FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 239 



•can haul the wood that my men cut earlier in the winter. Besides, I have 

 no doubt I have lost this year an amount equal to several dollars per 

 head on my dairy, because, owing to the general condition of the roads, 

 I have not been able to carry the milk to the condensing factory, where a 

 higher prices is paid than at the cheese factory near my farm." 



A LITTLE FIGURING. 



I thought he had contradicted himself quite plainly on the point of not 

 being able to afford improvement, but I asked him if he had taken the 

 trouble to figure out the matter on a profit and loss basis. "No," said he, 

 *'I haven't thought it worth while." Well, I suggested that we take five 

 minutes to figure together on the question, he to furnish such information 

 as he could on matters of fact and taxation, and he agreed. This man 

 lives in a township of a state in which the plan of road repair is that 

 known as the "personal labor tax" system, the same as that in vogue in 

 Michigan. His township maintains forty miles of roads, not one mile of 

 which is what should properly be called "permanent road." I asked my 

 friend how many days' work he was assessed for roads. "Ten, on the 

 valuation of one farm," said he. "How much of that do you workf^ I 

 asked next. Then there was a period of hesitation, but finallj' he 

 answered, "Well, I think there are only three days to my credit this 

 year." "Did you work yourself?" "Yes, one day I went out, and half 

 that day we spent in Mr. J's barn, waiting for the road scraper. For the 

 other two days I hired a boy at fifty cents per day." 



I have said that this is an honest man, and so he is. The trouble is 

 not with the man, but with the system, which is characterized by an 

 Ex-Secretary of Agriculture as "unsound in principle, unjust in opera- 

 tions, wasteful in practice and unsatisfactory in results." 



But to return to our problem. My friend believed that to secure good 

 roads all the year round, he could well afford to pay his road tax in 

 money at |1 per day, or even more, and he believed most taxpayers would 

 agree with him. There being 3,500 days assessed in the township, a 

 money tax would amount to $3,500. Of this perhaps |400 would suffice 

 to maintain forty miles of "permanent roads," for a good authority (Mr. 

 A. J. Cassatt) states that the cost of maintaining a good macadam road, 

 under the wear of rural traffic, is not over |10 per mile yearly. The 

 remaining $3,100 is, in a sense, therefore wasted, and its capitalized value 

 could well be spent in improving those forty miles of road. At 4 per 

 cent, nearly |78,000 would be provided, a sum large enough to build more 

 than forty miles of first-class macadam road. 



But besides costing money, roads cost thought. Do not misunder- 

 stand me. I do not believe that extensive outlay for improving roads 

 is warranted in all sections. Certainly it would not pay to pave all 

 country roads with brick. I do not believe we can afford broken stone 

 roads in general. But, given the desire, and a determination to make the 

 best of the materials at hand, and much can be done, if the materials are 

 applied by a man who thinks. When the people begin to think they 

 begin to desire good roads. If they continue to think they consider the 

 matter as they do any other economic problem or a business venture; and 

 so on — when thought drops out at any stage of the proceedings we find a 

 mudhole or an assortment of bumps and ruts. 



