84 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



to be expended in the next twenty years, for the greatly increased 

 traffic that is bound to come, a large sum should first be spent in the 

 work of designing and preparation so as to avoid a possible waste 

 of many millions in construction. 



The social value of good roads need not be emphasized. As 

 Prof. John M. Gillette has said, good roads lie at the basis 

 of the social institutions and the associational life of the rural dis- 

 trict. Effective co-operation is impossible without them; school con- 

 solidation, which is so much needed, cannot be achieved if roads are 

 bad. It is stated that in five bad-road states in America, the average 

 attendance of pupils is 59 per 100, as against 78 per 100 in five good- 

 road states. 



Principle of Financing Road Improvements 



Before extensive improvements are made in good roads in Can- 

 ada it is important that a sound financial policy should be adopted. 

 The British practice has been to limit the duration of any loans 

 granted by the Government, or under its advice, according to the 

 actual period during which the improvement is estimated to last. 

 From ten to fifteen years is a proper period during which loans ob- 

 tained for road construction should be re-paid. 



There is danger that Canada may adopt the comfortable theory 

 which prevails in the United States in regard to country roads, namely, 

 that the greater burden of the cost of road improvements should be 

 borne by future generations. 



Mr. Nelson P. Lewis, Engineer of the Board of Estimate and 

 Apportionment of New York City, writes* as follows with regard to 

 the practice in the State of New York : 



"The State of New York, by the vote of its people, has 

 authorized the expenditure of $100,000,000 for the improve- 

 ment of the state highways, and this enormous sum is raised 

 by the issue of fifty-year bonds. While a portion of the work 

 to be done is undoubtedly of a permanent character, such as 

 the widening and straightening of the roads, the improvement 

 of grades and provision for drainage by substantial structure 

 of masonry or steel, a very large proportion of the expenditure 

 is for road surfaces, many of which can scarcely be expected 

 to last for more than ten years. Borrowing money for fifty 

 years to pay for ten-year roads is obviously unwise." 



The only sound principle in financing road improvements is to 

 pay for all construction over the period during which it lasts, and 

 only to borrow money for any longer period, say up to fifty years, 



* The Planning of the Modern City, p. 361. 



