DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS, 



167 



NATURE OE IMPROVEMENT. 



Hand in hand with the question of equitable division of the 

 money itself goes the question of what shall be done with the 

 money, and that leads directly to the question of the nature of 

 the improvement of our highways to which this $2,000,000 

 should be devoted, and in this matter also there is among fair- 

 minded men a decided difference of opinion. Some say that 

 no road whatever should be built unless it is the best, the most 

 permanent ; that no road improvement should be made unless 

 it is positively known that the results will stand the traffic of 

 the particular locality ; while others believe that the paramount 

 consideration in the State of Maine is to make our highways 

 safe ; that we should ad'opt the slogan of some of our railways 

 where each station bears the sign ''Safety first;" and that this 

 bond issue should be spent for fundamental permanent invest- 

 ment ; that it should go first into widening and straightening 

 our highways, reducing the grades and improving the drainage. 

 We all know that the average farmer's wife of today drives 

 her horse very little over the country road, and the reason is 

 that the country roads are not safe at the present time for 

 horse travel because of the automobile. Our roads are too 

 narrow — too crooked to permit of clear vision of approaching 



