240 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE COUNTY ROAD LAW. 



Now as to the county road law. I have heard that document 

 denounced on all sides. ''It is a scheme of the cities and towns to get 

 good roads at the expense of the country," says one. "It puts too much 

 power in the hands of a few men," says another. "Too much chance for 

 favoritism," and so on. Are these just criticisms? If the first is, i. e.,. 

 that the cities are to be benefited at the expense of the country, then my 

 thought on the subject has led to entirely wrong conclusions, for I must 

 believe that any county having within its borders a number of consider- 

 able centers of population and wealth, will be making a good use of that 

 wealth in taxing it for road construction. The second objection is more- 

 reasonable, has more foundation in fact. Public office is too often a pri- 

 vate "snap," and as the law now stands there are chances for advancing 

 private selfish interests, of showing favoritism in the location of roads 

 to be improved, of expending money for political ends instead of for the 

 public good. 



An unfortunate circumstance of our law is the prohibition which 

 exists against allowing State aid to any project for road improvement. 

 I believe that my extensive betterment must begin as a State enterprise. 

 That, however, is not likely to occur in the near future. 



What then is to be done in the meantime? How shall we get most 

 useful service from the means at hand? In the first place, last place, 

 and all the time, continue the agitation now well under way, and let 

 hard thought accompany the agitation. Let us hope that our path- 

 masters will think too, if we must have them. But when I meet this 

 point I feel that we were better off without them, better off without the 

 system. "What is everybody's business is nobody's business," applies 

 very forcibly to our present system of road organization. A satisfactory 

 solution seems to lie only in an entirely new system. Even that contem- 

 plated by the county road law is better it would seem. The authority is 

 in the hands of men who are naturally more given to thinking. The 

 great point is to "mix brains with the road material." 



THE BICYCLIST. 



As to the bicyclist, the sooner he is accepted as a happy factor in the 

 problem, as an aid to the construction of good roads, the better it will b«3 

 for all concerned. Any amount of feeling against him will not remove 

 the fact that all he really needs is a path six inches wide along any road- 

 way, and he generally finds that strip however poor the road may be. 

 If then he is willing to join hands with the farmer and the merchant in 

 improving the whole width of the road, he can hardly be accused of 

 unmodified self-interest. 



We believe that the American people have the brains, pluck, persever- 

 ance, skill — all the qualities necessary to the successful carrying out 

 of any great enterprise. We believe them able to do anything ever done 

 before, just a little better than done by any other nation. If there were 

 no other moving incentive than this national pride, it were strange if 

 we did not sometime excel in the matter of roads and road making. In 

 no other direction have we been content to wait so long for action. 



