Good Sense About Good Roads

The tollowlng is taken frnin a paper i r.oail Meking, deMvered at a resnt meeting f the Norrell Farmers' Club, by W. F. Raven, and published n the Manchester Enteiprise i "For the take oï illustrution suppose e batid gravel poada on the nine tada leacUng fi-om Brooklyn for four ïih-s out or 36 miles of road. The ost of eonsfructing aud maintainlng for eiirlit years would be $43,200. liien if we emild doublé our loada in auling srain to tliis elevator we wöuld pay towards the roads in that time, $10,400. Allowing tliis to be ne-fonrtfa of the traffic over those roads, we still lack warly $2,000 of paying for tliem. 'Hiis U:ids me to think that we eannot aïford nny such eystem of road making. AVJiat van we afford in the improvement of roa ? "Wa well knmv tliat ,'it least ono-half OÍ tJie labor that is assessed for highway purpoees is lost by working at the wroniï season of the year, by not Ix"in-K done by various methods wliich we are all familiar with. Tlie system Ave now have is not the vei-y beet one that can lx' dovised, but we are used to it and ire loth to jurive it up. It is onc of our relies that vas bnmtrht from the old country and must le all right, -'doneher now." As long as we persist In cllngïg to tliis relie of barbarism, we wiil ave roads in their present condlion. And beiore we cn make very much nprovement in our roads, we must ïake ;i very decided change in the iwa pertaiuing to the construction nd mafnUiining of them. And riglit here is where we need ïore liiiht and wisdom than those vlio framed our present higliway iw.i. I would suggest the repeal of every ;aw pertaining to the constrtction and niiaiitataining of the liighways and e.iuut suth laxv.s a.s would enable us to take .'i vote of the county to fiml ilf we wished to make gravel, stone or macadtmized roads and how inucli we wiis'hed to expend for tliat purpose. Tlien if the tounty wishcd to make improved roads, to eleet a county road commissiOTO?r the uu as we elect any other county offiter whose dut y wxild be to superintend the constructiom oí at least one main trunk road acroMS tlie county eacli year or to iiiistriKt such ronds as the board of euperviiisors should authorize, to be advert ed and let in whole or in parte to the lowest responsable bid'der. The property within one mile of ttie road to pay 50 cente per acre, and tlhe land more than one mile and less tlxan two miles, 25 cents per acre. This would give $960 per mile to build tüie road. That the maintoiniag oí this road be a county expense, to be assessed and collected the same as any other county tax. I would also fsujigegt that all monies received from licenwoH for the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in tliis county bc placed In the rond fund and this alone would give us over $45,000 eacli yeor with which to build roads." Tlie scntence of tbe venerable engineer ('ount De Leewops, at Paris, Franee, to five years' imprisonment (lor complkity in tbe Panama canal frauda seems sari Indeed. IX' Ix'sseps has been ti prominent man lor many year.s in l'ran.c and iu tilie worlri. To bis aibUlty and energy the world ík indebted for that great teat of modern engtaeering and entorprise, the building of the Kuez canal. Suecessful In that, he umlcrtook a much more difficult feat, the building of a canal aeróos ilie Isthnius of Panama. Probably not íully roalizing: tlie enormous taak until after he had beeome too deeply inX)lved, he barame mixed np Wtth intrigues, and in HKÍh a way, It seeins, that lie comniitted the crime of aceeptinjï money t1it lic craght never to have touciied. Kffiol, tlie fnmous ïi.irineer vflio oonstructed the great Effiel tower in Paris, lias also been sentented to two years imprisonment l'si(k'?i a heavy fino, for romplicity in the same fraude. Great men who commit criincs should not ,be sheltereil from punishment any more tluan the losser men, but it is a ead Uring for the world to see these great mi so dishonored. In tkis instancc it is the belief of many that the real raacal, the man wIlo planned the fraiuls, and larried tlnem into fexecution with the cunning of a serpent, remains untouehed. The Jersey Lily has faded and gone, but ttoe Hawaiian LU is as fresh as a claisy.