32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Point out the man who will say to you 



All the electric mind can do. 



The greatest city yet shall rise; 



Ah, who can solve the mystic skies ? 



Niagara's falls are still unchained, 



The Arctic's shores have not been gained. 



The steamer submarinely plied 



Is anchored fast in fancy's tide; 



The world's great plans have not been heard, 



And peace today is but a word. 



Think then, ye men of little worth, 



Who say today there's naught to do on earth. 



So that there are other things to be done by the professions, 

 arts, mechanics, and every business pursuit. But admitting 

 all of these things that I have enumerated, in my judgment 

 this great question of good roads is of far more importance 

 to each citizen of this State and of the United States than all 

 the rest of the things enumerated. 



I fully remember all four laws under which we have 

 worked. It was not expected that the first law, the law of 

 1895, under which the work began, would be perfect. In- 

 deed, there is no law upon the statute books of the State but 

 what has been found, after due trial and working under, to 

 need amendment, as in the use of a law all its shortcomings 

 are developed and amendments are found to be necessary. 

 Indeed, I found, although coming into the office of Highway 

 Commissioner with a business training which I thought suffi- 

 cient to carry on the work of the State, that I knew very 

 little with all that training to cope with the conditions by 

 which this great question was surrounded ; in fact, I know 

 very little today, gentlemen, in comparison with the knowl- 

 edge I ought to have as Highway Commissioner. I am 

 learning, however, am going to school every day, and the 

 experience I gain from day to day is furnishing me with a 

 new equipment to carry on this great work. The law of 

 1895 was drafted for the sole purpose of bringing about some- 

 thing from the chaotic condition by which the State was sur- 

 rounded in the character of its roads. After two years' trial 

 it was found that the law would not satisfy the conditions 

 by which the State was surrounded, and the law of 1897 was 

 drafted. This law was an improvement because it reached 



