Road Improvements

The importante of the wheol as a factor tu civilized lite has been well epitomized in the foilowing extract: "Do you knuiv ihat the -svheel te the coTin.'d inri Iirifc Between larlnris-m eind eivilizntion, poverty and wealih: that by it the tyorld moves, and upon !t a'.i great vofk ifep'eiuüq ? Do you ik.no w tliai the horst' whicli fctaggers wii'h 500 pouade upon his baok, trots off eaéijy with 2,000 poimds loaded on ivhiri.s ? Do you knort' that if you were chjained 'to 500 pounds of iron in the l'orm of a cube you would dio 5f bread ivas but imií'-cíkíiUi of a Jïiile Otl ?- that iai a cask you would roll ÍÍ, 000 pounds around ttoe eartli ? Do you lcnow that, every time you Btep you lift your weigüt (say 100 pounds) one ánch, ivliich, addd up, makes a lot at the ond of a day '.'-that on a bicycle you can go farther, faster and casier in the same time ? Take the wlieel trom the locomotivo, one-half of the worWB industry would die. Remove it irom the car, carriage and factory, ojid the wealth of the world ivvould nine-tenths. You would Sieai of no Goulds, no Astors, no Vanderbilts. Wall street would go liown a tradition to future generatious." Like many other important facte, the abo've is very "vveill known and is very imperfectly roalized. But the 'wheel without proper surf ace to roll nipon i badly discounted. The railï-oad only attains its speed by liaving a emooth, steel bed to roll over. On a lesa perfect surface the speed of the slowest train would be unendurable for the passeogers. The locomotiYe, that seems instinct with sellcomstrained lile, becomesthe most helplege of orga.nisms when its wheels leave the rails or when (snow accumuates little by little on the track. The road question is now one of the 'great issues of the day. Of all tiviiized countries, the United States have taken cognizance of the need for better roaos; the roads of a district üave boen made a subject for indicttnent by a grand jury. Ia daily pepere we read of a mud bloekade, when farmers were confinad to their houses becausc the roads were dmipassable. The produce was locked up, anoney became scarce, the local merchante sufferd in their business, so that the local financia] crisis was the effect of bad roads. We read that a farmer in PennBylvania, last bpring-, while using a eix-horse team U liaul a single load of h;iy, had one of his horses fall intOie foad, and the norse was drowned before lie could be gob out. The question, "How are tlie roads," so frequently put in country places, tells ;i wh'Ole story of the dependence of farmers on roads for their prosperity, comfort, and even for eocial recreation and endightenment. Without practicable transit, there can be no supiport íor family gatherings, lectures, Br lyceums, and tlie very schooling of the chiJdren of the country dopends on the same thing- good roads. OecasionaJly it is found that people in a given district rise to the imiporta-nce of subject. In New Jersey, a group of adjoining counties havo positively trajisformed the face of the country by constructing jaany miles of macadamized or telfordized roads. In Kentueky, in parts of New York, n the euburbs of Boston and other places the same maveme-nt has progressed. In Parke county, Ind., a road enthusiast, out of his own privute purse, built one nidle of good road. At this time the country in question was Baid to contato the muddiest road in the fetate. But the object lesson of the mile of roadbed had its effect, and tiow the same country is celebrated for its foa ds. Without goküg into etatistics as to the number of horses owned by the farmers of tui country, it is plain that a condition of affairs which exacte the labor of two horses to do wliat tihoold be the work of one is Öisastrous in the business sense. Good toads are the best possible investment or a Btate that cares for the pros)erity of its grèateet producing class. They are of the utmost importance to failroads. Good roads would easily doublé the width of the belt or .zone tf supply of railroad linea, and would maintain such supply winter and eumtner. They would avoid the troubleBcme g.lut of freight when the mud öried up, and the want of business when the trost, loaving the ground, "produces ioupassable roads. All this tsecnis clear enough, but it is hard to impresa upon those moet early coocerned. How far state or federal aid Miould be devoted to the tend of eecurlng good roads is a queatiion for political economists. It seems flear tliat, without Bome such aid, the end will never be reaohed. In Europe the state is the road mal;cr. Tlie Ki-oat carts of Fremch fai-mer with broad tires roll smoothly over splenlid ïflford eurfaoes, a tandem team drawing immense weights without pa.iiiful effort. A parallel picture is tiresentcd in otlier countries, Kngland and Italy among the rest. The work of road knprovement is ning hirthered by Oanstant agitation, )y Ipublication of inanuals on the subject and by au excollently edited monthly magazine. All tilia work will feventually have its eöect. It has been ïoumd that roads can be laid under ithe liond system without overburdening the tax payers, and it seems probable that, fifty years from now, the people will contémplate with amazement the comdition oí things that permitted B. whole región of farming indiwtry to be paralyzed by a "mud blockade." - Scientific American. Eastor Goods now on exhibition and 'sale at JIrs. Pond's State st. store. The public is invited to cali and see them.