40 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



GOOD ROADS. 



Good roads for the country districts in Pennsylvania have become a 

 social and business necessity, and their construction cannot be much 

 longer delated. 



Social and business conditions have so changed, that agriculture 

 which forty years ago was supreme among the occupations in the 

 number of those who pursued it as a calling, is now but one of many 

 industries and professions which invite attention. The new indus- 

 tries which have developed so wonderfully in recent years are mostly 

 located in the towns and cities, as a consequence, country people, at- 

 tracted by what they suppose to be greater business opportunities 

 and social advantages, are flocking to these centres of population, 

 and the country, as has been indicated in another part of this report, 

 is rapidly losing its strength and influence in the government of the 

 State. 



However widely individuals may differ as to the influence which 

 bad roads have had upon this movement of population, there is no dis- 

 puting the fact, that where rapid, cheap and easy transit exists in the 

 country, the flow is to that district from the near-by cities and towns. 

 Abington township, Montgomery county, Pa., has highly improved 

 roads. The population of this township in 1890 was 2,703. In 1900 

 the population has increased to 3,803, and there had also been formed 

 a borough of 512 people, making a total gain of 1,612 in ten years. 



Cheltenham township, which adjoins Abington, had a population in 

 1890 of 4,74G. In 1900 this had increased to 6,154. Lower Merion 

 township, in Delaware county, where Mr. A. J. Cassatt constructed 

 goods roads a number of 3'ears ago, increased in population 3J56. 

 Haverford township, which adjoins Lower Merion, shows a gain of 

 081. Moreland township, adjoining Abington, shows a gain of 573. 

 All of these townships have improved roads, whilst Upper Dublin 

 township, also adjoining Abington township, with unimproved roads, 

 lost population in the last decade. This locality has been chosen for 

 the illustration, because here the best roads in the State have been 

 built, and the effects are seen in the population which flows into these 

 localities, whilst other places, near by but with unimproved roads, 

 are losing year by year. Not Only has the rural population largely in- 

 creased in these good road districts, but the value of land has been 

 enhanced and the character of the citizenship has greatly improved. 

 It can scarcely be regarded as accidental, that these localities, in 

 which the best roads exist, are increasing in population and wealth. 



