A Benefit All Around.

Tfïa conmion road is to the farmer a part of the machinery of commerce. It bears a inarked mechanical relation to the farm wagon, and to the power by whicli the wildon is moved - the same relation that a steel rail bears to the railway car and to the locomotivo. The wagon and the car are alike in many es8ential points, subject under similar conditiona to the same rules of cause and effect; and when both are used upon the hard steel ruils of the railwaj track they resemble each other in the fcïicient results which they severally attain. Bnt the common road is the track upon which the wagon is designed to roll, and it has the same claim to the respectful consideration and intelligent treatment of itB owner - the public - as are accorded to the railway by its owner - the railway corporation. In the maintenance of the railway track it is found that the two conditions of smoothness and hardncss are Indispensable to tho economical management of business. Tliey save time, power, money. They enable the railway company to carry fjrain from Chicago to New York for twenty cents per hundred pounds, and make a handsome profit by the operation. These two conditions of smoothness and hardness make up the essential difforence bc t een the railway track and the fanner's highway; not that it is urged that the common road can be made to fully rival the railway track in point of efficiency, but as regards the power required to move the inillions of tons of produce which are annually hauled over miles of country roads. It can be so largely diminished by the use of smooth and hard roads that the wif - dom of the railway corporation would be deinonstrated to every farmer by an object lesson in which ho could find both interest and profit. A good road is always good, independent of the weather. Tho average country road is intermittent in its condition; in sympathy with the caprice of sun and storin; a streak of disturbed soil, fringed by weeds and crowded by fences. It absorbs with irksome slowness the forty odd inches of annual rainfall which falls upon its surface, and for weeks at a time is useless for any of the substantial purposes of travel or traflïc. In summer it is flocculent, impalpable, powdery; in winter, soluble, sticky and soft. It is condemned by our own experience and shamed by comparison with the roads of other countries. It is maintained by a system which every enlightened country of Europe has long sinco condemned and discardod as extravagant and tinfit for the purposes of modern civilization. To carry on the business of agriculture these roads in their present condition require the farmers of the state of New York alone to maintain permanently the Bum of 65,000,000 invested in farm horsea, of which at least 80 per cent. could be saved by the use of properly constructed highways. Add to this sum a fair estimate for the saving of help, time, wagons and harness, and tho increased value of farming lands which always follows the construction of good roads, and the conclusión is easily reached that tho cost of improved roads, as shown by the experience of other countriea, would be profitablo for tho people of today and a lasting legacy to future generations. But if good roads are a benefit to the farmer it must not be forgotten that they are also in a great degroe important and valuable to the cities as well. The increased cost of hauling produce over bad roads is added to the ultímate market price, and is paid in the end by the consumer. The certainty of good roads the year round insures the uniformity of supply, enlarges the farming territory which contributes to the home market, and incroases the business of town and country. The' enhanced value of rural property under the influence of better roads tends to equalize assessments and lighten the proportionate share of the cities in the payment of state taxes. The manufacturer and tradesman are directly benefited by the maintenance of good roads, and every citizen who uses these roads. To tho iarmer of New York state they would cost scarcely anything. Indeed, if a balance were to be "struck" between the expense and the income the cost would be loss than nothing. In the state of New York the farmers are peculiarly fortúnate. They pay a comparatively small portion of the state taxes. and in the improvement and maintenance of the principal roads under a general state law the farmers' contribution would be exceedingly light. It has been proposed to raise the sum of $10,000,000 by a state loan, payable in seventeen years and at a low rate of interest, and to devote the entire sum to the improvement of the country roads. This wonld bo sumcient to construct an average of fifty miles of splondid roads in every county of the state, and the entiro yearly assessment upon a farm of the value of $10,000 would be less than 2. Leaving out of tho question the grea advantages which such roa2s wouli give to the farmer in the carrying on o nis business, it will be seen that an in crease of only 1 per cent. in the valué o any farm would amount to more than doublé the entire tax levied upon the farm for the purposes of this improve ment. Tho reason for all this lies in th fact that about 85 per cent. of all this expense would be paid by the cities Thoy will, naturally, in some cases ob ject to this proposition, but the stoel argumente which have been used by the cities to opposo state roads have given way to the views of liberal statesinen ii other countries as they will in this. In France the principal roads, those mode roads from which all the world migh tako pattern, are made and maintaine( by the general government, and from the day of their completion these roads have added to the wealth and thrift and hap piness of the whole nation. Any legislation, then, which tends to improve the country roads is directly in the interest of the farmer, though in a general sense of benefit to the entire state.- Address by Isaac B. Potter.