THE NEW TRANSPORTATION. 131 



sands upon thousands of miles of new roads made without 

 money, surveys or engineering skill. The blazed path of 

 the pioneer was followed by the wagon or cart of the trades- 

 man, and as settlements were formed and the communities 

 organized these rude roads were turned over to the tender 

 mercies of the road supervisor and the pathmaster, who were 

 not infrequently men of executive capacity and public spirit, 

 but with equal frequency they were just the opposite, and in 

 any event the means for permanently improving the highways 

 under their charge were practically never supplied them. Citi- 

 zens were allowed to work out their road tax, which meant 

 rather more often than otherwise the squandering of time 

 in the fulfilment of the letter of the law while absolutely evad- 

 ing its spirit, the consequence being that while the equivalent 



of thousands of dollars were spent upon the highways of 



*. 



the country they were not permanently improved, many grades 

 were next to prohibitive, while the low-lying places were often 

 impassable. 



Thus it came about that the railroads were encouraged to 

 the neglect both of the waterways and the highways. A rail- 

 way world was evolved, and companies were formed for the 

 promotion of great projects. Federal aid was solicited, the 

 public treasury was pledged to the extent of millions of dol- 

 lars, and fertile acres and areas of imperial extent and po- 

 tential value were given outright to the ambitious men who 

 proposed to build railways. That the accomplishment of these 

 schemes has been a potent and compelling factor in the 

 dazzling development of the vast regions through which they 

 have passed there can be no doubt. Whether the promoters 

 have profited unduly by the lavish beneficence with which 

 the public servants of a past generation handed over public 



