The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-03-25

4 meeting 81 the rad commissioners oI
Nindhan county was bcld la Festival hal
Yesterday afternoon and the attendance
despite the muddy fuadr, was such a. q
indicate interest Ia what state Highway
Commissioner Charles II Gate, oi Frank
lin bad io SAY. Al but four OF the y
town Of the county were rrprcsent.d a,
the needing. which Was called 90 order at
1890 a. M. by County Road Commissioner
David /. Perry 10 the ah-.nceu Mr., Gates,
who Was unable 10 reach BfatllebOru
until afternoon. Mr. pery introduced
Frank r. Howe, editor of the Bennington
Banner, who spoke Tor ~ minutes on his
plan i0r a system Ot tuukllnc highways.
Mr. Howe explained that such highways
could be- constructed on both sides Of the
Green Mountains and cross-state road
| could hc built, the whole to be- brought
/. about nt an expense that would not be
excessive. such road building could be
I done largely with fund. that would accrue
/ from system oi retfenohment that should
/ be- inaugumtcd at the coming session OF
I the legislature Mr. Howe advocated the
scaling OF practically all special appropri'
/ alton. asked Of the legislature and the
turning over OF such savings 20 the high
way fund. Following Mr. llowc's talk
Commissioner Perry called the roll Of
county road commissioner, and the fol
lowing answered 20 their names: +. W,
smith Of Athens, D. 7, Perry Of Brlttlc
horo. H. w. Howe of Brooklinc. l., j.
Grout Of Dover. Leon Crosby and Myron
C. Goodcll of Dummerston, W. VI. Smith
oi Grafton, Edward T. Spuircs Of Gulliord,
W T. Pratt of Halifax. W 4. Fossett OF
Jamaica. H. G.. Alexander OF Londonderry,
W 4. Wilson Of Newtane, George X.
Bradley. y. ;. Angler Of Putney, Fred \.
smith and james Woolley Of Rockingham.
VI. c. Lowe and George NJ. Hurd Of >trat.
ton. T. u. Howard and \ II. Lawrence OF
Townshend, T. T. Stockweil Of Vernon,
{. \. Peck and C. II, Reed Of We-tmin
ister. T.. o. Robinson Of Wardsboro, W.
l.. TcnHcy Of Windham.
Mr. Gates arrived in time TO address the
afternoon session which opened at 2.3
O'Clock He spoke particularly upon the
work that has been done by the highway
department OF the state during the past l0
wear, and said that a large amount OF IL |
might be properly charged up as a cam. /
paign Of education He said that II was /
upon his invitation that Editor Howe Of |
Bennington addressed the meeting. He |
said that Mr. Howe was very enthusiastic |
over his scheme for a system of trunkline |
highways and that he thought there might /
be many present at the meeting who would /
be interested in such a plan. While Mr..
Gates is not a strong champion of the
system he is by no means at
tempting to drscredit such plan and is
anxious that the scheme may be discussed
by the voters Of the state. Mr.. Gates be
lieves that the work done toward con
>tructing permanent highways during the
past five years. while showing only in
patches. so to speak. is step in the right
direction and may be called preparatory
work. He laid special stress upon surfac.
ing and drainage. He said that a road
could be made the regulation width, lined
M. surfaced and drained in proper manner
wen though a town had but a few hun
lred dollars to expend per mile. This
lass of highway work, said Mr.. Gates,
should be done Just as perfectly on a $500
l-mie road as upon piece Of highway that
: to cost 5000 mile His talk was not
,nly optimistic but instructive. He ey
,lained Just what his department expects
# county commissioners and what the
ountv commissioners may expect in re-
urn. Following his remarks Mr.. Gates
sked and answered questions and gen
raj discussion was ndulged in ,,