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Vol. 
I-XXIX. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
3.1'! W. 30th St.. New York. X’rice One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, APIUL 23, 1!)21 
Entered as Seeond-Clnss Matter. .Tunc 2G. 1870. at the Post .. . 
Office at Now York. N. Y., under the Act. of March 3, 1870. No. H »• «•» 
Good Roads in a New York Town 
<Mi pairo 172 A. II. I*uIvor states briefly what one 
rural town is doing to keep itself on the map by con¬ 
structing good roads. <’an Mr. Pulver be persuaded 
to go more into detailsV We want to know what 
woke this town up to an appreciation of the fact 
that without good roads its citizens would be driven 
put of business. We want to know bow it financed 
its road building: how much it spent on plant and 
equipment: what type of road it builds; how much 
it cost per mile for upkeep: who superintends the 
work: how much the tax rate was increased: how 
much the town iias gained from additional taxable 
values; how many automobile trucks have been 
bought since good roads were put in: how much indi¬ 
vidual farmers have cut their production costs due 
to decreased hauling charges, and what effect these 
good roads have hail on the schools and the social 
life of the town. 
A large proportion of our rural New England 
towns are fast returning to the wilderness from 
with tin' longest road mileage, it is making fair 
progress from year to year without murmur from 
the taxpayers, because it is generally accepted that 
the most important business on the town's calendar 
is that of highway construction. Years ago the old 
system of each male of 21 years being called on to 
' work out" his* poll tax was pushed into the limbo. 
The town superintendent of highways is supreme in 
1:1s township after receiving the recommendations of 
the town board in co-operation with the county 
superintendent. 
TYPES OK ItOAIb At present two types of road 
are being built by the town : Stone base with gravel 
face and stone base with crushed stone face: the 
this condition is now being somewhat remedied. 
EQUIPMENT.- -The present, equipment consists of 
crusher planl and bin, two auto dump trucks, steam 
roller, four road scrapers, oil-distrilmting wagon and 
several dump wagons: value about $12,000. 'The 
equipment has been bought a little at a time: some 
of it on installment payments, so that load on the 
taxpayers was distributed. At present it is about 
ail paid for. tine thousand dollars is raised annually 
for the purchase and repair of machinery. The tax 
rate for improvement of the highways this year is 
.UOOTSi. In* addition to the amount raised by the 
town, which is $ls.OOO. there is an additional amount 
of $3. sou received from the State, making a total of 
which they sprang on account of the crushing tax 
they pay for bad roads. Every farmer living on a 
bad road starts bis cost sheet with an absolutely 
unnecessary Charge or tax for hauling on a bad road, 
and this unnecessary charge or tax is precisely what 
is putting large sections of New England off tin- 
map. FRANCIS A. SHINN. 
(’onnectieut. 
A NEW INFLUENCE.—In reply to the query of 
Mr. Shinn, the beginning of good roads of a 
more or less permanent character in Sodus township 
dates from the advent of the automobile. If any One 
thing brought home to the citizenship of the town 
the necessity of a better road system it. was the 
motorized vehicle in auto and truck. The develop¬ 
ment lias been gradual and is yet far from complete, 
but as the largest town in Wayne. County. N. Y.. 
former costs from $l.o(K) to $1 ,S00 per mile, and the 
latter from $2.odd to $3,000. according to haul. The 
upkeep cost, of course, varies much, according to 
tralfie, nature of loads and prevailing weather for 
the Winter and early Spring. Every road is an item 
bv itself. Almost continuous traffic of pleasure cars 
connecting with a resort over an unoiled road soon 
lifted the face. Heavy trucks chopping through a 
read during the present Spring and mild Winter 
would cut up the highway and bring heavier upkeep 
charges than during more rigorous weather, if our 
town lias erred in any of its highway projects it 
would seem that it has been along the line of too 
ambitious expansion, with consequent lack of imme¬ 
diate attention to sick roads afterwards. However. 
$21.S<>d to be used on highway improvement this 
year. Practically one-half will be expended foIHgbu- 
eral re]lairs and one-half for building permanent 
roads. The population of Sodus is slightly over 
fi.oOi i. 
LMPRON INC CONDITIONS.—The writer has tio 
knowledge of New England conditions, but it would 
seem that Mr. Shinn portrays a set of conditions 
which could be entirely reversed if the electorate 
would only adopt a genuine Yankee view of the mat¬ 
ter, for every day that they drag the proposition and 
delay getting into the mood for better roads is one 
more day lost to better opportunities for all having 
their daily contact in a rural environment. In their 
vision the Sodus road boosters are “over the ridge. ’ 
