82 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
February  6 
The  Ogre  of  Bad  Roads  makes  Mr.  Farmer  pay 
Half  his  Load  !  Fig.  60. 
That  Road-Making  Picture. 
DOES  IT  “1IODD  THE  MIRROR  UP  TO  NATURE?’ 
An  Ohio  Man’s  Remarks. 
That  “  road-making  ”  picture  in  a  late  Rural  need 
not  date  hack  10  years  to  represent  the  way  roads  are 
worked  in  sections  of  Ohio.  It  represents  the  prevail¬ 
ing  style  in  many  road  “  deestricts.”  It  is  hardly  true 
to  life  in  one  respect,  however.  While  those  seven 
men  are  talking,  it  is  not  in  line  with  the  custom  for 
two  others  to  continue  to  work.  One  of  them  is  an 
old  man,  however,  and  may  be  past  the  age  for  keen 
enjoyment  of  gossip.  The  other  is  young,  and  works 
only  because  the  old  man  keeps  on  driving. 
The  Rural  wonders  whether  these  farmers  are 
satisfied  with  their  highways.  We  are  not — some  of 
us — but  what  are  we  going  to  do  about  it  ?  The  road 
work  falls  into  unskilled  or  thriftless  hands  too  often. 
It  is  hard  to  raise  funds,  and  much  harder  to  get  them 
wisely  expended. 
The  writer  once  suggested  in  a  newspaper  that  there 
was  a  need  of  trained  men  for  roadmasters,  and  one 
worthy  very  profanely  answered  :  “  To  Hades  with  a 
man  who  thinks  farmers  do  not  know  enough  to  build 
their  own  roads.”  The  facts  are  that  the  roads  belong 
to  everybody,  and  everybody  fails  to  attend  to  them. 
But  what  is  the  remedy  ?  It  is  easy  enough  to  say 
that  people  should  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  elect 
good  supervisors,  but  the  “  dear  people  ”  do  not  and 
will  not  do  it,  and  the  innocent  suffer  with  the  guilty. 
The  past  two  warm  and  wet  winters  have  made  the 
roads  as  bad  as  they  can  get,  and  large  sections  of  the 
country  are  stuck  in  the  mud. 
If  that  much  condemned  class,  the  middlemen,  did 
not  have  supplies  stored  up  for  winter  consumption, 
the  cities  would  have  to  help  build  the  roads  in  the 
interest  of  reasonable  prices  for  food.  Probably  they 
should  anyway.  Why  should  that  old  man  work  to  build 
a  good  road  for  all  comers,  to  whom  he  must  give  half 
the  track  when  he  has  a -ton  on  his  wagon,  and  the 
other  fellow  has  a  city  livery  rig  and  no  load?  Will 
not  some  one  give  us  a  draft  of  a  law  that  can  secure 
good  road-making  and  an  equalization  of  the  burdens 
therefor?  alva  agee. 
[R.  N.-Y. — As  another  correspondent  remarks  that  a 
group  of  townsmen  trying  to  “  work  out  their  taxes” 
would  be  worse  yet.  The  system  is  wrong — not  the 
workers.  ] 
Improvement  in  New  Jersey  Roads. 
Fig.  15,  “  Roadmaking  from  Life,”  in  a  late  Rural, 
is  a  perfect  illustration  of  the  average  roadmaking 
done  throughout  the  Northern  and  New  England 
States  for  the  past  50  years. 
I  recollect  very  well  that  it  was  only  an  occasional 
“pathmaster”  who  insisted  upon  a  day’s  fair  work 
from  the  men  as  an  equivalent  for  the  allowance  made 
by  the  State  to  each  man,  team  and  boy,  and  when 
such  an  individual  went  into  office  he  was  voted  a  bore 
and  a  hard  taskmaster  by  the  “  boys.”  If  we  had  poor 
roads,  we  had  always  had  them  and  were  therefore 
accustomed  to  them;  being  used  to  them  they  were 
satisfactory  enough  for  all  practical  purposes.  The 
recent  laws  of  New  Jersey  regarding  the  maintenance 
of  public  highways,  although  but  newly  inaugurated, 
have  already  affected  a  gratifying  improvement.  In 
many  sections  of  the  State,  especially  in  those  in 
which  clay  is  a  considerable  constituent  of  the  soil,  the 
roads  during  the  last  four  or  five  years  of  excessive 
rains  in  summer,  not  including  1891,  had  become 
abominable.  This  state  of  things  was  yearly  growing 
worse  until  the  road  beds  were  mere  water-ways  with 
the  former  side  ditches  higher  than  the  highways ; 
1891,  however,  has  seen  a  great  change  for  the  better 
and  more  interest  is  now  evinced  by  the  rural  popula¬ 
tion  in  the  attainment  of  good  roads  than  for  the  past 
15  years.  Roads  are  being  “  formed  up  ”  and  good  side 
ditches  made  to  carry  off  the  rains  and  surface  water, 
while  gravel  and  sand  are  being  carted  on  where  clay 
is  present  until  it  has  become  a  thing  of  pleasure  to 
drive  over  them. 
It  is  the  most  puzzling  thing  in  the  world  to  note 
how  indifferent  to  what  would  benefit  its  own  affairs 
a  community  will  become.  At  a  “primary”  held  in 
the  spring,  with  a  view  to  the  election  of  local  officers, 
the  question  of  roads  came  up.  It  was  well  under¬ 
stood  that  the  main  thoroughfare  running  through 
the  place  had  been  scandalously  neglected  by  the  road 
overseer,  and  many  of  those  present  realized  that  the 
road  was  a  disgrace  to  the  community  and  a  detriment 
to  the  valuation  of  farming  property  through  which  it 
ran  ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  scantiness  of  labor  that 
had  been  bestowed  on  it,  a  tax  payer  present  arose 
and  offered  a  resolution  that  thereafter  eight  instead 
of  ten  hours  should  constitute  a  day’s  work  “on  the 
road.”  This  was  about  to  be  carried,  when  a  young 
farmer  got  up  and  asked  whether  the  maker  of  the 
resolution  was  willing  that  his  hired  help  should  do 
only  eight  hours’  work  for  a  full  day’s  pay. 
“  Well,  no,”  was  the  reply.  “  I  don’t  think  I  am.” 
Farmer  Brown’s  Rainy  Day.  Fig.  61. 
(See  poem  page  94.) 
“Is  there  any  other  farmer  present  who  will  allow 
his  men  eight  hours  for  a  day’s  work  ?  ”  was  the  next 
question.  There  were  several  negative,  but  not  one 
affirmative  answer. 
“  Well  now,”  continued  the  questioner,  “  if  none  of 
you  is  willing  that  your  hired  men  should  call  eight 
hours  a  day’s  work  on  your  own  premises,  why  should 
you  ask  the  public  to  pay  you  a  full  day’s  pay  for  only 
eight  hours’  labor  ?”  As  the  question  was  unanswer¬ 
able  on  any  equitable  basis,  the  resolution  was  with¬ 
drawn. 
We  need  broken  stones  very  much,  but  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  territory  in  New  Jersey  where  stone  can¬ 
not  be  obtained,  except  at  heavy  cost.  The  next  best 
Farmer  Gray’s  Rainy  Day.  Fig.  62. 
(See  poem  page  94.) 
thing  is  gravel  or  very  coarse  sand.  This  unites  well 
with  clay  and  forms  a  very  hard  and  compact  road  bed. 
A  purely  red  shale  soil  of  itself  is  about  the  poorest 
material  for  roadmaking  known.  In  winter  it  is  nearly 
impassable.  A  clay  loam  is  better,  but  if  either  can 
be  well  mixed  with  coarse  gravel  the  result  is  fairly 
good.  If  followed  on  top  with  small,  broken  stones 
well  rolled  in,  there  will  be  little  cause  of  complaint. 
A.  T.  T. 
Mail  Delivery  and  the  Roads. 
In  the  discussion  in  the  pages  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  on 
the  subject  of  free  mail  delivery,  the  word  “free”  is 
inapplicable.  It  should  be  “  governmental-delivery,” 
as  it  is  paid  for  by  money  raised  by  taxation.  The 
question  resolves  itself  into  this  proposition.  Do  you 
want  to  pay  the  additional  cost  of  extending  the  sys¬ 
tem  of  mail  delivery  beyond  the  present  area  into  farm 
territory?  Collectively  we  do  not  escape  the  burden 
of  delivery  by  indirection  in  laying  the  tax;  but  we  do 
imperceptibly  become  reconciled  to  a  burden  if  we 
don’t  appreciate  the  hour  of  its  imposition,  or  if  it 
does  become  unbearable.  The  usefulness  of  the  system 
is  established;  it  will  benefit  a  good  many  farmers  ; 
the  cost  is  all  “  there  is  of  it.”  And  here  I  would  like 
to  say  that  inequality  in  the  imposition  of  taxes  is  an 
abstract  question  requiring  radical  treatment  by 
itself. 
Before  extended  mail  delivery  is  decided  upon,  as  a 
preliminary  step  would  it  not  be  well  to  macadamize 
the  roads.  I  don’t  believe  we  will  get  efficient  service, 
if  mail  matter  must  be  delivered  over  the  “  hubs,”  and 
through  the  mire,  but  if  people  will  begin  to  build 
hard  surface  roads  (say  10  rods  the  first  year  to  start 
with)  we  will  have  the  courage  to  make  an  active  can¬ 
vass  for  the  improvement,  and  we  will  get  it  just  as 
soon  as  we  pave  the  way.  Generous,  refined  systems 
will  not  flourish  within  the  influence  of  adverse  con¬ 
ditions  in  a  bad  environment.  But  if  you  do  improve 
the  road,  the  ease  with  which  you  can  ride  to  town  to 
“see  a  man,”  would  lead  you  to  make  the  journey,  and 
the  necessity  for  a  mail  carrier  would  be  obviated,  as 
you  would  visit  the  post  office.  If  you  don’t  improve 
the  road,  you  certainly  will  be  in  great  need  of  official 
delivery.  The  question  before  the  House  is,  shall  we 
have  the  road  reform  before  the  extension  of  the  mail 
delivery  system?  steve. 
Let  the  Townspeople  Try  It. 
I  wish  I  could  draw  a  companion  picture  to  the  one 
on  page  34,  and  show  how  the  townspeople  would  work 
a  road.  The  story  might  run  like  this  :  1.  A  villager 
has  just  arrived  with  a  broken  buggy,  and  his  nice 
clothes  well  muddied.  He  says : 
“  I  will  make  the  town  pay  smartly  for  these,  as  it 
does  not  keep  its  roads  fit  for  a  goose.” 
2.  The  overseer  of  highways  says  : 
“  Mr.  Villager,  I  am  ordered  to  have  you  assist  in  re¬ 
pairing  the  highway.  You  are  assessed  poll  tax  one 
day.  ” 
3.  The  villager  replies  : 
“Oh,  no  you  don’t.  You  can’t  make  me  work  or 
commute  highway  work,  for  I  won’t  do  it.” 
The  overseer  suggests  that  the  roads  need  the  work, 
etc.  The  villager  replies  that  he  has  been  damaged 
enough  by  driving  over  the  roads  not  fit  for  a  goose  to 
travel,  and  that  he  will  spend  his  time  and  money  to 
make  the  town  pay  for  the  damage  he  has  received.  I 
could  spin  these  pictures  out  ad  infinitum. 
Thirty-one  years  ago  I  came  on  this  place,  a  farm 
in  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  and  put  the  roads  on  it  in  nice 
condition  and  have  kept  them  so  to  this  time.  Some 
of  my  neighbors  called  me  a  fool  and  a  crank,  and  one 
tried  as  far  as  he  could  to  damage  the  road  from  mere 
jealousy  ;  and  a  few  quietly  imitated,  slowly  but  surely, 
my  example.  Now,  after  years  and  years,  this  com¬ 
munity  is  really  and  earnestly  trying  to  make  the 
roads  good  to  the  extent  of  their  ability.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  this  part  of  the  country  generally.  The 
villagers  are  in  these  parts  doing  the  most  to  keep  the 
roads  poor.  In  the  town  of  Catskill  some  crushed- 
stone  road  has  been  made,  and  it  is  nice.  But  oh,  what 
groans  the  villagers  utter  over  the  small  increase 
of  tax  “  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  hay-seed  farmers  who 
don’t  know  a  good  road  from  a  poor  one.”  G.  c.  M. 
Small  Notes  on  Large  Topics. 
Just  previous  to  the  annual  spring  election,  a  few 
years  ago,  the  “opposition”  party— which  has  a  good 
majority  in  our  township — held  a  convention  and 
nominated  a  ticket.  For  road  commissioner  they 
named  a  person  who  could  not  write  his  own  name,  a 
sort  of  a  pompous  ignoramus  who  knew  as  much  about 
road  making  as  a  cow.  Our  convention  was  called  to 
meet  immediately  afterwards.  When  we  learned  whom 
they  had  nominated,  three  of  us  called  five  of  their 
leading  men  aside  and  asked  whether  they  really 
wanted  X  for  road  commissioner.  They  thought  he 
wasn’t  much  good,  but  guessed  he’d  have  to  do.  We 
mentioned  the  name  of  a  really  live,  enterprising  man 
who,  everybody  knew,-,  was  very  much  interested  in 
good  roads,  and  who  knew  how  to  make  them,  and 
asked  if  they  did  not  think  he  would  be  much  better. 
Three  of  them  thought  he  would  Would  they  help 
elect  him  if  we  nominated  him  ?  “  Well,”  said  one,  “  Q 
is  a  good,  energetic  man,  and  would  make  a  good  com¬ 
missioner,  but  our  boys  nominated  X,  and  they  seem 
to  think  that  it  would  be  a  good  joke  to  elect  him,  and 
I  suppose  we’ll  have  to  let  them  have  their  way  this 
time.  We  can’t  promise  you  anything.”  And  X  was 
elected  over  Q  by  a  “  rousing  majority,”  and  it  made 
him  think  he  was  the  biggest  man  in  the  township. 
What  sort  of  horses  did  friend  Ingram  own  ?  (see 
page  36).  They  surely  must  have  been  regular  feed 
mills.  He  says  he  fed  each  one  about  a  peck  of  ear 
corn  in  the  morning,  six  quarts  of  oats  at  noon,  and 
other  materials  at  night,  and  that  they  didn’t  eat  the 
