Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-07-28
GuidebOardS,

uuiQeOOdT0S.
One of the most disgusting things to a
stranger travelling through the country
towns, either on foot, by carriage, bicycle
or automobile, is the absence of guide
boards at places where roads diverge in
different directions and leading to diff
ferent localities. The people who live
in town where such places are not pro-
vided with guideboards have no concep-
ton of the annoyance their absence caus-
es, for the country is familiar to them
aud no thought is given to guidebOards;
but let those people travel in other
sections where they are not familiar and
they will realize something of the feelings
of strangers passing through their own
town.
The absence of guideboards in many
towns is not from lack of Legislation up
on the subject, but from lack of enforce
ment of the law. States have enacted
laws requiring selectmen of towns to
place guideboards at all places where
roads diverge, and imposing penalties
for neglecting it. The penalty is gener-
ally in the form of fine, TO be paid to
any individual making complaint. The
better way of securing the enforcement
of the law is by creating public senti-
ment among the people demanding it.
Spasmodic attempts To enforce any law
through the hope of gain by persons en-
gagged in making complaints for the fines
they will receive are not generally pro-
ductive of great good, but when the peo-
pie become aroused in a matter and de-
mand the enforcement of a law from
principle and for the good that will ac-
crue thereby the results are always bene-
fetal if the law is wise one.
Ii is not enough that the guideboards
be placed at forks of the road, but they
should be properly marked, giving not
only the direction to places but the dis
tance accurately stated. They should
give the distance TO distant as well as
nearby points. 1t is decidedly refresh
ing to travel through town where the
guideboards direct the traveller to larger
towns and cities even twenty or thirty
miles away. OF course the directions to
nearby points are the most important,
but it gives an impression of progress
and of being in touch with the world,
however obscure town may be, to tinr
guideboards directing to the great cities
of the vicinity, and seems to convey the
impression TO the stranger that he is not
far back in the woods after all. Aside
from the matter of convenience to
traveller it is matter of interest and
pleasure to know his whereabouts all the
time.
These conditions increase the selling
value of every farm in the town. The
Il, Of Aahn r1S
not make the soil more fertile or cause
crops to grow more rapidly, but persons
wanting to purchase farms will be more
favorably impressed with the locality by
the presence of guideboardS. Ii they
read ON the board at the nearby corner
the number of miles to the nearest city
which is to be the market for the prod
ucts of their farm it may not convey
that they did not have before
or that they would not get in some other
way, but il makes the farm seem nearer to
market, and therefore more desirable.
1t makes the farm seem nearer To all the
to be found in the city
that in certain sense contribute to the
enjoyment of farm life. 1t causes the
would be- purchaser To feel that he is
locating in a more desirable locality than
would be the case if there were no guide
boards to direct the way.
There are many towns where this mat
ter has been faithfully attended to by
the Selectmen, and there these sugges-
tions have no force except in calling at
tention TO the advantages derived there
from; but there are other towns, even
these towns, where the only
semblance of compliance with the law
consists in a few old boards that have
fallen down and perhaps been nailed up
ON the wrong side of the post, directing
the traveller wrong, or they may have
been moved from one corner TO another,
leaving the distance marked the same as
given for another location.
The enforcement of this law is an admi-
rable work for the grange TO take up and
carry TO completion. All that is needed
is discussion of it, and the benefits to
be derived from its enforcement will be
apparent at once. When public Senti-
ment is favorable to the enforcement
of law and made active there Will
be no longer neglect in this matter
or any other provided for by legis-
lative enactment. This may seem a
trivial matter, but it is the sum of many
trivial matters that constitute great
matter which in the end makes our
country towns so beautiful and desirable
as homes. Mirror and Farmer.