HIGHWAY LAWS — THE OLD AND THE NEW 85 



road construction and maintenance. The ideal system, then, 

 is out of the question. Evidently, therefore, we should seek 

 the aid of that man in town who hest understands the problems 

 involved ; who is practical in carrying out his ideas, and who 

 is willing to devote some of his time to the public without ex- 

 pecting to make a business for himself out of it. 



How best can such a man be found? Some say by appoint- 

 ment of selectmen ; others by election. I will not pretend to 

 answer this question. In the long run, I would quite as soon 

 trust the people as the wisdom of a board, though not always 

 by any means. In any case, after appointment, he should 

 have the selection of sub-agents ; should have the power to 

 remove them for cause, and preferably, should be allowed to 

 arrange the several districts under the limitations of the law 

 which should require the appointment of such sub-agents with 

 jurisdiction covering not more than four miles of road each. 

 Monthly statements by each sub- agent of all work done should 

 be required, payment for same being conditioned upon the 

 presentation of such reports within a specified time. All large 

 repairs, including necessary running of road machine, extensive 

 repairs to bridges and culverts, gravelling sections of road, 

 grading hills, etc., should be done only under direct supervi- 

 sion of road agent or by his special order. 



The great advantage claimed for this system is that a partial 

 application of it has worked well in practice. In short, the 

 salvation of the old law was the small district in which the sur- 

 veyor had a personal interest and pride, and which in many 

 instances impelled him and those working with him to work 

 with extra fidelity, and in many cases extra time to get the 

 roads into suitable condition. Lack of supervision, however, 

 and power to concentrate a portion of the funds in special dis- 

 tricts, prevented all extensive improvements under the old law. 

 Under the new, there is nothing to hinder the appointment of 

 sub-agents, but practically this has been largely prevented ; 

 (1) by the election of three highway agents in each town. 

 With only one third the money to expend, most agents have 

 been unwilling to divide the money further by sharing with 

 sub-agents this expenditure. (2) Even when one agent has 

 been given a whole town, he has usually felt it his duty to 



