S6 STUDY OF ROAD MAINTENANCE 



personally superintend about all the work done. This has fre- 

 quently caused delay in attending to needed repairs, and often 

 entailed needless expense on account of distance traveled, 

 particularly when so few of those elected road agents have 

 been specially fitted for their work. Under these circum- 

 stances, the people have been uneasy and jealous of the ab- 

 sorption of so large a per cent, of the road money by a single 

 individual and frequent changes in the personnel of the office 

 have been the rule. 



An amendment to our present law which would limit the 

 number of highway agents to one, and which would compel 

 this one to appoint an average of not less than one sub-agent 

 for each four miles of road, with other limitations already indi- 

 cated, and with permission to towns to adopt this amendment 

 or not as they chose (it might not be advisable for a few of the 

 larger towns) would do more to popularize the present law 

 than anything else I could suggest, and would restore us in im- 

 proved form that feature of the old law which in the present 

 state of evolution of road construction and repair, is about the 

 only one worth preserving. The recent amendment placing 

 the highway agents under the selectmen seems liable to be of 

 doubtful utility. While it may in some instances prove a 

 needed restraint, is there not danger of unnecessary friction 

 in placing one set of elective officers absolutely over another 

 with whose appointment or discharge they have nothing to do? 

 The selectmen should by law be compelled to thoroughly audit 

 the accounts, including all outstanding accounts, of road agents 

 at least every three months, and not a dollar should be allowed 

 them above what has been voted. In emergencies arising after 

 road money is expended, necessary repairs should be made di- 

 rectly by the selectmen. The great objection to the present law 

 arises from the concentration of so much power and patronage 

 in so few hands, when those elected have so little fitness for the 

 work, and merely use the office to draw as much money as pos- 

 sible into the pockets of their families and themselves. 



No law should define too closely the duties of the sub-agent. 

 He should be under the highway agent and amenable to him. 

 The law should imply a wise, general but inexpensive super- 

 vision by the chief. It might be expected to work in practice 



