PREFACE. 205 



A wide-spread interest was awakened in the subject. Nearly 

 thirty essays were submitted for the inspection of the Committee, 

 some of them by writers residing in other States. These 

 essays differed widely in their character. Some of them were 

 scientific and elaborate; others meagre in extent though often 

 containing suggestive and useful hints. No one appeared to 

 the Committee to embody all that was desirable, or to form in 

 itself a full and comprehensive treatise adapted to the wants 

 of both cities and towns, or large centres of population and 

 sparsely inhabited districts. 



The general principles of road making may be the same, but 

 it is evident that they cannot be applied with equal completeness 

 under all circumstances. A city street, or a road in the neigh- 

 borhood of large and wealthy centres of population is one thing, 

 and a country road, little frequented, is anothei;, A sandy road 

 on Cape Cod, where both clay and gravel are inaccessible, and a 

 rocky mountain road in Western Massachusetts, would require 

 somewhat different treatment. 



Nothing certainly need be said of the importance of good 

 roads. No community can afford to be without them. The 

 wear and tear of vehicles and horse-flesh and muscle on a bad 

 road is enormous ; and it constitutes an indirect tax which 

 probably amounts to very nearly as much as the direct tax upon 

 the people. Strange as it may seem, public sentiment needs to 

 be educated up to a full appreciation and realization of the dif- 

 ference between good and bad roads. Nor can it be questioned 

 that the system of road making, as it has been adopted and ap- 

 plied hitherto in most of our towns, is defective and bungling. 

 True economy would require a more liberal original outlay, if 

 the public comfort and convenience did not, for the item of cost 

 for repairs to follow would be materially and permanently les- 

 sened. Besides, the same power will move a much larger load, 

 and do it with greater ease, with less wear and tear, on a solid, 

 properly-constructed road, than on one of an opposite character. 



