162 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



willingness to serve for less than $2,000, without satisfactory ex- 

 planation, should be considered sufficient evidence of incapacity. 

 Fitness should be the sole test of eligibility. Such things as his 

 place of residence, his skill in organizing primaries, his views on the 

 tariff, predestination, or infant baptism, should never be consid- 

 ered. When once appointed, he should be given full charge of all 

 the county's roads and bridges, and no bills should be paid or con- 

 tracts awarded until approved by him. His term of office should 

 expire when his work shows bad results, and not before. Of this 

 the appointing power should be the sole and final judge. This 

 brings us to the most important question. 



The appointment should be shielded from political influence 

 with jealous care. If the State has an Engineer of Roads and 

 Bridges the appointment should of course be made by him. If not, 

 an appointment made by a board composed of the Chancellor and 

 Circuit Judge might result as favorably as any. 



If any considerable number of farmers in a county become 

 enthusiastic on the good roads question, they can aid in effecting 

 such of the above reforms as have not been brought about in their 

 locality. The farmer who is enthusiastic about roads may, by 

 spreading the enthusiasm among his neighbors, materially aid in 

 overcoming such difficulties as these. 



The farms of the United States comprise less than one-fourth 

 of the total property of the country, yet that small fraction has 

 until recently paid the whole cost of building roads. The injustice 

 of this system, which was inherited from the old countries, but 

 which was abolished there many generations ago, is not yet fully 

 appreciated by the farmers of this country and one great difficulty 

 now experienced in road improvement is in getting the farmers' 

 consent to have this injustice wiped out and in inducing them to 

 accept the aid which many cities and towns are willing and anxious 

 to give to the general improvement of the highways. 



The co-operation of cities and towns with the farmers in good 

 road building has been in some cases freely volunteered, but it is 

 much more effective when regulated by State law. The yearbook 

 for 1895 discusses under the head of Co-operative Road Construction, 

 the various methods of contributive action. Since the date of that 

 writing the progress of New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Con- 

 necticut, and Rhode Island in this direction has been constant and 

 satisfactory, and the same general principle of State aid given to 

 localities which volunteer to contribute on their own part is being 

 strongly advocated in many other States. It is probably the only 

 method in which the aid of cities and towns can be generally and 

 practically applied. The effort of the Office of Road Inquiry has, 

 therefore, been constantly directed to this end and in most of the 

 States which are generally aroused to the need of road improvement 

 legislation for State aid is very actively urged. Several States are 

 proposing amendments to their constitutions in order that this legis- 

 lation may be accomplished. 



