1902.] GOOD ROADS. 33 



down into those things which we needed. It gave us a larger 

 opportunity in the disbursement of money to assist the towns, 

 and it gave a wider scope to the officer in charge of the work, 

 so that he might use his judgment to a better advantage in 

 the interest of the towns. The law of 1899 went still further, 

 and instead of saying the Highway Commissioner should be 

 circumscribed in his work, should be narrowed down and 

 forced into some particular class or standard method of con- 

 struction, it opened up a wider door and removed that clause, 

 which was so objectionable to the town, in which it said that 

 we should build a road that would be smooth, firm, and con- 

 venient for travel at all seasons of the year. That description 

 called for one of the finest roads that could be built, and the 

 time wasn't ripe for that ; it is not ripe today when that defi- 

 nition can be carried out in the State of Connecticut. We 

 must make haste slowly. The law of 1899, in all the powers 

 conferred upon the commissioner and in the liberality it 

 exercises towards the town, was a good law. It was a vast 

 improvement in many respects over the law which had been 

 in force before. I am familiar with every law upon the 

 statute books of the country leading up to State control, and 

 I am satisfied that there is no law in the United States that 

 is a better law, that so nearly reaches all of the conditions 

 that are to be found in our State, and in the caretaking and 

 control of this great movement than the law under which I 

 work today. 



A great many people have thought, and, indeed, I find it 

 so understood in many of my recent town meetings, that the 

 State requires a macadam treatment, or that class of road, 

 to be built in every town, and unless every town in the State 

 builds macadam roads they cannot enjoy State aid, but I 

 think that this misapprehension is fast disappearing. I think 

 it is true that a great many towns remained outside State aid 

 because of their misunderstanding of the attitude of the State 

 along the lines suggested, and this misapprehension was only 

 removed when the commissioner has had an opportunity to 

 meet with the townspeople in their town and explain the law 

 and the real attitude which the State exercises towards towns. 

 I think it is very generally understood in the State today that 

 this law under which we now work embraces in its intent the 

 reaching down into, and the meeting of whatever condition a 



Agr. — s 



