No. 4.] COUNTRY ROADS. 259 



Gentlemen, we have heard from Connecticut, we have 

 heard from Massachusetts pretty thoroughly ; we have not 

 heard from our sister State of Maine. Perhaps Dr. 

 Twitchell may have a word or two to say on this subject. 



Dr. G. M. Twitchell. Mr. Chairman, I received with 

 the programme of these meetings an invitation from the secre- 

 tary of the State Board of Agriculture to come up if possi- 

 ble and enjoy them with the rest, and I at once began to 

 make preparations to come. I did not come to talk. I have 

 a very good friend down in Maine who has lived with me 

 almost twenty-two years, and her advice has never hurt me. 

 About the last thing she said to me was, " Now, don't bore 

 them by talking." If I do, Mr. Chairman, you must take 

 the responsibility. 



I am going to ride nearly all night to-night, because I 

 wanted to be here and hear this question discussed, and I 

 remained this afternoon to enjoy it. It seems to me that in 

 the last half-hour we have been getting down to the heart of 

 things. Mr. Chairman, can I "talk plain?" An old man 

 in our State said to us one day, ' ' I have been having a talk 

 with one of my neighbors, and I guess I talked plain." 

 ' ' What did you say ? " "I talked very plain." ' ' What did 

 you say?" " Well, I told him his women folks will steal." 

 Now, the trouble with us in the State of Maine is, that the 

 very men who would be helped most by better roads are the 

 men who prevent better roads. How? They go into town 

 meetings, and as a unit they stand up and vote down any 

 proposition to make the highway tax a money tax. Do you 

 do that in Massachusetts ? (A voice, — " No.") Then what 

 I was going to say will not apply to you. If you have 

 got away from that you have got away from one of the 

 greatest evils we have to contend with. They insist upon 

 having the right and privilege of working out their highway 

 tax, and we all know what that work so often amounts 

 to. Then comes in the other evil to which the gentleman 

 on my left alluded, and that is, the selection of men as 

 surveyors who are not fitted for the work. Now, I never 

 would hire a minister to go into a blacksmith shop 

 and shoe my horse ; and yet I fancy that here in Massa- 

 chusetts you have been hiring men to take charge of your 



