New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-04

Where Insufficient returns upon which 10 base
en- average have DO II eived from any county no
estimate j. made Tor That county.
IL viii be observed from this table that auy
counties In Tie state are paving Annually In
llIs Is n average Of about sd 800 for each county
,,'",o III" m.Srru,i when think will be gen
era l!y corr'boratcd by those who have seen the
methods Of wofh now employed On country roads
va, iargo pFop,nioh OF this expenditure IS prac
lcsliy waSled With no greater expenditure. but
covered with fine niacadim roads with ali tho re-
suitlmg aavaIssr. in appreciation of property and
IN ecolomy Of ansportatlon. II Is difficult 10 c,t
mate the ave age cost Of macalam reads In our Stat,
lecauSe OF the varying conditions in different local.
ties but reasonably conservative estimate by on
ion WIN tia an sn9na cost fer manienance aud re-
each year in tae counties Of tie State. reducing tie
labor performed e cash valuation. would pay The
interest and provide for The sinking fund on sum
dent Issue Of bords 10 construct $50 miles of ropd
road at 5000 per milo Void a1 To- ho MI" Il oS r.,
interest on which would he $4,000 per annmm nj
per ,, cent leaving $4,000 year 10 be applied TO
a Smiling fund. From the table given above. win
an accurate knowledge Of tho Of construction OF
county con ascertain more precisely how MANY mes
Of good highway mny be bnl IN thfir locality without
any grelter OUTLAY ri money and labor than Is Pc.
Guired by tie present system with IFS wrctched NJ
m s1 e0%rss goo@ svO road would cost much
$500 per mic on the average.
REASONS WHY ROADS ARE POOR.
There can be no substantial Improvement in tbc
country roads Of This State long rs the law compeIs
the continuance OF The present system of subdivision
Eto minute road districts, averaging scarcely more
Than mile each In length. Whether the repalring
Of the road In each such district be done by actual
labor CT the Inhabitants thereof or By EMPLOYEES maid
by money communication for such labor the unsatls
piiDcipa reasons ' " WV
First. the tendency IN each rtile district IS TO
make roads only for It's Inhabitants and moi for
the Inhabitants OF other dist.ics The character az
each leading market road throughout IFS entire length
thus tends 10 be Kept DOM 10 that of the worst road
Ia any one Of the little districts into which II K
subdivded. The load the farmer can carry Ia mark
Is determined by the worst point In the entire road
he must traverse The people Of each district natur-
ally say. II the other districts Will not make good
roads for us, they do not deserve thar we should
make good roads for them. and there rs but little
advantage In our max ng such short strips OF good
road for uIseves.' Under such a system there can
be concerted action for Il uniformly good me ret
ro1d. and the inevitable result Is uniformly bad
road.
second. the smaller the OF taxation the more
economical will be the taxpayers whether the fax
be- pad In labor money. The country road district
H. the smallest OF taxation In the State and by
the inevitable tendency Of human nature the country
roads receive the sfnpdcst treatment Of any OF the
public works Each lOcaEty Is extravagant enough
In its demands for local improvements at the state
expense. for ench nhnbitaDt OF the locality thinks
that the rest ~ the state pays the entire tax. But
inch nhsbifant OF road district naturally seems to
think TINT he Is paving all the expense OF any I'm
provement In his local road.
The primitive system Of repairing country ronds