No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 377 



from the actual improvements which are thus constructed. If at 

 any future time the further improvement of a highway on which 

 such bridges may be located may be undertalien, the expense then 

 incurred will be lessened by the cost of whatever permanent bridges 

 and culverts are now being built under the present system by which 

 these plans are furnished without cost to the townships. 



The use of wide tires should be encouraged in all possible ways 

 and we would even favor legislation by which a gradual change 

 from narrow tires to wide tires could be brought about. We of 

 course could not favor legislation which would work a hardship 

 upon the owners of narrow tires, but it would seem easy to devise 

 a method by which the wide tire could be substituted for a narrow 

 tire as the years go by until eventually we would find nothing but 

 the wide tire in use. The benefit of wide tires has been too hrmly 

 established to admit of doubt in the mind of any person who has 

 investigated this subject. It is true that there are still some who 

 cling to their faith in the merit of the narrow tire, but their number 

 is steadily decreasing and we must sooner or later reach a point 

 where we can take another step in advance and do away forever 

 with the narrow tire. 



It has come to our attention that in some townships where im- 

 proved State roads have been built the supervisors have neglected 

 them to their serious damage. It is folly to suppose that a mac- 

 adam road will never need any repairs. There is no implement 

 which we use which does not need repairs at some time or other, 

 and it needs no argument to show that the longer needed repairs 

 are neglected the greater will be the expense involved when the 

 repairs are actually made. It is folly to expend large sums of money 

 in giving improved roads to a township if the men who are charged 

 with their maintenance are so blind to the interests of their town- 

 ship that they do not keep the roads in proper condition. Such 

 wilful neglect of their duty should be severely dealt with or some 

 method devised by which necessary repairs will be made when 

 needed. 



We deeply regret that the bill passed by the last Legislature 

 relative to the duties of township supervisors and the collection 

 of road taxes failed to become law. It is not our purpose to 

 attempt to consider all the features contained in that bill, but 

 for our present purpose it is enough to say that it contained many 

 features vastly superior to those of the supervisor law of 1905, and 

 if it had been allowed to take its place on the statute books we 

 believe it would have been hailed throughout the entire State as 

 one of the most progressive and at the same time most satisfactory 

 laws of recent years. Under this bill a nominal payment to super- 

 visors was authorized so that they would no longer be required 

 to give their services to the townships without compensation. The 

 one dollar additional tax was also abolished by this bill and pro- 

 vision made by which the State was to pay in cash to the townships 

 a sum equal to 50 per cent, of the road taxes which they collected. 

 It is to be hoped that the next Legislature will re-enact some meas- 

 ure which will contain some of the features of this bill. Referring 

 again to the State aid system of improving roads, sve find that 

 during 1907 there were completed about 200 miles, making the 



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