Report of State Highway Engineer. 49 



section rock construction is best, in another gravel and in still others 

 sand-clay or chert. A special feature in some counties is the well- 

 dragged earth road, while in others concrete or masonry in culverts or 

 bridges may be pre-eminent. It is necessary for the highway engineer 

 to study the field and choose the methods, plans and materials adaptable 

 to the locality, and a competent county supervisor, trained in road build- 

 ing, is absolutely necessary if the best results are to be expected. 



Our present laws for the county highway engineer do not go far 

 enough, if they are defective in anything, for instead of merely a county 

 highway engineer we should have a county highivay department— o. 

 highway department (not merely an office) in every respect, put upon a 

 footing and given recognition with other offices and departments, and 

 stop peddling out so important a work as that of supervision of roads 

 and highways. The county court should no more have control of the 

 roads and road work than that of the schools, the county collector, or 

 assessor, or attorney's office. 



A county judge is not elected because he is a dentist, a lawyer, a 

 stone mason, a road builder or a skilled artisan of any particular kind, 

 but because he is a good citizen and has sound judgment upon aifairs 

 in general. The county judges, invariably men of good character and 

 standing in their communities, cannot, as a rule, as individual members 

 of the court, supervise the actual work, draw plans, make estimates and 

 look after this part of the county's business. There should be a county 

 highway department in every county of every state with powers for exe- 

 cution of the actual work, unhampered by courts, boards and commis- 

 sions. The official of this county department should have authority 

 to act upon his own initiative, be free to carry out his own plans and 

 details of his work, and should receive compensation in accordance ^vith 

 the importance of the work and skill required. 



A capable man in such a department will see that the work is done 

 right, protect the county against unscrupulous contractors, open the 

 road drains and prevent the roads from being used for artificial farm 

 drains, cut the hedges, clear obstructions from the right of way, create 

 a wholesome respect for the roads and the road laws, assist in correction 

 of the road records, know how many tools and implements the county 

 owns, know how and where the road money is spent, regulate accounts 

 and avoid excessive bills, be an aid to the overseers and build up a road 

 working and maintenance system and organization. A thousand small 

 details can be attended to — things small in themselves which any man 

 of good sense can do but are otherwise left undone, simply because it is 



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