238 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



where, in their opinion, the c^eneral welfare would be best sub- 

 served by the expenditure of the common fund. This expenditure 

 would keep in constant service a skillftd engineer, with a quota 

 of men sufficient for the execution of those more costly improve- 

 ments, which the individual town cannot well undertake, which 

 indeed, may not be for the special advantage of the town where 

 they are made, but rather for the special advantage of towns lying 

 beyond and further from the common business centre. There 

 would also be sufiScient means for the purchase of the best ma- 

 chinery in order to economize labor. Again, while the county 

 engineer should execute his own special work, he could advise, 

 when invited to do so, with the road-masters iu the different towns 

 or districts, as to the durable improvements to be made under 

 their charge. The whole body politic would thus become grad- 

 ually educated. This would be a great gain, for scientific engi- 

 neers are not speud-thrifts, as so many imagine ; but they study 

 how to accomplish most with whatever expenditure is made under 

 their direction. Town and district surveyors could not fail to 

 profit bj"" their suggestions. Now, it is but little legislation that 

 is needed to add this new, just and efficient feature to our road 

 policy of to-day. In twenty years, this, even without the abo- 

 lition of the district, would work a great and beneficial change in 

 the character of our country roads. Beyond the county we should 

 not now enlarge the political area for the management of country 

 roads ; for, with the introduction of the railway, has disappeared 

 the necessity, once urgent, of tuinipikes running athwart the 

 whole State. For the inspection of railways we have commis- 

 sioners appointed by the State, and we need no other State 

 officials to look after locomotion. 



Here, then, is a policy for the management of roads, which 

 should supersede the present relic of feudalism. Until a change 

 has been made in this direction, and a certain amount of labor ex- 

 pended in durable, scientific work — expended by town or county, 

 or by both — we cannot look for any steady general improvement 

 of our country roads. And the policy thus proposed is not a poli- 

 cy to enlarge necessarily, but rather to diminish the cost of roads, 

 while gradually giving us vastly better ones. It is not a policy 

 for increasing but for making the most out of our present expend- 

 itures. The only thing which stands in the way of its adoption is 

 petty, local je ilousy, some times called love of independence, but 



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