LAY THE ROADS OUT WIDER. 71 



certain width ;" which in those times was 60 feet with him, and 

 yet a good many of us have not got up to 60 feet yet. 



Tiie fact is, tliis matter needs no argument upon my part. 

 Every man familiar with the city of Boston to-day iinows what 

 an immense amount of money they have spent in widening 

 their streets. Take Hanover Street, for instance, and many 

 other streets, and see at what an immense cost it has been done. 

 Why ? Simply because, a great many years ago, somebody 

 persisted in laying out a narrow street, believing that if it was 

 wide enough for that generation, it would be wide enough for 

 all time. How strange it is ! I want to enlarge upon this 

 matter of the width of streets, because it is one of great impor- 

 tance, and it seems to me people take a very narrow view of it. 

 A little street was laid out in a certain town, running diago- 

 nally (which certain'y is a bad way), and I was opposed to it, 

 but that did not make any difference. Among other objections 

 which 1 urged was this. I said it was contrary to our plan for 

 the towii ; but they said, " Well, this will answer our purpose 

 for a good many years to come." " So it will," I said, " but 

 not a hundred years hence, or five hundred, or a thousand 

 years hence." They laughed at me, and I don't know but they 

 had a right to laugh, but it does not strike me so. When we 

 are laying out streets, we should remember that we are laying 

 out those streets for all time to come. Take the city of Boston, 

 or Springfield, or Worcester, or any other city. Their streets 

 are laid out and they will remain streets as long as the world 

 stands or those cities exist. You say, " We can widen them 

 when it becomes necessary," and so we can. Go to Newton 

 Corner, where I could buy land a few years ago for $50 an acre, 

 which is worth to-day from 33 cents to •$ 1 a foot, and when it 

 becomes a city, and is more closely crowded than now, the land 

 will be worth $o, $o, or |10 a foot. You can widen the streets 

 .then, it is true, but it would only be at an enormous expense, 

 whereas you could have laid out streets of ample width for 

 comparatively nothing a few years ago. As a general thing, 

 where streets are laid out, those who want them laid out are 

 willing to give the land, because they do not consider it of great 

 value, although they are not generally willing to give it wide 

 enough ; but it can be had at a small price. 



I say, then, in closing, let us have wider streets to begin with. 



