42 ANNUAL IlEPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



retaininj? labor in the countrv is found in the fact that from December 

 until April there is nothing for the dav laborer to do, consequeutl}' 

 he sells his home, moves to the town, rents a house near a factory, 

 a«d so is lost to the community in which he was raised. A good 

 road to the town would to a great extent have remedied this. It 

 would have enabled the laborer to live anywhere from four to five 

 miles in the country, retain his home and surroundings, and on a 

 bicycle, run to town in from twenty to thirty minutes, in time for 

 work. 



Quick, easy and cheap transportation will also esiable the country 

 resident to secure help from the towns in times of special 

 necessity, such as occur at the time of the planting, harvesting and 

 care of crops. The towns and cities thus become reservoirs of labor, 

 where assistance can be had by the country in time of need. 



The value of improved roads in affording increased facility for th' 

 marketing of crops, attendance upon church, visits to the store, or 

 shop, are too well known and appreciated to make it necessary to fur- 

 ther discuss. 



Good roads for the conntryhave become a social and business neces- 

 sity- for country people, and in no State is this necessity greater, or 

 reform in methods of road construction more needed, than in our own 

 State of reuusylvania. We have, in this State, about one hundred 

 thousand miles of country roads, constructed and maintained under 

 a system of supervision in which the selection of supervisors, not of 

 the fittest, but of the most unfit, is usually made. By it men are se- 

 lected who are willing to stand out on the public roads for a dollar 

 and a half a day and watch two or three other men do nothing, often 

 worse than nothing, do positive damage to an otherwise passable 

 road. As long as this system exists, just so long will our roads be un- 

 satisfactory. Incompetent supervision, in any branch of business, is 

 destructive of that business. Road supervision is no exception to 

 this rule, and this accounts for the deplorable condition of our roads, 

 notwithstanding the expenditure of over four millions of dollars in 

 their maintenance each year, or about forty dollars per mile annually 

 on every mile of road. The wise expenditure of this sum, would, of 

 itself, give us improved roads in comparatively few years, but, until 

 a system is adopted which insures proper supervision, we can only 

 expect, that which we have already experienced in all of the past 

 years, wasted inonev and bad roads. 



We have been endeavoring, for several years, to get aid from the 

 State for road improvement, but so far have failed to secure it. State 

 aid will never be given, and ought not to be given, until the State is 

 assured that the money which it contributes is more wisely expended, 

 than that which the townships now raise. A law is now on the 

 statute books which aims to provide competent supervisors, but is 



