The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-09
GOOD ROADS, BIG PROBLEM FOR SMALL TOWN TODAY
Farm Bureau Road Conference
 at Danbury Nov. Il. Z

GU ANOB" / The most troublesome question be- fore the town officials of Fairfield county and the people in our small towns who are interested in seeing their communities progress is that Of handling the many thousands of miles of country dirt roads in a manner that will give a reasonably satisfactory re- turn for the money required for main tenance and at the same time provide for the permanent betternents neces- sitated by, the. changed traffic condl- tions. The great trouble with the present system of working our roads in the average town in Fairfield county and throughout Cinnecticut is that the
 methods. have not altered rapidly enough to meet the traffic demands of the day. Many of our taxpayers 1 furthermore do not appreciate the fact that the type of roads required by everyone today cost more to build and more to maintain than those that would have been considered reasona- bly, satisfactory ten or even five years ago. The general use of the automo- bile has widely extended the area over which our people travel, so that the condition of the roads in every town is now no longer a matter of only To- cal importance and concern But the determine ton of method and practice frequently based on past customs and traditions, on politics, individual pre- judice, and narrow township Hmita- tions are continual1ySworking to the detriment of these larger community needs. As a consequence of these con
 hfcting clements we have a patchwork system of country roads that does not propertIy consider or connect with the permanent, through highways which the state is constructing, or even with the intertown roads controlled by, the owns themselves. Everyone who has occasion to use our highways exten- sive1y knows that frequently when travelling from one town to the other that the fact the town boundaries has been passed, is very quickly indfcaed by an entirely different state of road conditions and care Many towns realize, only too well the imperative need for radically altering their road
 methods if they are to obtain req
 sonabIe return from the increasing burden Of taxes. Every intelligent
 citizen is also fully conscious of the fact that good roads are a towns best advertisement. So in different places and at different times, usually at the
 annual town meetings we have seen l sporadic or spasmodic effort made to bring about necessary changes in ad-
 ministration or practice. The demand
 for a more efficient road policy for all
 towns is i11sistent and constant. These
 scattered and occasional drives for.
 new goal lack all the elements of
 team work and must therefore needs | be largely imperative and Ineffective
 The time will come, if it has not all
 ready arrived, when the people of Con
 necticut must use their best intell1- gence and ability to grapp1e with
 this matter that means so much to
 the social and economic welfare and
 economic welfare and happiness of
 us all. Year after year our towns are
 appropriating money for our roads
 with no clear understand ding whether
 the sums thus appropriated are suffi- cient or insufficient for the work that
 should be spent. How much longer
 should this condition prevail and who
 shall determine the best policy to ppr-
 sue with regard to inaugurating a bet
 ter system that will fit the needs of
 every town in }Fairfie1d county?
 | The Fairfield County Farm Bureau 1 believes that now is the time to act.
 We have throughout the couty many
 road builders and workers who have 1 in their respective communities work
 ed out and developed distinct improve
 ments over the old way, of road man ] agenent. An exchange of ideas among
 such men and others interested in
 road affairs would be of the greatest | to all towns in the county With the
 object of gathering together the best of such practical changes that have
 been tested and tried the bureau has
 called a county road conference for
 November II It is felt that a defi-
 mite road policy might be devised that
 handling it's county dirt roads more
 would enable every town desirous of
 efficiently and economically to. use l those featured adapted to the local
 conditions. In this manner road opera
 tions would be standardized and the wider needs of each community could morek easily and rapidly be met. A- | general invitations is therefore eS- tended to everyone interested to at l tend the good roads conference and | rally the Hotel Green,- Danbury, on
 Thursday November, II, at o'clock State Highway Commissioner Charles J. Bennett will be the principal speak CT. In addition the road question will be ably and thoroughly discussed from
 from the varying standpoint of the
 granges, se1ectmen, chamber of com merce and other angles.
 JUST ARRIVED,
 FRENCH AND DUTCH BULBS