JNo. 6. DEPARTMENT 01'' AGRICULTURE. 235 



iuhabitauts of South America were great road builders. There still 

 exist in South America, nioiHunciits ol' their sivill and genius. During 

 the Middle Ages the making of good roads seems almost to have been 

 forgotten. It is only with the beginning of the last century, with the 

 advent of Macadam and Telford, that the people of Europe began to 

 make good roads. L>ut what a marvelous ellect those good roads 

 have had in Enghwid, in Germany, and in France upon the progress of 

 those countries, I have no hesitation in saying that Telford and 

 Macadam, and their coadjutors who taught the people how to make 

 good roads, contributed as much to the social and material progress 

 of the world as did Stephenson, who invented the steam engine, be- 

 cause the prosperity of the British Isles, the prosperity of Belgium 

 (whose representative is here to-day), the prosperity of France, and 

 other European countries has depended not alone upon railroads and 

 other large means of transportation, but upon the common highways 

 of the people. 



Those of you who have not been in those old lands can scarcely 

 realize not only the beauty of the landscape, but the perfection of the 

 rural roadw'ays, which have contributed largely to the prosperity and 

 wealth of the people. The French peasants are very poor, as com- 

 pared with you; but after their great war these peasant proprietors 

 of France were able to take up a great part of the oatioual loans. 

 One of the chief factors making for their prosperity is the perfection 

 of the rural roads. Let me illustrate the difference between their 

 roads and the roads of this country. One of your eminent fellow-citi- 

 zens, Mr. James Gordon Bennett, was able, some years ago, to drive a 

 coach and four along the roads of France lil miles in ten hours. 

 What would become of a coach aod four driven over the rural high- 

 ways of this great country in that way? [Applause and laughter.] 

 How is it that you who have made such marvelous progress in inven- 

 tion, in industries, in commerce, who are going ahead b}' leaps and 

 bounds, in many parts of the country, have scarcely emerged in the 

 matter of road building from a semi-barbaroos condition? There are, 

 of course, in the State of New Jersey, in Massachusetts, and in the 

 great State of New York, some beautiful roads; and wise and sagaci- 

 ous men have secured some good laws, at least in reference to this 

 great question. But these places are the little oases in the great 

 desert of inefficiency, ignorance, and incompetency under which the 

 common highways of the country, as well as the streets of ^-our cities 

 and towns, have been built during all those years. I do not hesitate 

 to say that through the lack of education, the lack of organi- 

 zation and the lack of method, from 10 to 25 per cent, of the 

 vast sums of money spent in the cities of this country on streets and 

 pavements has been thrown away; that from 20 to 50 per cent, of the 



