SOMETHING MUST BE DONE. 281 



Other Reasons for Highway Improvement. 



With the great lines of inland traffic taken up by railways, 

 no less important are the feeders of these, and the supporters of 

 numerous smaller centres of trade, which our highways must 

 ever constitute. Nothing more surely builds up a country town 

 than good roads radiating into a productive farming district. 

 The interest of the buyer and the producer are one in this mat- 

 ter. 



Improved roads to market increase at once the value of farm 

 produce, for larger loads can be carried in less time ; commer- 

 cial fertilizers will cost less, as well as every article that is 

 bought for home use. Hence the value of farming estate is en- 

 hanced, the more remote from market sharing more equally 

 with the nearer, and the proprietors find themselves paid back 

 fourfold for their road taxes. 



A few years since there was a great demand for branch rail- 

 ways, and they were built to some extent, of the same general 

 character as the main lines, and run by the same rolling stock* 

 Of course they have not paid the railway companies, and the 

 towns, or individuals, that helped build them, have not generally 

 received back an equivalent in other profits. All such facilities, 

 as a rule, increase the trade of large centres, and impoverish the 

 smaller ones. The present tendency to great monopolies, and 

 centralizations of trade, do not seem to be promotive of general 

 prosperity, intelligence, happiness, or good morals. 



Now every town of importance demands not a branch, but a 

 through line, and they are obtaining authority to raise five per 

 cent, on their valuation for this purpose. We fear many of these 

 investments will prove sinking funds, without the hope of resur- 

 rection. But something must be done ; there must be approxi- 

 mate equalization of transportation facilities. If these cravings 

 are morbid, they must be satisfied in some way, rather than 

 denied. 



Are we not overlooking the real cause of the difficulty ? 

 Supposing we had such roads as enlightened and practical sci- 

 ence, with a wise and prudent expenditure, might have given 

 us, would not the case be far different ? 



But we are just at the dawn of a new era in railway con- 

 struction and steam road-traffic. On our main lines, even the 

 waste of carrying so much dead weight has for some time been 

 36* 



