150 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. DoC. 



disgrace, and I have no doubt that the same thing is true about other 

 counties. They are full of bad places. The small bridges are get- 

 ting in such a state that they are positively dangerous, and 

 these roads, instead of getting better, or even staying the same, are 

 getting worse, and there is nothing being done to make them better. 

 In the State of Pennsylvania today there are three hundred and 

 ninety-seven "state routes" as they are called, going from point to 

 point — from Philadelphia to Scranton, Wilkes-Barre to Stroudsburg, 

 for instance, and these were built for the benefit of the people, and 

 for the benefit of the farmers as well as the others. When you travel 

 on them you are in misery. You go bumping round, and it will soon 

 be so that no one will want to travel on them. The control of these 

 roads is vested entirely in the State Highway Department, together 

 with the Legislature, and the municipalities are prevented from hav- 

 ing anything to do with them. At every session of Court there come 

 complaints that this road or that is almost impassable. And here 

 is the disgraceful condition of the Auditor General of the State and 

 the State Highw^ay Commissioner quarreling as to who shall have 

 tlie spending of the money that should be turned over to the proper 

 authorities for its proper purpose of repairing and maintaining the 

 State highways. And all the time the roads are getting worse. There 

 is a writ now before the Courts of Dauphin county, to show reason 

 why a mandamus should not be granted and the Auditor General be 

 compelled to order this money paid over to the State Highway Com- 

 missioner. If it is granted, the State Treasurer will appeal to the 

 Supreme Court, and that has adjourned for the summer. If there 

 is no other remedy, the Governor should call a special meeting of 

 the Legislature to make proper provision for the State highways. 

 These three hundred and ninety-seven State routes are crying for the 

 necessary repairs which cannot be made. Why, it will be economical 

 to call a special meeting of the State Legislature to appropriate 

 money to repair these roads. It would save money. I say again, 

 this is necessary. They made these laws, and put this burden upon 

 the people, and they should be made to fix these roads. The laws 

 should be so enforced that if the State Highway Commissioner does 

 not keep them in repair, he may be brought into the Court of Quar- 

 ter Session, the same as any one else. It is a disgrace to the State 

 to allow matters to go on as they are. 



That is one of the things I want to talk to you about. Here is 

 the other one. T don't know what you farmers consider the greatest 

 crop. There might be a diversity of opinions on that; in Lancaster 

 county, they would probably say, tobacco; in Monroe county, buck- 

 wheat, and I want to say that there is no county in the United 

 States where they raise as good buckwheat and make as good sausage 

 as they do in Monroe county. If you don't believe it, come over here 

 and get a breakfast of buckwheat cakes and sausage some fine win- 

 ter morning. In another place, they might say rye, and in another, 

 apples; but I want to tell you people right here that the best crop 

 that Pennsylvania raises is boys. 



I want to tell you that tlie roll of great names has inscribed upon 

 it the names of boys who came from the country. It is the farm, and 

 the family of the farmer, that makes the United States what it is to- 

 day. I don't give the credit to the pure air, or the quietness and 



