No. 4.] COUNTRY ROADS. 251 



for this man and the other for road commissioner, and 

 oftentimes they peddle a good deal of hard cider to get them. 

 I believe the man who is to have charge of the roads should 

 be educated for his work as well as a high-school teacher 

 should know his work. I think it would be a long time 

 before we would elect a high-school teacher by popular 

 election. There may be between two cities or towns a poor 

 town, too poor to build and maintain proper roads ; and in 

 such cases T believe it would be better for both of those 

 cities or towns and for the intervening territory if the roads 

 could be put under the charge of the county. We could 

 then have good roads, such as the poor towns between cannot 

 aiford to build. Perhaps the time has not come for that 

 yet ; but, if it has not come, I believe it is on the way or 

 will shortly be on the way. 



Question. How long do you think Mr. Pierce's road 

 would stand the traffic between Quincy and Boston ? 



Mr. Mann. I do not know just what the travel is in 

 Bridgeport, but I know that there are three hundred tons of 

 freight carried over the streets every day. 



Question. In what kind of teams is it carried? 



Mr. Mann. It is carried in heavy carts with narrow 

 wheels, probably, as eveiy man does and should not do. 



Question. Will they weigh six tons? 



Mr. Mann. I could not say as to that ; but Mr. Pierce 

 told me that Barnum moved some of his paraphernalia that 

 weighed something like twenty tons over one of those four- 

 inch roads, and it stood up. 



Mr. . I have heard a good deal about Mr. Pierce's 



four-inch macadam road, and I would like to get some facts 

 about it. I do not believe such a road would be adapted to 

 the requirements of a road between Quincy and Boston, for 

 instance, where the loads will vary from ten to forty tons. 



Mr. Mann. There may be some places where the loads 

 are so heavy that nothing will stand them but granite pave- 

 ment. 



Mr. . This Telford road does stand it. 



Mr. Mann. It did not stand it in Bridgeport. 



Mr. . I can assure you that there is a Telford road 



in Quincy that was built four years ago, and it stands. 



