COMilOX ROADS OF MICHIGAiN". 365 



has invested in permanent roads what the American expends in perisliable 

 horses that reqnire to be fed. 



Snch being the case, our poor roads are seen to be expensive not only in 

 requiring more time, but also in requiring twice as many horses as would be 

 necessary to transport the same traffic in the same time. Because of the lack 

 of statistics regarding roads it is hard to make any estimate which shall convey 

 in dollars and cents an idea of the exact amoiint our delinquency in this direc- 

 tion costs us ; but this much is certain : that the amount tolled from us by the 

 loss of time and by extra wear and tear is an enormous rate of interest on the 

 cost of putting our roads into a first-class condition, and in most counties is a 

 ten per interest on the adjoining lands. 



In addition to all this, poor roads exert a detrimental effect on the intellectual 

 progress of a people, for which deterioration we have no adequate standard in 

 dollars and cents. Good roads form means of easy communication, lead to fre- 

 quent social intercourse, and '•'pave" the way to a high intellectual develop- 

 ment. 



Farther, the value of an estate increases as the means of communication are 

 improved. Examples of this are familiar to all. Distance is not of so much 

 imjjortance as time, and the place which is two hours' drive from market is 

 equally valuable whether it be twenty miles or six miles away. 



If good roads, then, are of so much importance, and poor roads the occasion 

 of so much expense, the expediency of preparing better roads cannot be doubted ; 

 but a question will arise regarding the benefit derived from the amount that is 

 now annually expended on our roads. The amount usually expended on roads 

 varies from five to twenty per cent of the whole tax ; yet all will admit, at least 

 in the older portions of our State, that the roads are no better to-day than they 

 were ten years ago, and in some portions of the state are not so good. Between 

 this college and the city of Lansing to-day there is scarcely a stretch of road fif- 

 teen rods in length but what contains "pitch "-holes, through which a person 

 must drive slow or endanger the safety of both vehicle and life ; and in one 

 place the refuse of a brick-yard has been regularly drawn and deposited in un- 

 connected piles, one load at a time, turning a naturally level road into alternate 

 hummocks and holes, which latter are filled with mud in wet weather and are 

 very dangerous in dry weather. 



Another example we take from the Detroit Free Press of September 3, IS 75. 

 A complaint was made by the citizens of Detroit against the Grand River plank 

 road company, for keeping their road so poorly graded and so poorly planked 

 that it was almost impossible to drive a horse along the highway at trotting gait 

 without damage to both horse and vehicle. The people appointed a committee, 

 who met Mr. Buhl and ex-Gov. Baldwin as representatives of the plank road 

 company. Gov. Baldwin said he had lately taken a ride over the road, carefully 

 noting its condition, and was surprised to find it so bad, but that he did not 

 think it was as bad as had been asserted. However, he considered it dangerous 

 to drive over in the day-time, and certainly would not think of going over it at 

 night ; and he promised to do all in his power to better the road. In the same 

 article we learn that this is at present the best equipped, and is in the best repair 

 of any plank road in the State, and that the above transaction applies only to 

 the ten miles nearest the city of Detroit. Though the management of this road 

 is in no way connected with the management of our highways, yet as this road 

 is much better than many of its cross-roads in the vicinity of Detroit, it serves 

 to show what a low degree of perfection we have reached in the art of road- 

 making. 



