INSPECTORS OF ROADS. 61 



three agents in each town to make the repairs of roads, one to 

 have the entire charge of repairs on the main roads, for instance, 

 and the other two to have control of needed repairs on cross 

 roads, all the roads being divided, perhaps, for convenience, 

 into first and second class. 



The three, four or five inspectors so appointed should be re- 

 quired to pass over the main roads in company with the agents, 

 and point out to them in detail the manner in which the roads 

 should be repaired. To save time and money, the inspector for 

 each town might have the supervision of the cross roads in his 

 own town, and the same direction over the agents having 

 charge of those roads which the board of inspectors had over 

 the agent having charge of the main roads. After the repairs 

 are made, it should be the duty of the inspectors to pass over 

 the roads and see that the work has been properly done, with 

 the power of acceptance or rejection, according to circum- 

 stances. These inspectors might be chosen by the towns or ap- 

 pointed by the selectmen, and in case an agent proved himself 

 to be incompetent, the inspectors should be required to report 

 him to the selectmen, who should be empowered to discharge 

 him and appoint a temporary agent in his place. 



These are a few of the simple changes that might be made 

 to secure greater efficiency, the labor tax or the comm\itation 

 system being entirely abolished in either case. They are at 

 best only half-way measures and liable to some of the objections 

 of the present system, such as local prejudices and interests, 

 and political pulling and hauling in the election or choice of 

 the officers suggested, by which the best interests of the public 

 might in some cases be sacrificed to party intrigues. 



It is proper, however, to state that one of these proposed 

 methods has stood the test of a practical application in tlie town 

 of Waltham, ten miles from Boston. That town, with fifty-one 

 miles of roadway, has had a superintendent of roads for the 

 last dozen years, and the cost for repair of roads and side- 

 walks on the average for the seven years previous to 1865, was 

 13,357, and for the last five years $7,000, and few towns in that 

 neighborhood had roads and sidewalks so uniformly good. A 

 committee of the town of Brookline, sent to investigate the 

 plan and its results with reference to its application in that 

 town, reported that the rate of cost or expenditure is less than 



