! Lu kily the friendly spring ,ains usual.v wash it back into the Gitches. wi., Te il stays until there Ii some more tax to be worked out. When these rains are not sufficient tC wash away these lmpediments that hay' been deliberately placed in the roads the consequences are very dusty roads during all tue dry season.
 In some neighborhoods a little mort ambitious than those generally to b' found they mend the roads by placing gravel and broken stone upon them Then the oN rrseers say that they sFS maCadamiZiiG the roads. Without thoroughly training the roadbed. to put either hroll, =. stone or gravel upon 1t Ii merely N. ie of money and labor. ant the s.Jlbit!o is neighborhoods So doini prove in tn. end no wiser than those wh' coveT their .uads with muck. But 1t withsn the means of every neighboE hood in the nited States to materiall impa ave th.lr roads at once-improN them so much that where the traffic not extremely heavy aud continuous tn roads will be in tolerable order min ! months in the year and very much bSi ter than at present, even when the frs'' , k coming on. of the ground at the oS , ginning of s:sing.i Ard this can be dasa in three or Tour or Eve years with 2 spending one penny more than is Ho' spept in the iurtful methods mentaOnA<