80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



done, not alone that the dust may be swept from the roads, but 

 to jjrevent, wlien wet weather comes, the accumulation of mud, 

 which softens the road underneath, and finally tends to make 

 holes. 



I found such roads as these all over Switzerland. You, Mr. 

 Chairman, can bear me witness, and Mr. Flint also (and there 

 are others here who have been abroad), that the roads through 

 Belgium, through France, most of Germany, and through 

 Baden especially — which are referred to in the prize essay, 

 which I hope most of you have read — are as smooth as this floor, 

 and smoother than any sidewalk in this country. I say that 

 thing is possible in tliis country. I believe that is possible with 

 a free and independent democracy, which is possible with the 

 democracy of Switzerland. 



I have no doubt that many of you gentlemen are incredulous ; 

 you think me an enthusiast, but I speak of what I have seen, 

 and I have no doubt that the county of Berkshire, which has 

 not the difficulties to surmount that Switzerland has, might, by 

 the judicious expenditure of the same amount of money which 

 is squandered now, have as fine roads in twenty years as 

 any country on earth. It is this waste which we want to stop ; 

 it is this ignorance which we want to enlighten. This is not a 

 matter of dollars and cents ; it is a matter of intelligence, it is 

 a matter of science. The money will come fast enough if we 

 only have the intelligence to use it, but that is what we have 

 not got, under the present system. 



Allusion has been made to Provincetown, in my own section 

 of the State. Let me say to my friend, Mr. Hyde, that those 

 roads have been greatly improved since he was there, and I say 

 that Provincetown is entitled to more credit for what she has 

 done for her roads than the town of Newton is. She devoted 

 the whole of the surplus revenue which belonged to her, to the 

 laying of sidewalks in the town. She imported the soil from 

 the main land, if I may so call it, and to-day the main road 

 through the village of Provincetown is as good as tiiat of any 

 town in this county. And as to the highways in Barnstable 

 County, let me tell you there are few better highways in the 

 State than that from Sandwich to Barnstable, and from Barn- 

 stable to Yarmouth. We can make good roads even there if we 

 try. The only trouble is where there happens to be a mile or 



