Good Roads. 



By Dr. H. D. Hunt, Marathon, N. Y. 



When I was requested to present for your consideration and 

 discussion at this meeting the subject of " good roads," I was 

 very much pleased; not because I felt that I was master of the 

 subject; not because I felt I could tell you all about road build- 

 ing — that is, the material to be used, the manner of ueing and 

 the cost thereof — but because I considered it an evidence that 

 the farmers of this section were aroused to their importance. I 

 am simply the " old country doctor," and as euch have plenty of 

 opportunities to examine the roads, form opinions, and some- 

 times express them, and I fear they are not always complimen- 

 tary to the roads, to the road oflQciale, or to the communities 

 through which the roads pass. 



How can our highways be improved? 



What system of highway improvement should be adopted? 



How can the desired end be accomplished? 



What will be the cost? 



How much will be added to our already heavy burden of tax- 

 ation ? 



Will the supervision be a heavy expense? 



Will some official receive good pay and have an easy job while 

 we toil and sweat to pay the tax from which he draws his salary? 



Can any system be adopted that will give us better roads with- 

 out increasing taxation beyond, our resources? — These and hun- 

 dreds of other questions at once flash through the mind of the 

 farmer as soon as he contemplates the possibility of having better 

 roads over which to haul his farm products; and the answers that 

 come up in his mind in reply are frequently not such as he moet 

 earnestly wishes. 



