Rural Economy in New England 315 



their appearance until about fifty years later. They were still 

 objects of curiosity at the time of the War of 1812.^ 



The Building of Turnpike Roads. 



Dissatisfaction with the existing condition of the highways, and 

 with the administrative system outlined above, led in the years 

 1790-1810 to the building of turnpike roads by individuals incor- 

 porated into associations by state charters. The old roads needed 

 repairing; new roads were needed in the newly settled communities 

 in western Connecticut and Massachusetts. The older towns, with 

 the antipathy to paying taxes which had become traditional, were 

 unwilling to burden themselves with the expense of putting the 

 roads into good condition; the new towns were unable.^ Hence they 

 readily adopted the turnpike scheme as a means of getting better 

 roads without resorting to taxation. In reality they were but re- 

 viving a medieval practice in public finance, substituting a fee for 

 a tax. That is, they restored the principle of laying the burden of 

 an expense which was or should have been incurred for the benefit 

 of the whole community, upon those particular individuals in the 

 community who benefited most by it. The states turned over 

 to the new companies certain stretches of the highways to be im- 

 proved and, to reimburse them for this expense, granted them the 

 privilege for a term of years of collecting tolls from live stock, vehicles 

 and pedestrians at toll-gates. The charters did not specify with 

 any great exactness what sort of a road should be constructed, but 

 were very specific as to the number and location of the toll-gates 

 and the tolls that should be charged. 



It seemed to be a splendid scheme from all points of view. The 

 community would get improved roads at the expense of trifling 

 fees paid by the users, and when after a term of years the gates 

 had been abolished the roads would still be there, and presumably 

 the community would then find itself able to maintain them. The 

 incorporators would, in the meanwhile, have invested their capital 

 profitably. So attractive did this plan seem that within a few years 

 after the first companies were chartered, agitation for turnpike build- 



' See Felt, Joseph. History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton (Mass.) Cam- 

 bridge, 1834. p. 32. Miss Larned tells of the introduction of these novel vehicles 

 in Windham, Conn., m 1809. See also Wood, S. G. Taverns and Turnpikes 

 of Blanford. Published by the author. 1908. pp. 259-261. 



2 See Miller, Edward, and Wells, Frederic P. History of Ryegate, Vermont. 

 St. Johnsbury (Vermont). 1913. p. 148. 



