1902.] GOOD ROADS. 45 



pense ever since. We have been all of these years since the 

 introduction of sand as a bonding principle repairing our 

 road, with very little success. The bonding has been broken, 

 the roads have raveled, and we have been going on continu- 

 ously spending money trying to keep these roads in proper 

 shape. If the people of the State of Connecticut could only 

 be made to understand how much it means to take that little 

 stitch in time on a Macadam road it would save a great deal 

 of money. It is foolishness, and it is a great waste of public 

 money, to allow a pavement to go on day after day without 

 giving it proper attention. A Macadam pavement should 

 never be allowed to go one moment longer before it is treated 

 than the moment the stone begin to appear on the surface of 

 the road, and then no screenings should be ever put on, be- 

 cause a road once bonded is bonded forever. It should have 

 just a light application of one-half-inch cubes put on about 

 three-quarters inch deep and let the travel wear them down. 

 If that is done, the road will come back into its original splen- 

 did condition. I firmly believe if the cities wherein so much 

 Macadam treatment has been had would only exercise more 

 attention to this question of repair in time, so essential and so 

 necessary in keeping a pavement in order, they would see a 

 great saving result from that policy, and I am certain they 

 could then make a favorable comparison between a road so 

 treated and one that has been neglected so long that it has 

 to be practically ripped up and laid over again. A great 

 many people say that in the three-quarters-inch treatment it 

 is a little unpleasant to travel over. This may be true for a 

 short time, but the unpleasant part of this method is more 

 than compensated in the saving of money over the old system. 

 Now, in conclusion, I want to say this : I believe a great 

 future is in store for the State of Connecticut. I believe that 

 anyone who goes over the State today and is acquainted with 

 the roads, and will make a comparison with what they were 

 before the commencement of State assistance and what they 

 are now, will be forced to admit that, while we have expended 

 a great deal of money, there is a marked change in the char- 

 acter of our roads, and that the improvements show the 

 money well invested. Certainly a very great improvement 

 has been made in very many ways over that which has pre- 

 vailed upon our highways before the beginning of State 



