Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1900-10-26
OUR COUNTRY ROADS.
HALF A CENTURY BEHIND THOSE OF
THE OLD WORLD.
Progressive In Nearly All Other
Fields of Human Endeavor, our
Highways Are Abominabie-Auto-
mobiles May Hasten Improvement.

Fields of Human Endeavor, Our
Highways Are Abominnbie-Auto-
mobiles Mny Hasten Improvement.
The Chicago Inter Ocean has been
promoting the great automobile meet
and exhibition held in Washington
park this month in the belief that the
interests of the horseless vehicle can
be best served by a thorough demon
stration under best conditions of the
good qualities of the autos. In addition
10 being a demonstration OF the auto
mobile the meet served to emphasize to
the farmer and the country residents
the great Importance of good roads.
1t will no doubt be slow work to
teach the farmer that his best interest
lies with better roads and that the
present system of construction and Oc-
casiOnal repair will not meet the re-
quirements of future methods of trans
portation. The owners of automobiles
have already found ii to their interest
to take Il hand in this good work. and
with their help extensive additions to
the decent highways of this country
may be expected within a few years.
What is needed" says writer in The
Hub, lis stiff law in every state put
ting premium on smooth roads and
tax on bad ones, establishing a system
of rebates from the county taxes on all
wagon tires three inches or more in
width and providing the necessary ma
chinery for the uniform enforcement of
such II statute. Even the most henight-
ed community can appreciate the logic
of a road tax. and with intelligent, hon
est supervision to see that the road
work is properly done most of the
denominations now called country roads
should soon give place to hard. smooth,
well kept highways. bringing business
to the farmers and opening up the
country to n higher state of settlement
and profitable operation"
Regarding the great question Of econ.
omy in good rj;.ls. the following stats.
teal matter from The Scientific AmerI.
can is significant:
There Is food for thought in the re.
port of the Maryland geological survey
for 1899. In the first place we are told
that the people of Maryland have eX-
pended during the last ten years upon
the 50 called construction and repair of
their own roads the sum of no less than
S6,UO0.000. 1t seems that the greater
part Of this money has been frittered
away IN the attempt to repair roads
which have been poorly laid out in the
first place and for the lack OF certain
necessary engineering qualifications
can in the nature of things never he
made into good roads AS an instance
of this it may be mentioned that many
OF the common roads have no natural
drainage. We are told that most of
them are in poor condition for part
of the year and some of them for the
whole u months
LAS the result Of careful estimate
made by the survey it is shown that
the farmers of the state of Maryland
eXpcnd S3,O0O.o00 year more on their
hauling over the present poorly built
highways than would be necessary II
tllc ulullIp Ntlt tbIt Oll uISl CIdSS
roads. These figures are to be COM
pared with the information collected
by the department of agriculture in
1S90, when. as the result of data re.
ceived from over 200 counties in va.
riOus parts of the United States. it was
ascertaned that the average cost OF
hauling one ton for one mile over coun.
try roads was % cents, which was Just
three times as much as the average
cost of hauling oyer the improved mac
If this large sum Of money represents
the loss TO the state of Maryland from
poor roads, it is easy to say that the
total loss throughout the whole United
States represents figure so great that
1t must have an important bearing up
on the prosperity of the country At
large and practically upon the farming
interests as such.
AT first sight II seems incredible
that in country so progressive as ours
the condition of the common roads
| should be over half century behind
that of the old world. 1t is true that
the vast extent of the United States
and the great mileage of our roads in
some states relative to the density Of
the population may be offered as an ex-
cuse for our backwardness, but while
this plea may hold good as regards the
thinly populated western and southern
states it cannot be applied to the older,
more populous and wealthy sections of
the country"