COUNTRY ROADS. -^ 225 



the world, as though the roads in a districrt were for the sole use 

 of the district. With the working of this road policy all are 

 familiar. There is no need to give illustrative details, showing 

 how stupid is the supervision, how slovenly is the execution, how 

 seldom the right thing is done at the right moment and in the 

 right way. A worse road policy for these times it were difficult 

 to devise. It involves large expenditure with very inadequate re- 

 turns. So says every man who is acquainted with scientific road 

 construction and maintenance, 



Europe has, in the main, discarded personal service, and, in- 

 stead of ignorant, employs intelligent supervision. The same is 

 true wherever good roads are found. But we continue in the old 

 wasteful way, perhaps the only way which was at all practicable 

 in the early settlement of the State ; we continue to expend large- 

 ly, yet have never a really good road to show in return, never a 

 road which can be used equally well in all weathers and in all 

 seasons. I have traveled, to some extent, in twelve of our six- 

 teen counties, and I feel safe in saying that I have not traveled 

 over a single continuous mile of country road, which could be 

 honestly pronounced, in all particulars, in grade, drainage, sur^ 

 face, what it should be. But this is not the worst ; I have been, 

 frequently told, and truly, I think, that our country roads are not 

 so good as they were twenty or thirty years ago. With judicious 

 management, however, they would have steadily improved, while 

 the cost of their maintenance would have steadily decreased. At 

 last the minimum of expenditure would be reached with the 

 essentially perfect road. It is, indeed, only the good road that is 

 at the same time a cheap road ; it is cheap to maintain and affords- 

 cheap transportation. In building such a road, what things- must; 

 be taken into consideration ? 



The Eoute. 



First in order comes the route, which should be fixed upon onlj- 

 after careful examination, never arbitrarily. This is oftentimes 

 the most difScult problem to be solved in road construction, for 

 oftentimes there enter into the problem various antagonistic ele- 

 ments. 



Is the land uneven, a*s it usually is in this State ? Then its 

 physical geography must be studied — its elevations, its depres- 

 sions, its water courses — it being the first object, not to secure 

 arbitrary directness of route, but a grade which shall not, at anjr 

 15 



