Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1906-05-23
FOR BETTER ROADS.
,,ovEMENr IS GENERAL IN THE
STATE.
.,rr COMMISSIONERS SARGENT RE
VIEWS RESULTS OF COUNTY
ROAD MEETINGS.

ROAD MEETINGS.
with the meeting OF the selectmen
.,ad commissioners OF Kennehec
an,tv recently held, Paul d. Sargent,
80, highway commissioner, concluded
,se series of seventeen such meetings
..h;ch have covered sixteen counties of
Min. Mr.. Sargent is feeling well salts
a.. ,,ith the success of these meetings
"a {. confident that the coming year will
~hov that they have been OF great value
- The road builders OF Maine.
Win the exception OF Aroostook county,
mbere two meetings were held, but one
r,eetiug has been held In each county.
a, rnle. there have been two sessions,
r,orning and afternoon, but in one case it
,,.s impossible TO have more thar an
.sernoon session; this because of the
,rain arrangements, while in two or three
rlsces the meetings have lapsed over
.,til well into the evening before all the
;rtercs,ed persons were ready TO go home.
A, one meeting the attendance was nearly
one hundred, while forty was the lowest
recorded, the average being about sixty.
In all. Mr.. Sargent met between eight and
nine hundred Of the men who are to-day
in charge OF road construction and repair
throughout the State.
OBJECT or MEETINGS.
The idea of holding these meetings,
which are provided for by the Legislature
in the act which creates tho highway
commission, is that by them the State,
ms whole, can secure more early benefits
from the Office than in any other way.
Through the medium OF these gatherings
II is possible for Mr.. Sargent 10 meet the
read commissioners and discuss the work
with them as well as ii Is possible for each
man to got the ideas OF his fellow
workers, so that the meetings can be
nothing IL not beneficial.
II has been the effort OF Nr. Sargent to
give the men in attendance talk on
practical road building and then 20 have
a general discussion OF the subject by
them. He has asked that they all take
advantage of the question-bo box by ex-
planning to the meeting such difficult Jobs
OF work as they had to do during the year
In this way they could secure the advice
Of other road builders a. well as that of
the commissioner himself.
For the most part, all tbs men have
taken the greatest interest in this propo-
siiion. The discussions have been full
Of interest and many valuable ideas have
been advanced.
RESULT OF MrF-TfSCs
Speaking Of the results OF the meetings
Mr.. Sargent says that II is surprising how
interest in good roads has advanced in the
Iast few years throughout Maine. ''More
people" says he, s'are taking an active
interest In the work and endeavoring to
put the highways into condition which
Will better satisfy the people than ever
before.
''The old idea OF throwing in some cart
leads OF dirt and rock and brush to fiil
bad mnd-hole in the spring of the year is
disappearing. Cities and towns alike are
coming to realize that ii is better TO spend
considerable amount of money in per-
manent improvement at one point than ii
is to use the same amount in temporary
makeshiits each year. The permanent i'm
proSement saves money in the end, where
as the old idea made continual expense
at the same point each year"
When asked where he found the most
practical and efficient men in charge Of
the roads i'm the cities and larger towns or
the small viilages-he laughed and said
that it was a hard question to answer.
"You can't tell, !" said he. sin the city
they have more opportunity and more
money, and sometimes, suppose, more
politics; but ON the whole, am inclined
TO say that there is little difference. All
the people, residents of cities and large
towns or OF the small places, are
coming TO realize that the men who are
wanted as road commissioners are those
with practical, good common-sense.
Not long ago met a man down in our
county who has been road commissioner or
connected with the work for the roads in
his town for the past fifteen years. He is
one Of the best road builders in the State,
as the roads of his town will show. la
the course of our conversation he said to
me: When / started in as road COM
missioner In this town, / thought knew
how to build a road. As the town went
on, found / didn't, and to-day don't
think ! know a great deal about road
building
Now that man is a good man and knows
how to build roads. He does good work
because he is trying to learn all the time
and IL using his brains
PERMANENT WORK PAYS.
"At one of the meetings, to illustrate the
growth Of the idea that ii is better TO
make one permanent improvement each
year than to use the money in temporary
repairs, young man got up in the course
OF discussion OF what was the best way
TO nix certain piece OF road, which one of
the men had to look after this year, and
made the following statement of how
Things han worked in his own town.
Some years ago / got elected road
commissioner in our town. There had
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