[ I'Jl ] 
greater, than between oiir state of civUization and 
refinement, and their condition of rudeness and 
barbarity. 
Taking into consideration the newness of our 
country, and the infancy of many of its settle¬ 
ments, the people of the United States have not 
been inattentive to the making of roads, and the 
building of bridges. Generally speaking, the pro¬ 
gressive improvement in these things has been as 
rapid as the increase of our population, agriculture 
and commerce. Perhaps no country in the world, 
under similar circumstances, has done more in so 
short a period of time. But as it belongs peculiarly 
to each individual state to encourage and patronize 
its own domestic works of utility and convenience, 
every state may be considered in relation to matters 
of this kind as a distinct country and people Ac¬ 
cordingly a great diversity of condition will be per-; 
ceived in the different states. Some have made 
greater progress in one species of improvement-— 
some in another :-^Some are furnished with ex¬ 
cellent turnpike roads-^—some have opened exten¬ 
sive canals, some have built magnificent bridges, 
whilst others have scarcely turned their attention 
to these subjects. To estimate the various ex¬ 
ertions of the individual states^—to shew what 
each may have done in these beneficial undertak¬ 
ings, and thus to furnish the means of instituting a 
comparative inquiry between them, would be both 
interesting and useful. It would excite a rival 
