FARMERS' Institutes. 39 



GOOD EOADS. 



Wednesday Evening. 



It was expected that Hon. W. H. Wallace, of Bay Port, would act 

 as chairman of this session, but he was unable to be present and 

 Hon. A. M. Brown, Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, was 

 requested to act in his place. 



Music for this session was furnished by the M. A. C. orchestra, 

 which gave several selections previous to the opening of the exer- 

 cises, and by the M. A. C. Glee Club and Choir, which furnished songs 

 during the evening. The recitation by A. J. Anderson, of the College, 

 was well rendered and received an encore. 



In his introductory remarks. Secretary BroWn referred to the im- 

 portance of greater attention being paid to the construction of perma- 

 nent highways, and referred to the military roads of the old Eomans, 

 which, after 2,000 years are in many cases in excellent repair. He then 

 called for the first topic upon the evening program. 



MICHIGAN HIGHWAYS AND HOW TO IMPROVE THEM. 



BY HON. A. E. PALMER, KALKASKA. 



From the earliest settlement of this State, the common wagon roads 

 have been of greater importance to its people than any other form of 

 internal improvement. They were of absolute necessity to the early 

 pioneer and are of equal value to the twentieth century farmer. No 

 substitute lias ever been found nor will the use of them ever be less. 

 A net work of railroads has been built to answer the demands of 

 transportation and commerce, electric roads are being pushed to the 

 rery boundaries of the State, to satisfy the call for rapid and cheaper 

 travel, but all these later improvements only intensify the necessity 

 for more permanent and better highways. The development of Michi- 

 gan from the unbroken wilderness to a most prosperous agricultural 

 and manufacturing State has been very rapid — all within the memory 

 of many men still living, — but the conditions of our roads are not on 

 a par with farm development, in fact under present methods they never 

 «an be. 



W^e are well aware that there are many localities in the State, 

 where under the inspiration of a high grade of enterprising citizen- 



