218 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
July 
MANAGEMENT OF ROADS. 
[The common system of managing the repairs of 
roads, is by each individual giving a certain number of 
days' work on the highway, to balance a certain num¬ 
ber of dollars assessed against him—giving to each per¬ 
son taxed the offer of commutation at a given rate. 
The work is generally conducted by supervisors, sur¬ 
veyors, or overseers, who are annually chosen by the 
different towns or townships. It is thought by many 
that this is not the best mode of supporting the repairs 
of roads, and a different one has been in some instances 
adopted, in lieu of it. Instead of personal service being 
rendered, the tax is paid in money, which is expended 
under the direction of agents chosen for the purpose. 
So far as this system has been tried, we believe it is 
generally acknowledged to be far better than the old cus¬ 
tom. Mr. Gillespie, in his work on “Road Mak¬ 
ing,” which we noticed last month, has an interesting 
chapter on this subject. He points out, in the first 
place, the defects of the present system, and then pro¬ 
ceeds to lay down a plan which appears to possess 
many advantages. We recommend a portion of his re¬ 
marks, which are herewith given, to the careful atten¬ 
tion of all interested in the support of public roads.— 
Eds.] 
In the first place, the condition of the roads, which is 
so important an element of the wealth and comfort of 
the whole community, should not be allowed to remain 
at the mercy of the indolence, or false economy, of 
the various small townships through which the roads 
pass. In one town, its public spirit, wealth, and pride, 
may induce it to make a good road; in the adjoining 
town, a short-sighted policy, looking only to private in¬ 
terest in its narrowest sense, may have led the inhabi¬ 
tants to work upon the roads barely enough to put them 
into such a condition as will allow a wagon to be slowly 
drawn over them. 
In the next place, the “commissioners” who have 
the primitive direction of the improvements and repairs, 
should be liberally compensated for the time and atten¬ 
tion which they give to the work. Gratuitous services 
are seldom efficient; at best they are temporary and 
local, and dependent on the whims, continued residence, 
and life of the party; and if the compensation be insuf¬ 
ficient, the same evils exist, though in a less degree. 
Skill, labor, and time, cannot be obtained and secured 
without being adequately paid for. 
The third defect in the system is the annual election 
of the commissioners and overseers. When men of 
suitable ability, knowledge, and experience have been 
once obtained, they should be permanently continued in 
office. On the present system of annual rotation, as 
soon as the overseer has learned something in his year's 
apprenticeship, his experience is lost, and another takes 
his place, and begins in his turn to take lessons in re¬ 
pairing roads at the expense of their condition. In 
other occupations, an apprenticeship of some years is 
thought necessary before a person is considered as quali¬ 
fied to practice with his own capital; while a road over¬ 
seer, the moment that he is chosen, is thought fit to 
direct a work requiring much science, at the expense 
of the town’s capital of time, labor, and money. 
In the fourth place, the fundamental principle of the 
road-tax is a false one. Its contemporary custom of 
requiring rents to be paid in kind, has long since been 
found to be less easy and equitable than money rents. 
Just so is work paid for by the piece preferable in every 
respect to compulsory labor by the day. Men are now 
taken from their peculiar occupations, in which they are 
skilful, and transferred to one of which they know 
nothing. A good plowman does not think himself neces¬ 
sarily competent to forge the coulter of his plow, or to 
put together its woodwork. He knows that it is truer 
economy for him to pay a mechanic for his services. 
But the laws assume him to be a skiiful road-maker— 
a more difficult art than plow-making—and compel 
him to act as one; though his clumsiness in repairing 
his plow would injure only himself, while his road- 
blunders are injurious to the whole community. Skill 
in any art is only to be acquired by practical and suc¬ 
cessful experience, aided by the instructions of those 
who already possess it. An artisan cannot be extem¬ 
porized. 
Fifthly, labor by the day is always less profitable than 
that done by the piece, in which each man’s skill and 
industry receive proportionate rewards. Working on 
the roads is generally made a half holiday by those who 
assemble at the summons of the overseer. Few of the 
men or horses do half a day’s work, the remainder of 
their time being lost in idleness, and perhaps half of 
even the actual working time being wasted by its mis¬ 
direction. 
Lastly, it follows from the preceding, that the com¬ 
mutation system operates very unfairly and severely 
upon those who commute; for they pay the price of a 
full day’s work, and their tax is therefore doubled. 
Such are the principal defects of the present system 
of managing the labor expended on town roads. But it 
is much easier to discover and to expose, than to re¬ 
move them. In the following plan the writer has en¬ 
deavored to combine the most valuable features of the 
various European systems, and to adapt them to our 
peculiar institutions. 
In each state, a general legislative act should es¬ 
tablish all the details of construction, and determine 
definitely “ What a road ought to be,” in accordance 
with the theory and practice of the best engineers. 
Surveys should be made of all the leading roads, and 
plans and profiles of them prepared, so that it might 
be at once seen in what way their lines could be most 
efficiently and cheaply improved. 
The personal labor and commutation system should 
be entirely abolished. If the town-meeting would vote 
a tax in money of half the amount now levied in days’ 
work, its expenditure under the supervision to be pre¬ 
sently described, would produce a result superior to the 
present one. When a road is a great thoroughfare, ex¬ 
tending far beyond the town, it would be unjust to levy 
upon it all the expense; and a county tax, or in ex¬ 
treme cases, a state appropriation, should supply what 
might be necessary. 
In regulating the expenditure of the money raised, 
the fundamental principle, dictated by the truest and 
most far-sighted economy, should be to sacrifice a por¬ 
tion of the resources of the road to ensure the good em¬ 
ployment of the remainder. The justice of this principle 
needs no argument; its best mode of application is the 
only difficulty. The first step should be to place the 
repairs of the roads under the charge of a professional 
road-maker, of science and experience. On his skill 
will depend the condition of the roads, more than on 
local circumstances or expenditures. His qualifications 
should be tested by a competent board of examiners, if 
he should not have received special instructions in the 
requisite knowledge, such as might well form a peculiar 
