For Better Roads

From an ardent advocate af better oads throughout the country, we have recently received a review of the good roads legislation of Massachusetts. The movement in tliat state lias from the start been highly aggressive. Colonel Albert A. Pope has been in the van. The spirit of her Legislature has been sbown by making the Highway Commission a permanent one, and by appropriating $300,000 to be expended, under the immediate supervisión of the Comission, in constructing new and rejuilding old roads. As a natural resul t of the popular agitation and the monster petition, presented to Congress in 1893, the United States recognized the necessity of a move in this direction, and under the "Agricultural Bill" made a special appropriation of $10,000 to meet the expense of a careful investigation iuto the coudition of roads throughout the coun;ry, and for the publication of such in'ormation as would assist the people in bettering their highways. The Department of Agriculture has issued a number of bulletins, and it is gratifying to learn that more than a score of States have already passed new road laws, while nearly all the others areplanning for the adoption of measures for the promotion of this reform. The course pursued by Jlassachusetts is the one which commends itself most strongly, both to the people atlarge and to their legal representatives, the various State Legislatures. Starting in June, 1892, a Temporary Commission was appointed to examine into the condition of the roads of the state, and to draft a bilí providing for the improvement of the highways oí the Comnionwealtli. The law suggested by the Commission was, with some changes, passed in .Tune, 1893, but, before any petitions for construction of State highways were submitted to the General Court, an act was introduced and passed Jnne 20, 1894, inereasing the powers of the Commission, and permitting the Selectmen of any town, or the Mayor and Aldermen of any city, as well as County Commissioners,to petitiou the Highway Conimissioner, without further legislation, in building State highways. The $300,000 bas been pretty evenly divided among fourteen counties. Before deciding which of the petitions should be granted an olñcial visit was paid to each locality, and full information as to the value of the proposed improvement collected. AVhile this method bas distributed the work in small sections of roads, thus inereasing the expense per mile, the advantage to the people at large will be greater, for the reason that each portion of the State highway constructed is intended to be an object lesson to those living near by. Couuty Commissioners and other officials will watch the work as it progresses and follow out the same lines in building county and other roads which are not intended for State highways. The plan is to bnild, section by section,such roads as will connect the great centers of trade, and join with through roads all other states, so that both local and interstate communication will be beneflted. The contract for the construction is usually let to municipalities as this is most effectual in teaching the people the art of road building, and protects the State against cheapening the work by the importation of foreigu laborers, an element which is apt to be objectionable. ■Vherever traflïc is of sufficient proportions to warrant it the roads have been broadened. The advantage to owners deriyed from the construction of the way is, as a rule, so much greater than the injury to them by widening the road that, in a large rnajority of cases, the town officials have been able to procure releases without any cost. Thirty-eight sections have been contracted for, and only eight of them are to have a width of eighteen feet of hardened surface, all others being fifteen feet wide. As the primary object is to get length of way, the commissioners are considering the advisability of building single-track roads in the thinly-settled districts. These would not be over nine feet wide, with here and there portions of doublé width as convenient passing points for carriages. A mile and a half of such roads can be built for less than the cost of a mile of fifteen feet width, and the advantage in getting produce to market is not lessened, provided such construction is confiued to localities where the average traffic is from six to eight vehicles an hour. Careful consideration has been given to the plan of planting shade trees along the highways. With this end in view, experts have been consulted concerning the best varieties for the purpose, and the wayside trees have been examined, so as to determine the species well adapted to the climate and soil of Maasachusetts. As the estimated expense of procuring and planting these trees is not less than one-half a million dollars, the commission has rightly made this question secondary to road building, but in the meantinie they are collecting such data as will enable them to work with proflt on the adornment of the roads after the construction is well in hand. The American and English elms have the advantage of fairly rapid growth, with shade high above ground, and the leaves falling from them give but little obstruction to the gutters. They have the disadvantage of being subject to the attacks of insect, so that the cost of protecting them from these pests would be considerable. Maples grow well and are beautiful, though they of ten shade the road too much. It is the custom in parts of Europe to plant the roadsides ■with trees which yield profitable crops. In Franee and Germany, for éxample, cherry trees abound. In these countries the yield of the wayside trees belongs to the neighboring land owners, but in some cases to the community, and their product is well guarded by law. There will be more or less experimenting on the part of the commission before they decide upon the species to be planted. The law provides for the beginning of this work in the spring of 1895, and from that time it will be carried on slowly, so as to give us the benefit of experience. Every state should make a beginning on road improvement. In thinly settled regions of the country, where the people do not feel able to uudertake much, they can do no better than to start the reform by coustructing seclions of singletrack roads. Xo community can aflbrd to neglect the common roadways. Our prosperity is too intimately connected with the facilities for communication.