COUNTRY ROADS. OQ7 



something in the way of first-class, permanent work ; but the 

 town, for sundry reasons, can do far better than the district. The 

 demand for such work is more pressing- in some neighborhoods 

 than in others ; where the demand is most pressing, there the 

 work should be first done, and it can be better done by concon- 

 tratiou of forces upon a single point than by attempting to do 

 somewhat, as under the district system, in a dozen or twenty 

 different jjlaces at the same time. Again, it is easier finding one 

 man in a whole town than one in each of the several districts, who 

 is qualified to take charge of this permanent work, executing it 

 after the most approved teachings of science and experience. 



But it will be said, and correctly, I think, that the popular 

 sentiment is against the abolition either of the district or of per- 

 sonal service. If, then, the durable improvements cannot be well 

 made by the district, in what direction shall we look for better 

 things ? It strikes me that, if we cannot change our road policy 

 by abolition of the district and of personal service, we can render 

 it much more eflScient by adding a little to what we already have. 

 It is an addition that would be required, though not so urgently, 

 if the petty district were abolished. 



The county is organized with special reference to the business 

 interest of the towns embraced within its limits. To the county 

 the town holds much the same territorial relation that the district 

 holds to the town. If the whole care of the roads, therefore, is 

 left to the different towns, to say nothing of districts, then those 

 interests of the county dependent on locomotion must frequently 

 suffer. Take my own county, for example. Livermore finds her 

 principal market at Lewiston and Auburn. Between Livermore 

 and her market lies Turner. Now, it is for the interest of the 

 people of Livermore that some of the roads in Turner — the ones 

 traversed by themselves — should be of the best quality. Eather 

 than these roads in Turner, it were far better for the people of 

 Livermore, that some of the roads in their own town were neglect- 

 ed. In other words, the people of Livermore would help them- 

 selves decidedly by helping to put some of the hills, bogs and 

 sandy reaches of Turner in good plight for locomotion. And it 

 would only be just for them to do this. Hence, a certain amount 

 of money — two or three mills on a dollar of valuation — could be 

 justly and wisely expended in permanent improvements under the 

 direction of the County Commissioners, who already have more or 

 less to do with roads. Each year they could designate the points, 



