Of Country Roads

The qucstion of improving the system of the country roads of America is noW being diseussed by legislators, by men ot' 3c:cr:cü, by economista and others having' a practical interest in public means for transportation. Somo states have recently taken action in this matter, and Other3 are considering measures with a. view to securing the quickest and best results. Pennsylvania has a state comiui.ssion at work, inquiring about tho needs of tho state and the best methodsof reform. New Jersey adopted a new road law last year, providing for a uniformiiy in highway building under a. state engineer. In Tennessee the Vanderbilt universitr instructs free of charge one person from eacli county to supervise roads. During tho present sessions of the legislaturo bilis will bo presented in New York. Maryland, Oliio, Virginia and Rhode Island, and it is probable that some aótion will be taken in New Jersey aaf Massacliusetts. A general a'.vaking of interest throughout the country has been brought about largely by tho efforts of the League of American Wheelmen, a national association of cyclists. Last year the league issued a littlo work entitled "Improvementof Hiahwnys," whicli discusses practical methods of making: and repainng roads and gives the draft of a bilí which, with sorue modifications,. inay bü tho basis for new legislation in. the several states of the Union. The reeorumendations for new roads treat principally of some form of macadam, either for tho whole road or for such portions of it as lie in places that cannot bo tlioroughly draincd. The bill which the wheelmeai suggost in order to secure uniformity in the various states is substantially tliis: Section 1 constituios a l.igleway disr trict in each townshipnol under municipal control. Section 2 providi-s ïor au. overseer for each highway district. Sec tions 8, 4 and 5 define tho duties of the overseer, who shall lócate and open al) public roads. and improvo :ïnd repair the same. Sections ( and 7 relato to sign boards. Seotions 8 andi 9 relate to the award of coutracts. Section 15 provides for a tax lovy, and section l(i relates to the inethod of apportioning and lovyiog the same. yoction3 19, 20 and 21 place all toll roau ia bviim,.;, under the caro of tho district overseers, itu power to compel tho owners to repair them and also todose them whenever their condition Í8 not according to tlio cliarter ar laws governing them. In thoistates where the agitation has taken hokl various plans aro under consideratiou. Last year a bilí "was before the Pennsylvania legislaturo providing for a uniforni.road tax of seven.and one-half milis, to be raised in each county and expended luider a county engineer. Not less tlian40 per cent. of this tax must be expended in macadainizing or other other permanent improveinent. According to this bffll each county will be subdivided inito districts under cbarge-of a supervisor. In Rhodo Isüand the League of Wheelmen have prepared a bilí, and Governor Ladd, in hï; last message, recommeuded a uniform, xoad law, whicli "should seek not only to-direct and control the proper constructiou and kecping of roads in tho state, but in.a measure should also control the layiMfj out of roads, with a view to prevent -4leir unnecessary and costly multiplication, and seek to secure a s htematiC' net.ork of highways for intertown oouimunication." ïho citiaens of Hhode Island havo formed a-State Eoads Iuiproveraent association, with"the object of increasinif public knoivledgeand interest concerniug good ronds, aiKl to procure needed changes in.legislation. This association petitioned the legislature to enact appropriate laws at'the session for 1890. Governor Ilill in his.last message referred to ono of the plans under discussion in New York as.follows: It bos beensugLj?stcl thiit tho state should proceed to construct flirouhievery county two highways, rimtiMi' ia different directions and iutersccting each other ia about tho center of the countjr - sucli rtjads to form atpart of a complete gencral'Bystom, these in each county to connect witu those of iuíjc)íuing'counties,.and to bo known e-eryw'here as. state .roads, constructed, cared for and maintain.il at the expense of the stato at large, under tbc diroctíon and supervisión of tho 8tte engineer and survcyor or oOier competeat authority tt bo designated. This system, when once completed, would enable a person to start (rom New York city, Albany or any other point, on fooi or in ciirriage, and visit every county in the state without once learing tho stato roads, thus insuriüg comfort, convenienco, pleasure and speed. These roads should be jmoadamized or constructed of crushed stonoor other suitablo material, withiproperculverts„good bridges, adequate drainage, watering tronéis and sign boards, so as to compare favorablywith the best country roads in other countries: b existing highways could be utilized for this par se sofaras f easible. These state roads would ir. nly prove of great convenience and vast advantage to tho whole community, but they would . serve as "object lcssous' to the local authoritiis..the effect of which woulil necessarily tend to improve the ordinary town highways and prove of inestimable beneflt. It is not believed thot the pooplo of the cities of the state would object tothis improwement, but that, on the contrary, they would bail it with pleusure, as during the summer months they flock to the country in largo numbers and aro deeply interested in all that concerns the material; progrese, development and prosperity of tho rural dislricts. In the carly hlstory of tho state it was the-cnstom to construct important public highways at general expense. The session laws froni 1812to 1831 contain many acts making liberal appropriations for such purposes; but af ter the building of our canals and railroads the practico was disconttnued. Our freo cañáis are maintalned at an expense of over a million dollars annually, and tho state at various periods in its history has flnancially atded the construction of certain railroads. Some interior counties have boen heard to cornplain, possibly not without some reason, that thoso improveuieuta havo not materially bcneflted their particular localities, but the plan bere outlined would to some extent lighten tho burdens to which thcy are now subjected, or at least tend to equalizo them. I Another measure originating in New York is a bilí sent to congress by the editor of The Rhinebeck Gazette. This is a national aflfair and provides for tho improvement of country roads in the United States, at a cost of $100,000,000. The League of Wheelmen announce their intention of working up national. legislation af ter securin appropriate action )óa the part of the etates.