100 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 



A friend of mine brought over from France five or six samples 

 of the stone they were using on their roads. There is not a com- 

 missioner in the United States who would put any of those stones 

 on any system he was planning for, — not one, and every com- 

 missioner in charge of macadam work in 'New England is discard- 

 ing similar stone in his work as unfit for our climate or the travel 

 of the country. As has b.een said so very well by Governor Guild, 

 we shall have to have a system of splendidly built main highways, 

 permanent in their construction. Just such meetings as this, 

 where we sit down together and discuss the matter, is what will 

 bring this about. It wUl not be done in a moment, and it will 

 not be enough to come to this meeting and sit here and listen 

 to the discussion of this question, unless, as a result of these delib- 

 erations, we go back to our several homes and do aU that within us 

 lies to bring about the solution of this great question. 



Every State in New England has a local pride in itself. We 

 ought to have such pride, and one of the things we congratulate 

 ourselves on is that we are singularly God's chosen people in our 

 several States. We have our own way of doing business, and we 

 do not take kindly to interference. This is as it should be. I do 

 not think much of a man who is not proud of his State, and it is 

 this pride that will solve this problem, and give us a connected 

 system of trunk lines. 



I spoke in Montpelier, the other night, to the legislative com- 

 mittee of the Senate and the House. There was an effort being 

 made by Commissioner Gates to increase his appropriation (the 

 maximum amount paid to any town being $300) to $500, and to 

 increase the annual appropriation from $50,000 to $75,000,^ — 

 an increase of $25,000. Why, Brother Parker will tell you it wiU 

 cost about that to build 3 miles of macadam construction on a road 

 of ordinary conditions. 



Each State must be a law unto itself; but the outcome of a 

 definite plan, such as we have in our thought to-day, of doing 

 something, whether it is little or much, upon some particular 

 trunk line system, will help develop that plan ; and the way to get 

 a splendid system of trunk lines through New England is to go 

 out, as Brother Bachelder has done in his State, and preach high- 

 way reform in season and out of season, and get the people to see 

 the importance of organizing under some definite plan, and putting 

 away for all time the caption of " Eepublican " or " Democratic " 

 on the ticket, and substitute therefor the words, " A business ad- 

 ministration in the construction of our highways." 



