S8 STUDY OF ROAD MAINTENANCE 



any one town, who are competent to expend our road money, is 

 quite limited, though, with all our faults, we make a better 

 showing in economy than the cities. Some who are competent 

 will not bother with the business. With all these drawbacks, 

 it is not strange that numerous false moves are made. 



The lack of sub-agents to properly present the needs of each 

 small district, together with the meager records in our town 

 reports of work done, leads many honest citizens living in 

 neglected districts, or in those where the necessary amount of 

 work is small, to conclude that very little work has been done 

 anywhere. As a result, combinations are frequently made to 

 elect men to represent new sections the following year. In 

 this way many come to think that they have been specially 

 elected to put their own districts in order, which they im- 

 mediately proceed to do, looking after their own personal 

 interests while they have the opportunity. Of course such a 

 spirit is detrimental to the interests of a town. The appoint- 

 ment of sub-agents would remove much of this trouble. 

 Moreover, great gain would result from the concentration of 

 public opinion upon some broad-minded man of good judg- 

 ment in selecting assistants ; having the ability to work through 

 these agents, while holding them to a strict accountability ; a 

 person to whom this work would be incidental, and not the 

 main source of livelihood ; preferably one who had no team 

 that he desired employed a large portion of the time. 



