Show i COUNTRY COUNTRY coads conr of jiow the LAW koar ExUn ff operate tia country U roads ds Q lag so far behind the times I 1 ih the states that ne nearly aly e every ve economist in ithe he country 4 talking a abat ut them sats sats the atlanta cod corl anis la is the one plate where our ale seem I 1 td be stubbornly set against progress yut n t the present wide agitation of the is suro sure to hasten akton li the reform BO so long needed eded john gilmer speed of new jersey writing in the fie september number ot of Lippin totts magazine describes the situation wel and points out some of the remedies jI he gays the roads are BO so generally bad lad that I 1 have met native born Aine americans ricans wha had never traveled abroad who could not be brought to believe that good roada roads were possible EQ ile th thinks iks the 1 reason eason why we have lagged behind all other counti countries ies which have a stable government may be found in the fact that we wo are weak in our coin ingnal system or county and govern government A As for the steps already taken for im mentions the pennsylvania road commission appointed to formulate I 1 it e a 1 measure an and d refers refer 8 to the recommendation ada ha m men e dation t ot governor 0 vernor hill of new york that the state build at least two roads across across each county in massachusetts they have a road department la in charge of a civil engineer who my inay travel over the state and give advice on oti the cot t tion of roads and bridges bridge A As hip his 4 advice a e I 1 is not Pin binding ding this system ii it is s t feared will not work As an example o of the workings of the road 0 bafs now in in colue vogue mr speed tell what goes on in his township in new 1 jersey ersey from the town township thip vil ae age to the county lown town bays says fee e the istance distance Is about seven miles and ani the difference in n elevation about feet there ii in a valley tanning running nearly all the way between the two PIAO places had the ili high way been bean located in athis valley the tile dj tunco tance between the points would hate bare ba been 1 I less than it is and there would 1101 11 have been a heavy grade on the whole tonte route instead of this the highway lias has been placed variously over the hills on the and in the valley so whichever way one goes it is always up or down inal 11 all the produce not consumed in the township has during a century and a half been hauled over this dreadful road the tax that chisun this un constructed road has upon the several generations tufit e lived inthe township has of course been enor enormous mods and the toads roads are not merely badia badly laid out they are wre wretchedly built and maintained maintain eg yet the tile people have always had at nand hand the best kind of material to make good roads for the surface of the fields is covered with mon tones which bich need bittle break ingato to be just what is needed and then there is limestone in abundance alt about and gravel too cormany years yaa pas the township lias has I 1 levied a tax of each year ford for repair ot roads only about one third of th tax is daiil in money the jest is pa majd a in labor arld and anthi rate of f per day daj when the prevailing r rule of labor for much harder work is oly oily IM per V ab finished ali their spring pl plowing g a i ana planting tibey go ont out on a kind of picnic frolic on the road they plow up the grass a along long the bides s of ae tle road and pat put the soda sods and the muck from the ditches into the center of the roaland roa road dand and very carefully throw wall au the small stones tip ul against in t the fences or on either bide side I 1 need not tell what nhat the consequence of this is when the weather is wet the roads are at six x fidhes deep with a heavy and adhe si sive to mud when the weather is dry as it is aab to be in summer the roads are fetlock dep deep in dust what should go on the roads so as to make them hard is left lying loosely in the fields and what ipuy upon the fields would make them thein rich and rua fruitful is put in the roads to hinder milder traffic and travel of this kind of work might b be imagined but he gives div es it in in siguid cant words in the whole township there is not a rich man and there are not more than two tw 0 or three who are moderately prosperous nearly every tann farm is mortgaged very many up to their full value while ft hile each recurring census shows that the population is getting smaller and this V is only thirty miles from froin new york and in a section for which v aich nature has done most liberal things nowhere is there more beautiful scene scenery or amore ft more healthful climate the farmers say that their lack of prosperity Is due to an absence of facilities I 1 am eure cure that if they had bad ever had good highways a B or holever bad ever spent with any kind of wisdom and judgment the money each year 5 ear levied for roads on the highways as they exist t they hr y would not hate have fel felt t the want 0 of f railroads as they do now |