No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 273 



after the frost gradually came out I kept at it and dragged that road 

 for several months aud finally got it in such shape it was passable 

 and respectable and it was a good road. I paid the bill myself. It 

 did not amount to more than a few dollars. The supervisors then had 

 a roadmaster and he did not like this. It was in his territory and he 

 felt the reflection. It struck him that nobody should take some of his 

 responsible from him and make improvement. If that man would only 

 have been too glad not to bother about it. He didn't, so I did. They 

 waited on me and said: "Doctor, you got to cut this out. You are 

 damaging the road." Well, they could not show where I had damaged 

 the road and, as I had the official consent of two members of the Board 

 of Supervisors, I said: "Gentlemen, this road has got to be fixed and 

 I got your consent and I am going to go ahead and fix it. It is up to 

 me." I put it up to them and went ahead and dragged the road and 

 got in it good shape and by the middle of May, just about this time, 

 the Supervisors came to Lancaster and they swore out a warrant. 

 They had an injunction served on me for injuring the road and they 

 had that injunction served by the local constable and stopped me from 

 my right which I used and Avhich was improving their own township 

 property. Well, of course, after the injunction I cut it out but the 

 road was fixed, at least passable. But I wanted to know why these 

 men had secured this injunction, just like any of you men, if they 

 Avould come to your door and say you can't do it. You want them to 

 show you. So I brought these supervisors right into this court room. 

 The witne-ss box is right here, and I made them tell the court why the 

 injunction should not be dissolved. They had their witnesses and I 

 had mine. I had the farmers that lived along the road for thirty 

 years, and we had pictures of the road before anything was done to it 

 and after I had used the drag on it. We showed these photographs 

 to the court. We had men testify that knew the road before and after ; 

 took the testimony down by means of the court stenographer and the 

 court reserved decision for a period of a month or two and then they 

 made a decree to the effect that the wrong legal procedure had been 

 taken and so of course the thing fell at once. But I used what the 

 court stenographer had written down and published it, what these 

 men said. I printed that and distributed it all over the township 

 so that the farmers could ascertain the truth, just what 

 was said by the road officials and the farmers who used 

 the road and by myself who fixed the road, and the out- 

 come, gentlemen, was very clear. Just like it would be in 

 your own county. Where everA'body knows the truth and the facts 

 there is a general verdict. I ran for supervisor and I was elected and 

 that is how I happen to be in the road business. This is what con- 

 fronts all of us whether road officials or not. It is what each one of 

 us can do in our own way. If you have a bad hole in front of your 

 house or gate and cannot get it fixed why go out and fix it yourself. 

 See your supervisors first, consult with them, see if they won't help 

 you, see if they won't permit you to help them out and, rather than 

 wait, after you have gotten power, go out and fix it yourself. There 

 are lots and lots of ways to help in this road proposition. The ladies 

 that go to church Avith their husbands, the children that go to school, 

 the farmers that have to haul their lumber and oats and wheat have to 

 use these roads. When you strike a bad i)lace don't only say it ought 



18--G— 1911 



