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PUBLICATIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 Highway Construction 
 
 IN 
 
 NEW JERSEY, U. S. A. 
 
 BY 
 
 James Owen, Civil Engineer, 
 
 MONTCLAIR, ESSEX COUNTY, 
 
 N. J. 
 
 SALEM, MASS.: 
 
 SALEM OBSERVER HOOK AND JOB PRINT. 
 1893. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Probably no one question enters more intimately into 
 the daily life of civilized humanity than that of roads ; by 
 the term roads I speak .(generally, be they good, bad or in- 
 different, and as a highway is an essential element in civi- 
 lization, so their condition represents the environment of 
 the inhabitant influenced by its proximity. The daily life, 
 the food, the habits, and health are all governing influences 
 on mankind in general, and each of these influences is 
 affected for good or bad by the excellency or inferiority of 
 the roadway which each individual of any community has 
 to use, should use, or can't use. 
 
 It may be therefore stated as an axiom that the higher 
 the civilization the better the roads ; while exceptions to 
 this may occasionally be noted, they are 5^0 rare, as to little 
 affect the general principle. 
 
 The people of the United States primarily have accepted 
 and fulfilled one obligation of their citizenship and that 
 is the opening of means of communication between the 
 settlements made and each individual of the community 
 whether far or near, the proper maintenance of such com- 
 munications has not been considered of much paramount 
 importance, or rather of such importance as to warrant 
 more expenditure than the most niggardly requirements 
 might demand. The result is tliat roads that have been in 
 existence one hundred and two hundred years and roads of 
 more recent creation, are practically in the same condition 
 to-day as they were at their initiation, if anything, worse. 
 
 The problem that faces the inhabitants of this country 
 to-day is the betterment and improvement of these high- 
 
4 
 
 ways, not in a hap-hazard, spasmodic way, but with a sys- 
 tem based on the knowledge of what to do and how to do 
 it, based on a conception of the immensity of the task im- 
 posed and the enormous outlay involved, and with a reso- 
 lution of giving the people a dollar's worth of road for a 
 dollar invested. In fact, to do the work properly and 
 economically with a due regard both for the present outlay 
 in construction and the future expenditure in repairs. 
 
 It has been my lot to have been engaged in the concep- 
 tion, growth and fulfilment of a system of roads in New 
 Jersey, and while I may point with considerable satisfac- 
 tion at the result of my labors, and at the same time say 
 to all who wish to examine them, there they are, look at 
 them, they speak for themselves, yet I do not wish to ar- 
 rogate to myself anything more than trying to do my best 
 in that branch of surveying it was my fortune to experi- 
 ence. Faults were made. Experience had to be had and I 
 trust that the faults and experiences will deter and guide 
 others who follow from the same sins of omission and com- 
 mission. 
 
 At the time that I individually became interested in the 
 road movement in the State of New Jersey, which was 
 about the year 1868, the condition of the roads at that 
 time in the State was simply a parody on means of commu- 
 nication. What is known as the traditional Jersey Red 
 Mud, dry in summer, muddy in fall and spring, and 
 impassable in winter, existed around the northern part of 
 that State almost universally ; and while there was an 
 under current in existence at that time, and had existed 
 for a number of years, of a feeling toward the betterment 
 of these roads, it failed for any outward or positive expres- 
 sion. By a curious analogy, if it may be so called, the 
 movement sprang up to counteract a movement for entirely 
 another object. The construction of the Central Park in 
 New York City, and Prospect Park in Brooklyn, led a few 
 of the enthusiastic admirers of such work to seek for 
 
legislation for the construction of a park in the city of 
 Newark (Newark being only 9 miles away from the city 
 of New York and practically a component part thereof). 
 The sober business men of the city thinking that a park 
 was a luxury, deeming good roads a necessity, put their 
 heads together and had a law passed, which was practically 
 the pioneer law of this section, and we might say of the 
 country, authorizing the appointment of a commission for 
 the construction of certain roads in the county, and which 
 was known as the Essex Public Road Board Law. By the 
 passage of this law it would seem that there would be a 
 clear field for some progress, but public sentiment was not 
 then ripe for any such general movement ; protests were 
 heard on all sides, the county authorities upon whom 
 devolved the power to issue money sat down completely on 
 the subject, and meetings were held in all the different 
 towns and cities of the county to protest against the move- 
 ment, and in deference to what was seemingly then an 
 overwhelming sentiment, the commissioners confined them- 
 selves in the first year to formulating a general plan of 
 improvement which they hoped might be carried out in the 
 future. The next year, the pros and cons in the meantime 
 having been well discussed, a promising report of the pro- 
 posed improve.-nents having been laid before the community, 
 there seemed to be then a change of sentiment prevailing 
 more in the community in favor of something being done. 
 The original law of 1868 was amended, its defects liaving 
 been pointed out by contests in courts, and instead of 
 general powers being granted the commission for locating 
 and building roads wherever they in their wisdom, or 
 caprice as some say, might build them, the legislature 
 passed an act defining six main thoroughfares leading from 
 the city of Newark in all directions, as the limit and scope 
 of the work of the com nission. The l-iw being fairly 
 settled and crystallized, public excitement having been 
 allaj'ed and sound second thought then prevailing, the 
 
commissioners feeling that tliey had a backing behind them 
 went to work and constructed the system of roads as out- 
 lined by the law, and as shown on the map I have here 
 before me. By looking at that map it will be seen that all 
 parts of the cjunty would be fairly well accommodated by 
 tiie proposed route-5, and as tiie result has shown they were 
 well accommodated. It must be understood though at this 
 time, tliat the question of hard roads had not then entered 
 into consideration. The powers of the Essex Road Board 
 at that time limited them to opening, widening, straighten- 
 ing, and then constructing them merely as dirt roads ; this 
 was at any rate a vast improvement on the existing roads, 
 as they were mostly narrow, mostly crooked, and with no 
 established grade and very little drainage. Subsequently 
 legislation was had, and powers were given to the Board 
 to pave with the Telford process. I wish here to note that 
 point particularly, as at that time the question of macadam- 
 izing (and I mean hy macadamizing, making a thin pave- 
 ment) was not raised, and no thought was given to it. So, 
 after a considerable number of miles of avenues had been 
 graded and power obtained to Telfordize, the commissioners 
 started to pave these roads, and as years passed on these 
 roads were paved, and the whole system with one or two 
 exceptions as outlined on the map, were completed and 
 built. The reaction in trade, and the depreciation of prop- 
 erty in the period between 1875 and 1880, well nigh 
 absolutely stopped the work, put a damper on the enthusi- 
 asm of real estate owners and progressive men generally, 
 and slow progress was made during that period. After 
 1880 a counter reaction having set in, tiie work was 
 resumed more vigorously, and by 1885, the whole system 
 was practically completed. I presume it would be in order 
 here to allude to and describe the mode of construction of 
 this work, though it can hardly be considered as the general 
 course for future adoption by all communities proposing to 
 avail themselves of good roads, as the work contemplated 
 
not only main arteries of communication, but provided for 
 the development of the property along those lines of 
 communication ; combining, you may say profit on land, as 
 well as the profit by better travelling ; yet it may be inter- 
 esting to know what was done for that purpose. The 
 width of these roads varied between 80 and 100 feet. It 
 may be said liere that none of them are called roads, but 
 all avenues, and they were in the strict sense of the word, 
 avenues. The grades were established under the idea that 
 they were to be arteries of travel ; the local consideration 
 of ground and fitness for building were made secondary, 
 and ease of communication and travel primary. This 
 necessitated of course a much larger amount of work, and 
 more expenditure of money than would be wise or proper 
 in the ordinary improvement of public highways through- 
 out the country. 
 
 So the grading on that basis having been completed, thus 
 forming a nucleus for future improvement, the Telford- 
 izing was proceeded with. It was seen at the onset, and a 
 law was so framed that as the county itself paid the larger 
 proportion of this work, and as the travel on almost every 
 road is mostly in the centre, that if the county provided a 
 certain width in the centre, that would be all that would 
 be required for the ordinary travelling public ; if at any 
 time the residents or communities should require the full 
 width of the pavement, power was given for it to be done, 
 but the owners of the property themselves were to pay for 
 it. On starting the pavement in question the problem of 
 widths having been decided as twenty feet by law, the 
 other question of thickness being mainly engineering, re- 
 ceived consideration. As previous to 1868, my experience 
 on road work had been confined to what may be called 
 extra priced work for extra excellence in results, it was 
 hardly considered wise to start on an extra and improper, 
 if it may be called, allowance or expenditure of money ; 
 how far to get down, and what limit to arrive at in this thing, 
 
8 
 
 was at this time an unknown problem. The Jersey Red 
 soil, known for its treachery, the difficulty of handling and 
 constructing the work, the lack of experience in similar 
 work of the kind through similar soil, made the decision 
 one of a great deal of moment. However, after due thought, 
 it was decided to build the main avenues of the county 
 twelve inches thick on the Telford plan, eight inches of 
 foundation, and four inches of broken stone. The result of 
 this work shows that the plan then outlined and followed 
 proved to be successful ; in no case in the many miles of 
 county roads built under my supervision have I had to 
 take up and relay any part or portion thereof. Their con- 
 dition is uniformly good. Subsequent experience and 
 investigation, and more thorough study of locality and 
 peculiarities of soil, have shown that even this thickness 
 may be advantageously lessened, and to-day I am in no 
 case, except under very peculiar circumstances, building 
 roads of a greater thickness than eight inches on the 
 Telford plan ; and I winh to lay before this meeting very 
 emphatically that my idea of a standard road for all ordinary 
 highway practice and purposes in this country, should be 
 an eight-inch Telford pavement consisting of five inches of 
 foundation, large stone, and three inches of broken stone on 
 top ; a departure from this in either direction should be 
 resented if possible. In very few cases, except thickly 
 settled communities, is there any necessity for an extra 
 thickness. In other cases after due consideration, both of 
 the topography, and the geological formation of the country 
 through which the road passes, a thinner thickness might 
 be considered advisable and economical ; but to that lessen- 
 ing of thickness I would put a veto at six inches. It may 
 be considered that probably I am a little narrow in my 
 ideas of this work, and perhaps I am, but I can stand before 
 any community and say to them "if you build your roads 
 between six inches and eight inches in thickness, you can 
 have good roads at all times and under all circumstances 
 
 I 
 
with the least amount of money for maintenance and re- 
 pairs." I allude to this point more particularly here, as 
 throughout the country to-day there is waging a war, as 
 the war was waged in England fifty years ago, between the 
 advocates of the thick pavement known as Telford, and 
 of the thin pavement known as Macadam. 
 
 In reading a paper a few months back before the Societies 
 of Civil Engineers, I brought up this question of thin or thick 
 pavement, and the words I said then and I would say here, 
 as they are words that I still adhere to and may be well 
 quoted now. I said: "The statement might as well be 
 made here, that the writer (that is myself) is unqualifiedly 
 in favor of thick pavements with a foundation, and opposed 
 to thin pavements of broken stone. His early experience 
 having been entirely with Telford pavement, he might be 
 accused of prejudice, but since the controversy on the 
 question has arisen, lie has built miles of thin pavement, 
 and the result of his experience in such work is, he will sin 
 no more. As has been stated, varying climatic conditions 
 enter into the question, which render nugatory previous 
 experience in foreign countries, and the road construction 
 in the United States will have to be undertaken from expe- 
 rience derived from its climate and soil, and their peculiar 
 requirements and exigencies. It is proper to concede at 
 once, that in districts where the soil is gravelly or sandy, 
 thin Macadam roads may be used with success and econ- 
 omy. The area of gravel or sandy formation in tiie whole 
 country, however, necesisarily limited, and a practice that is 
 a success with such a soil, would 1)6 at least open to criticism 
 in the bottomless mud of the Oiiio Valley. All that section 
 of the United States south of an isothermal line (if one could 
 be constructed) with the limit of frost entering the ground 
 to a depth of eight inches, might be considered a fair field 
 for thin pavements, subject, of course, in such localities, to 
 the possibility and necessity of good drainage, as well as a 
 systematic comparison of the cost of said drainage as 
 
lO 
 
 against the increased cost of the insertion of the pavement. 
 In all mountainous countries, necessitating grades of over 
 four per cent., thin pavements can be judiciously used ; 
 but as in such districts the pre valance of stone immediately 
 at hand, would probably offset such a requirement, it would 
 be more economical to build a thick road with a foundation 
 of local stones than to haul broken stone from a distance." 
 If the experience of other States is any guide to what the 
 State of Massachusetts will undergo, the same problem will 
 arise before you, and in discussing that problem, we have 
 to consider as a potent factor, public sentiment, and ideas 
 of the communities through which these j'oads pass, and in 
 all probability by whom the bills for their construction will 
 have to be paid. The public idea of expenditure of money 
 varies so greatly in different communities, that it will be a 
 matter of immense work and industry to educate them all 
 to a common and proper standard. People in cities are 
 educated to the expenditure of public moneys to a degree 
 that might be not improperly called wasteful ; the people 
 of a farming community are educated on the other hand to 
 a standard of expenditure which might be called parsimo- 
 nious, the result of both is a waste of money, if carried out 
 to its extremity. The waste of money on pavements in 
 cities is notorious, and I do not know that the cities of 
 Massachusetts can be considered exempt from such a prac- 
 tice ; yet, with the existing ideas as I said of the expendi- 
 ture of moneys in cities, extravagance will naturally arise. 
 To harmonize these convicting ideas will and should be 
 the object of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agri- 
 culture, under whose auspices this meeting is held. 
 
 If roads are constructed on the basis that I have sug- 
 gested, with uniform standard and work, it will give you 
 all that you want, but you will be met by the inhabitants of 
 the larger towns and cities crying for something wider and 
 better for their particular and specific purposes, and you 
 will be met by the farming community, asking for an ex- 
 
1 1 
 
 penditiire of the money in such a way that it may go as far 
 as it will at once, leaving the problem of future mainten- 
 ance and the raising of the money for such future mainten- 
 ance, to the future. I have in mind to-day two counties in 
 New Jersey in vvhicli the practise is so diverse, and so op- 
 posite, that it would be interesting to notice it. Both have 
 recently started on a system of improvement of their coun- 
 try roads, both acting under the same law, and yet the 
 practise is so diversely opposite, that it can hardly be real- 
 ized that a distance of twelve miles separates them, instead 
 of a hundred and fifty or two hundred that might be allow- 
 able for the lack of the spread of the information necessary. 
 One county (and I would say here I am not interested in 
 either of the two, so that I cau criticise fairly) — one county 
 started the practise of building thick, solid foundation roads 
 throughout its length and width ; the roads are excellent, 
 the results of their improvements are also excellent, but 
 when these roads were once done, the thought of repairs 
 never entered their heads, and the consequence is, while 
 they were originally good, if no action is taken in the near 
 future, they will be remarkably bad. The other county 
 started out with a system of thin roads, abnormally so, I 
 call it, presumed to be four inches thick, but in many cases 
 less; the result of that has been that they have been able 
 to extend their road im^jrovements to the extreme limits of 
 the county. The frost of winter broke it up and blew it up, 
 and a system of repairs had to be initiated almost before 
 the completion of the original work. Accepting the mat- 
 ter as inevitable, they started on that system of repairs, and 
 keep it up, and the county authorities accept it as a fact 
 and pay the money, although in the end the amount of the 
 annual expenditures for repairs will be vastly in excess of 
 what it would be for good, solid construction at first ; but 
 they have got their roads, and you will find in your State 
 the same arguments, and same influences brought to work. 
 In ray own county, in the local townships that are improv- 
 
12 
 
 ing their roads under their annual appropriations, the same 
 influence is at work ; and to ray mind, it is to be regretted, 
 and one of the road problems that will confront engineers, 
 and perplex them to a great degree, is the crystallization of 
 practise in road construction, to enable every community 
 to obtain the most economical results. Taking the stand I 
 have in road construction, I now resolutely deny myself 
 the privilege of supervising any work that I think will not 
 bring good result in the future, and in doing so, I feel that 
 while it may be some sacrifice at present, it will be of ad- 
 vantage to me in the future, and I know it will be to those 
 who follow my advice. It might be expected that the 
 purely engineering part of the construction of roads may 
 not be interesting to this meeting, yet it occurs to me that 
 it will not be out of place for me, as an engineer, to allude 
 to the attending engineering problems and practices that I 
 have met and followed in tiie construction of the highways, 
 and avenues in New Jersey. 
 
 I will take these engineering problems of road improve- 
 ment as they naturally occur. 
 
 To commence with, as to grade, it may be asserted that 
 no road should ever be built on a level grade ; and, in ray- 
 experience, no grade should ever be less than six inches 
 in one hundred feet, as raucii raore as you can possibly 
 get, up to twelve inches in one hundred feet, which is 
 probabl}' the most suitable grade for highways, and gives 
 a free and proper flow to the surface-water from and oif 
 the road itself. Wherever water stands in a roadway of 
 any kind (except, of course, city pavement), it has a ten- 
 denc}'- to disintegiate the material of which it is made, 
 making it solt and easily influenced by the travel upon it. 
 The result is either ruts or holes, both an abomination to 
 travellers ; but the ruts are worse. The hole is probably 
 occasional, but the rut stays along with you, and when- 
 ever a rut is started, each ensuing traveller makes it his 
 business to run in it, enlarge and keep it up, as a friend 
 
13 
 
 not to be parted with. By a proper grade, then, to your 
 road, you eliminate one source of trouble, namely, stand- 
 ing water. The extreme steepness of roads is, of course, 
 dependent upon its location. A grade of four feet in one 
 hundred is the limit of good, easy travelling, and anything 
 steeper than ten feet in one hundred should not be allowed, 
 and that grade should only be permitted in exceptional 
 circumstances. The custom of having grades of thirteen 
 to fifteen feet in one hundred in mountain roads, is a bad 
 one, and is due to the haste the originators had to get 
 there, wherever it was, and a few extra miles in the length 
 of many mountain roads would have saved many thousands 
 of dollars in horseflesh, and obviated many impressive re- 
 marks by the travellers struggling up and stumbling down ; 
 and it would be in order here to suggest that in the pro- 
 posed improvement in the roads of your State, this one 
 point be taken into consideration, and the very bad grades 
 be eliminated even at a present extra outlay of money. 
 But in all establishments of grade, make the standard lim- 
 its between one and four feet in one hundred, and you 
 will always have satisfactory results. 
 
 Incident to the grade of the road is the shape of its un- 
 finished surface, known generally under the name of its 
 crowning or rounding. Good judgment and experience 
 are more required on this one point than in any other 
 question of road-building. If the road is too Hat, the 
 water will not run off properly, and ruts are formed. If 
 there is too much crowning, the travel all concentrates in 
 the centre, and ruts are occasioned in that way. If these 
 ruts are on a steep grade, the water follows them instead 
 of running to the sides of the road, and tears out the ma- 
 terial. Another point should be remembered, that a road 
 should be constructed with an inch to a half-inch more 
 crown than is permanently designed for it, as the bulk 
 of all travel is in the centre, and this would settle the 
 centre more quickly than the sides. The writer's exper- 
 
14 
 
 ience is that a crown of twelve inches in a thirty-foot roacU 
 settling to ten inches soon after completion, is about 
 the desideratum. An extra allowance of two inches 
 should, however, be given to grades steeper than five feet 
 in one hundred feet to shed water more quickly, and on 
 all steep grades, breaks or thank-you-marms should be 
 put in about four hundred feet apart, to make the shed 
 doubly sure. 
 
 On the matter of proper drainage, I would lay especial 
 stress. Of course, I do not suggest in the construction of 
 these proposed State roads that an elaborate system of 
 underdrainage should be undertaken, but I do insist that 
 under certain circumstances and certain conditions, money 
 spent in properly removing accumulating waters is money 
 saved. 
 
 In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is cheaper to 
 dig or ditch, to drain a hole, or pocket or swamp, than it 
 is to fill the place up, yet to my knowledge, money, time, 
 and energy have been wasted in filling with stones and 
 boulders wet and low places in roads, with still unsatis- 
 factory results, when if one-tenth of time and energy had 
 been consumed in draining these same places, permanent 
 success might have been insured. In one particular case, 
 I remember, on a road that had been travelled for over 
 one hundred years, and during that period, stones and 
 boulders had been dumped to keep teams and loads from 
 getting mired, on my proposition of lowering the grade of 
 the road and removing these stones, I was solemnly as- 
 sured of the folly of such a proceeding and undoing a 
 century's work. The result, however, proved the con- 
 trary, as a good road has existed ever since the new grade 
 was made. 
 
 What 1 would suggest, however, in the general drain- 
 age is that with proper grades, care should be taken to 
 shed the water thoroughl}^ at the low points, and if the 
 grades are long, also at proper intermediate points. Where 
 
quicksand is struck, or soft, boggy ground, special provis- 
 ion must be made to avoid permanent and unceasing re- 
 pairs. Quicksands can always be permanently treated by 
 proper drainage, but bogs and swamps of large area can- 
 not usually be so handled. The use of brush and similar 
 material is best to make usually a permanent road. 
 
 Incidental to the crowning and grades is the proper sur- 
 facing of earth for the reception of the road material. 
 Under all circumstances and at all times should the sur- 
 face of the ground be similar to the finished surface of the 
 roadway, with proper shoulders to hold the material in 
 shape. No dumping the broken stone haphazardly on 
 the existing uneven surface and then spreading it to make 
 the top uniform. This never will, never has made a good 
 roadway, and it is an essential element for successful re- 
 sults in road-making to dig out to the depth necessary, to 
 trim off with a proper crown, and then put on your stone. 
 
 The next problem for consideration is the material to 
 be used for the finished surface, and without taking into 
 consideration the various materials used and suggested 
 for roads, there is only one fit to be used for good peima- 
 nent results, and that is trap-rock. There is plenty of it 
 in Massachusetts, and the only problem is to get it to the 
 place where it is wanted. 
 
 With regard to thickness, I may state of later years I 
 have been varying the thickness of roads according to the 
 grades, making for them 8 to 10 inches thick for grades 
 flatter than 1 foot in 100 ; 8 inches for grades between 1 
 and 4 in 100, and 6 inches for grades steeper than 4 feet 
 in 100. This practice I have found gives uniforml}^ good 
 results. 
 
 The material for foundations may be of any durable 
 stone ; even water-worn sandstone is not objectionable, 
 but if round they should be broken into parts, as such 
 round stones are apt to work to the surface. In my 
 early construction of roads I was very strenuous about 
 
i6 
 
 having trap-rock foundations, and even now mostly use 
 that material for that purpose, as it is as handy as any 
 other in the region in which I am constructing roads, but 
 in sections of the State remote from trap-rock quarries I 
 do not think it economy to haul the foundation-stone so 
 far. 
 
 Under all circumstances the foundation-stone should be 
 laid by hand, closely together, firmly wedged, with 
 smaller stone on top, and this whole mass thoroughly 
 sledged to a uniform surface. 
 
 And just at this point I want to lay special stress on the 
 importance of sledging, wedging any foundation that is 
 put in, for in m}'' observation, in the ordinary practice of 
 repairing country roads, it has been customary to use a 
 great deal of field stone to help out these soft places, and 
 with proper handling of the material used in such places, 
 a fairly successful road might have been made. The re- 
 sult, however, was, after the layer of earth that had been 
 put on had been washed or worn off, the road was very 
 uneven and very much rutted, and somewhat of a torture 
 to travel on. The cause of this was due to the fact that 
 whereas, in wedging and sledging the foundation, you are 
 enabled to distribute the load of a heavy wagon travel- 
 ing over it, under the old way the concentrated weight 
 came on individual stones, which sank and yielded an in- 
 secure or yielding bottom. 
 
 The thickness of foundation should not be less than 5 
 inches and as thick as the run of the material will per- 
 mit. I built a mile of road with the foundation-stone 
 taken out of an old fence. It was found cheaper to put 
 them on the road as they were than to break them, and 
 the result was the foundation averaged about ten inches 
 thick. I must strongly allude, however, to the danger of 
 using perishable stone in the foundation. Better have 
 none at all than material liable to decay. 
 
 Having laid and constructed a good foundation for the 
 
road, it is then reacl}^ for the top-course, which should be, 
 except oa very special occasions, of trap-rock. Before 
 putting- in the broken stone, it is better to spread a thin 
 layer of loam or clay, just sufficient to fill the spaces of 
 stone and make an even surface. Care should be taken 
 not to have too much, as it does no good and harms the 
 road. This packing, as it is called, is put there to pre- 
 vent the bottom stones from coming up and mixing with 
 the top-course, which they are almost sure to do without 
 its interposition. The usual size for the broken stone is 
 from one and a half to two inches in diameter, for on this 
 part of the work depends the future smoothness of the 
 road, and only men specially adapted to this kind of work 
 should be allowed to do it. In my experience few men 
 have or get the proper knack of spreading. 
 
 After the stone has been put on to the proper thickness 
 and evenly spread, it should then be rolled, and here 
 comes in again another point of discussion. Years ago it 
 was considered imperative in the construction of a good 
 road to have a steam roller. Experience, however, 
 showed that a road could be constructed as well without 
 it, and the trouble caused by the breaking of culverts, 
 scaring horses and deterring travel generally within a 
 mile of the steam roller led, first, to its condemnation by 
 the community, and finally to its abandonment. No 
 steam roller is used to my knowledge on any of the roads 
 in Essex County, and I am glad of it. 
 
 A roller weighing about two tons, easily moved by two 
 horses, is all that is necessary, costing, say -$150 to '$175, 
 which should be purchased and owned by any community 
 who are road-building. 
 
 The rolling of the top-stone should be sufficient to bring 
 the stones down to a fairly uniform surface ; another thin 
 coating of loam is put on, and this is then repeatedly 
 rolled, and the usual practice is on top of this to put on a 
 coat of broken stone screenings, which is then rolled, and 
 then travel is allowed to come on. 
 
i8 
 
 I wish to say at this i^oint, that while the top coating- 
 of screenings is very desirable, where great economy is de- 
 sirable, I think it can be dispensed with, for if it is possi- 
 ble to repair roads by covering them with a coating of 
 three inches, and then rolling it properly and covering it 
 Avith loam, I see no reason why new roads cannot be fin- 
 ished off in the same way. It requires a little more care, 
 and 3'ou have to have a certain amount of travel to make 
 it a success. I repaired the main avenues of Essex 
 county in that way for years, and their condition was an 
 endorsement of the method. 
 
 To do it properly, however, after the top stone is rolled 
 and the coatinoj of loam is also rolled, let the travel come 
 right on. This makes ruts and furrows which a repeated 
 rolling will remove, and let this be kept up till the surface 
 is consolidated. The roller need not be kept in one spot 
 all the time ; let it go ahead and roll a new piece ; come 
 and smooth off an old piece, and so backwards and for- 
 wards, still however, progressing regularly forward. 
 
 When you have arrived at this period of your road's con-' 
 struction the general idea is that that is all, but I wish to 
 say here, very emphatically, not yet. A now road like a 
 new watch, wants watching and adjusting to get it into a 
 new, permanent shape, and for the first year it wants to be 
 looked after with some care. Ruts are apt to be formed, 
 holes may appear, and these should be at once attended to. 
 It is very easy, costs very little, but when this is done you 
 will have what we all want and what this meeting proposes. 
 a good road. 
 
 After the settling and adjusting have taken place, and 
 everything is satisfactory, a road built as here outlined will 
 last from three to five years for ordinary country ti'avel. 
 I have known a pavement always in good condition to run 
 for ten years without repairs, and in ray own case parts of 
 the old Pompton turnpike, with fairly heavy country travel, 
 had no repairs on them for five years, and were good at all 
 times. 
 
19 
 
 Now I come to another feature of the road question, 
 which to my mind is more important than all others, and 
 that is their repair. 
 
 Wliile the road taxes in this State show that the repair 
 of ordinary earth roads is an accepted fact, and money is 
 voted therefor all over the State, when a pavement is laid 
 down there seems to be a sort of recognized feeling that 
 when it is built that is the end of it. Far from it. 
 
 Shoes wear out, wagons wear out, almost everything 
 wears out by constant use, and so do roads, so that any or- 
 ganization formed for the construction of roads in any com- 
 munity should be continued for their repair. In repairing 
 I'oads, I want to depart from the usual, accepted doctrine, 
 and say don't patch. The old practice and theory of keep- 
 ing men on the roads perpetually tinkering and mending is 
 wrong- in principal and expensive in practice. 
 
 If a road is built properly, it should wear uniformly, and 
 when its thickness is so reduced that it is necessary to re- 
 cover it with broken stone, let it be done in sections as 
 large as you please, from a mile to half a mile, and it 
 should be laid, spread and rolled in the same manner as de- 
 scribed for the building. Of course it may, and undoubt- 
 edly will, be necessary to touch up stray places that under 
 peculiar conditions are defective ; these should be attended 
 to, but as a general practice I say again, don't patch. 
 
 The remarks I made about screenings, in construction, 
 are still more applicable to repairs. If you can afford it, 
 put them on ; they make a nice road, but are expensive, as 
 a coating of loam costs $30 to $50 a mile and a coating of 
 screenings from $300 to -"^400. 
 
 The foregoing remarks apply, as will be seen, only to 
 what is known as Telford and Macadam roads, and if all 
 communities will have these kinds of roads, and are will- 
 ing to pay for them, so much the better, but the question 
 will arise whether it may not be wiser in certain localities 
 to use the materials nature furnishes to hand and try to get 
 
20 
 
 alou"' with them. To me it is rather a delicate matter, as, 
 wedded as I am to this class of roads, 1 may be prejudiced 
 against other kinds ; yet I am willing to admit tliat certain 
 kinds of gravel or slate, make good roads, yet they arc not 
 as good, and for a small portion of the year, especially in 
 early spring, are far from perfect, and the difficulty arises 
 that in a question of State policy all sections should be 
 treated alike, and my special plea will be that these Maca- 
 dam roads as described are standard types and everybody 
 should have them if they can get them. 
 
 We now come to the important question of cost. Roads 
 built in the manner I have described, cost, in Essex County, 
 60 to 80 cents a lineal foot, 16 feet wide, according to their 
 thickness and distance the material has to be hauled, in- 
 cluding foundations of quarry-stones. This would be -$3,000 
 to '^-1,000 per mile. By using local stone for foundation 
 and local help in hauling, and as much as possible local 
 labor, and also reducing on many of the local roads to 14 
 feet, and even 12 feet, I think the cost throughout the 
 Stale might be placed at ■$2,500 per mile, provided due 
 economy and wise administration are secured. 
 
 In the cost of repairs, a proper recoating of the surface 
 can be put on in the same locality for from 20 to 25 cents per 
 lineal foot, for a 16-foot road. This, by reducing tiie width 
 and supposing a renewal every five years, would amount to 
 about $150 per mile on the average. 
 
 While these estimates of cost are based on present prices 
 and present practice, the cost of the original avenues of Es- 
 sex County was far greater ; experience with that work 
 was limited, the machinery had not been brought to the 
 perfection that it has to-day for blasting or breaking the 
 stone, wages were considerable higher, and experienced men 
 in doing such work were scarce and highly paid ; and fur- 
 thermore, contractors wanted more profits than they expect 
 or do get to-day, and incidentally in alluding to that word 
 "Contractor" 1 do not think it out of order to bring that 
 
21 
 
 point up at a meeting of this kind, and it is here that the 
 pitfalls and troubles of road construction are most liable to 
 1)6 encountered. As is well known, and with all due respect 
 to the men who follow the pursuit of contracting for small 
 or large engineering structures and constructions, the con- 
 tractor follows his business to make money, and not for the 
 glory that might ensue from his work ; and in no work of 
 engineering practice is there more margin for departure 
 from the contract terms, and the specifications of a contract 
 without an al)Solute variation thereof, than in road con- 
 struction. While my troubles in that line to-day are over, 
 I have gone through experiences which should have turned 
 my hair grey. To-day in our midst the practice is so crys- 
 tallized, the ideas are so thoroughly understood, and the re- 
 sults of certain work, good or bad, so thoroughly known, 
 that the question of having poor work done, rarely gives me 
 any concern. The laying the foundations, the size of the 
 broken stone, the spreading of the packing, and the finish- 
 ing of the road, are all elements of weakness, if I may say 
 so, in road construction, that a small departure from prop- 
 er practice might not materially affect the ultimate result, 
 yet an undue divergence would be fatal ; and till the experi- 
 ence of the road contractors of Massachusetts is crystallized, 
 all parties connected with road improvements in your 
 State, whether they are engineers, contractors, or county 
 or town officials, will have to go through the same ordeal. 
 I allude to this more particularly in one aspect, and that is 
 I have known incipient movements in road construction to 
 be untimely nipped in the bud by the poor success of their 
 first attempts, entirely caused by the undue rapacity, if I 
 may say, of the contractor, or the negligence and ignorance 
 of the engineer, and those having charge and authority over 
 the work. This, of course, as I understand, is not peculiar 
 to road construction, yet in my experience in many other 
 forms of engineering work besides road building, I have 
 found much more liability for this trouble in road work 
 
22 
 
 than in any other. I would say at this time that one of the 
 businesses and obHgations, if I may so state it, of your Mas- 
 sachusetts road commission, as I understand on that commis- 
 sion you have an engineer, siiould be if possible to formu- 
 late what in their idea would be the best method of road 
 practice throughout the state, and that then the commission 
 should have legal authority to enforce it. I well remember 
 the trials and vicissitudes that I went through in road con- 
 struction on the one very simple practice of putting in pack- 
 ing. I, in early times, was an opponent to packing in roads ; 
 by packing I mean other matter outside of stone itself, either 
 clay, gravel or sand ; I thought that a stone road should be 
 built entirely of stone, and so insisted, and had them built 
 that way ; yet when I found that other roads built with 
 packing, judiciously used, were as good and in some re- 
 spects better than my own roads, I could see no reason for 
 adhering to one practice, when another was better. Fifteen 
 years afterwards when the practice of packing had been 
 so crystallized in our midst, an adjoining county was rent 
 asunder, if I may say so, in a controversy as to whether 
 their newly constructed roads should have packing in them ; 
 and to this day, while the packing was put in and the roads 
 are a success, murmurs of dissatisfaction may be still 
 heard. In New York State a law was even passed pro- 
 hibiting tiie use of such material on the road in one coun- 
 ty, and in my address to the Society of Civil Engineers I 
 said with equal grace could the State Legislature pass a 
 law regulating the treatment of billiousness by doctors. 
 And while on that very question of legislature I would 
 state that it is unwise, and almost impracticable in any 
 proposed legislation for the State of Massachusetts to un- 
 dertake to include in that legislation specific means and 
 modes of construction that are and may be questions of en- 
 gineering counsel. 
 
 The method of payment l)y the original Essex Road 
 Board — and I presume this will be of interest, although 
 
I do not say that it should be an absolute guide — was as 
 follows : — The cost of opening the street, or widening it, 
 and removing houses and other obstructions, was paid in 
 cash to the owners, which was afterward assessed on the 
 property benefitted, by the commissioners, and refunded in 
 due time, subject, of course, to the inevitable contingency 
 in all questions of assessments and taxes, that some didn't 
 pay. The cost of the construction of the road was paid 
 one-half by the county and half by the township through 
 which each separate and individual piece of road passed. 
 This cost was assessed in ten annual instalments, and 
 placed in the tax levies, and collected as other taxes were. 
 An amount of money footing up to about seventeen hun- 
 dred thousand dollars was expended by the Road Board, 
 seven hundred thousand of which was paid for right of 
 way, and one million dollars for construction. Bonds 
 were issued for the payment of the contractors, and right 
 of way; a sinking fund was established by the receipts of 
 the assessments, and by the payment of the ten annual in- 
 stalments of taxes, and to-day of the one million seven 
 hundred thousand dollars' worth of bonds originally is- 
 sued, only a hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars 
 is unpaid and not extinguished, and of this one hundred 
 and seventy-three thousand dollars, 1 believe there is cash 
 in hand in the sinking fund amounting to about fifty thou- 
 sand dollars, The work of the Road Board itself as a 
 whole is practically concluded, and has been for ten years ; 
 there are certain gaps which have been left undone for the 
 reason that communities through which they were to pass 
 were unwilling or unable to pay the tax necessary for their 
 construction. As time goes on, however, these gaps will 
 disappear ; the necessity of good roads arising and being 
 appreciated, will cause sentiment in their favor undoubt- 
 edly, and while the amount is small, it may take some 
 years to finish it ; I am now constructing a mile and a half 
 ■in the lower part of the county.- It must not be supposed 
 
24 
 
 that the entire work of hard roads in Essex County- 
 was done by the Koad Board ; the example set by that 
 commission was immediately followed by the several local 
 committees, quickly or slowly, as their personal equations 
 dictated. The city of Newark made an attempt to build 
 Telford roads through its streets, but the poor construction, 
 bad results from negligence and carelessness, put a veto on 
 further extension in that line, and after 1875, Newark city 
 built no more of them, and is now centreing its efforts in 
 laying the regular city pavements. The city of Orange, — 
 and, bye the bye, I ought to say the city of Orange was the 
 pioneer municipality in road-building in New Jersey, hav- 
 ing started to Telford the main streets as early as 1869 — 
 the city of Orange slowW and steadily has been building 
 roads, until to-day very few of its streets are unimproved. 
 The township of East Orange has done the same thing, 
 with the same result. The township of West Orange made 
 a bold dash in 1872, spent two hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, and created a complete system of thorough com- 
 munication through its own limits ; the effort it made then 
 practically exhausted it, for since, it has built no more, and 
 the law under which it acted providing that the township 
 should pay the whole cost of construction, created a large 
 debt, which it is now struggling under. The city of Or- 
 range and the township of East Orange assessed the cost 
 of the whole of their pav'ements on the property benefitted, 
 and the movement was entirely spontaneous among its in- 
 habitants, who forced the matter to an issue with the know- 
 ledge that they paid for it themselves. This, of course, is 
 exceptional, but it shows the feeling on the road question. 
 After citing these three examples, a long lapse of years 
 passed before the other communities tackled or ventured to 
 tackle the road problem in its proper sense ; meetings were 
 held, talk was made, literature was consulted by the differ- 
 ent communities, but practically nothing was done until 
 about 188B, when there seemed to be a general awakening. 
 
25 
 
 along the line for road work. Montclair township started 
 in, Bloomfield township started in, built roads by appro- 
 priating so much money in their tax levies each year, and 
 built so many miles, as far as the money would go. Belle- 
 ville township five years ago bonded itself for fifty thousand 
 dollars and built a complete system of roads at once through 
 its limits. Franklin township followed suit, and built an- 
 other vSystem of roads through its limits. I may say here 
 that South Orange village has also been quietly and slowly 
 building Telford roads, assessing the cost on the property. 
 The rest of the townships of the eastern slope of the Or- 
 ange township made no strong movement, except to appro- 
 priate money and buy stone, and spread it on the road, and 
 let nature and the wagon travel take care of it ; some of 
 them turned out fairly successful, others are mere parodies, 
 still the intent and idea was there, and after going through 
 a course of instruction and paying the bills, it will be found 
 they had better started a complete system at once, and had 
 good roads, permanent and proper in their construction, for 
 a great deal less money. In all, I should say, approxi- 
 mately speaking, there are about two hundred miles of Mac- 
 adam and Telford in Essex County, outside of the limits 
 of the city of Newark, and the movement has not stopped. 
 In my own township where I live, with a population of ten 
 thousand people, twenty-five thousand dollars a year is an- 
 nually raised for expenditure on and repair of roads. This 
 may astonish a rural community, but still it is a fact ; the 
 money is cheerfully raised, and willingly paid. Bloom- 
 field, the next township, raises eighteen thousand dollars a 
 year for the same purpose ; and of course it is wiser for any 
 community that can afford it to follow that practice, than 
 to bond itself; but as Montclair is bonded for something 
 else, that argument could not very well apply to that town- 
 ship. 
 
 The main argument used by a great many people in ad- 
 vocacy of good roads, is the increased value of the prop- 
 
26 
 
 •erty benefitted by their construction. In my opening al- 
 lusion to the road question, I alluded to the varying con- 
 ditions of life that are effected by good or bad roads and 
 while I do not deprecate the argument of dollars and 
 cents as an inducement for road construction by the in- 
 creased value of land, I think the other benefits have 
 as much weight, and I do not consider the mercenary 
 view paramount , but still the fact is patent, and nobody 
 knows it more than the farmer, that his land is worth 
 more with a good road to haul his produce to market, than 
 it would be without; this needs no argument, and I will 
 allude to it very slightly. Still, for all that, a few figures 
 on this phase of the road question may be interesting, 
 and while I have not and cannot lay before you a 
 complete set of tables for that purpose, as that would be 
 tedious and somewhat incomprehensible, yet a few deduc- 
 tions may be of interest. In looking over the valuations 
 of the different municipalities of our county for the last 
 twenty-five years, I find that there are paramount issues 
 that regulate values above and beyond any local questions 
 of either development or growth ; for instance, from 1867 
 to 1875 was a period of large, and I may say, abnormal 
 increase in valuations; from 1875 to 1880 was a period of 
 sharp and decisive shrinkage in valuations, due from the 
 panic and national causes ; from 1880 to date has been a 
 slow, steady and persistent growth in valuations due to 
 the slow but steady increase in population and wealth. 
 As the road improvements in Essex County were began 
 years before the panic, and continued through the panic, 
 I can gather no absolute information from the figures as 
 to the definite increase of valuations due to the road it- 
 self ; our system was general, and as much as could be, 
 affected all the population of the county at once ; and as 
 the increase to 1875 was general, the decrease to 1880 
 was general, so the effect of the county roads on the 
 different townships in a monetary sense cannot be de- 
 
termined. If, however, I look further, and seek for in- 
 formation as to the increase of valuations due to the local 
 improvement of roads, I get plenty of matter for consid- 
 eration, and also strong arguments in advocacy of good 
 roads. I find, for instance, that the city of Orange be- 
 ginning in 1868 with its road improvements and continu- 
 ally building them up to date, has increased its valuation 
 from three millions in 1867 to seven millions and a half 
 in 1892; while South Orange its neighbor, with a fair 
 road improvement, but merely in one part of it, has in- 
 creased from one million, eight hundred thousand in 1870 
 to three millions in 1892 ; and Clinton township a neigh- 
 bor to South Orange witli no road improvements worth 
 speaking of, had a valuation of one million seven hundred 
 thousand in 1870, and has only a valuation of one million 
 seven hundred thousand today. I find that the township 
 of Belleville, which had a valuation in 1875, — I take this 
 date because just prior to that a part was cut away from 
 it, and formed a new township, — in 1875 Belleville had a 
 valuation of one million three hundred tliousand, and in 
 1890 had the same valuation ; in 1890 however, it put 
 down a complete system of roads in the township, and its 
 valuation immediately sprang from one million three hun- 
 dred thousand to one million five hundred and seventy- 
 eight thousand. This is a conclusive argument on road 
 question. I will here interject the point that in Essex 
 County no railroad improvements, beyond one short sec- 
 tion of a mile, have been made in the whole of the 
 County in twenty years. The township of Franklin had 
 a valuation in 1875, just after its creation, of seven hun- 
 dred and sixty five thousand dollars, which was reduced 
 in 1890 to six hundred thousand dollars; this was caused 
 by the abandonment and failure of two or three large 
 mill properties, and a decrease in the valuation resulted ; 
 but in 1890 it initiated and constructed a sy.^tem of roads, 
 and in 1892 its valuation jumped from six hundred thous- 
 
28 
 
 and to seven hundred thousand dollars. The township of 
 Montclair that had a valuation in 1870 of one million 
 seven hundred thousand dollars, slowly increased to two 
 millions and a half in 1875 ; from 1885 to date, it has 
 steadily constructed its system of roads, and its valuation 
 has increased, until in 1892 it is over five million dollars. 
 The township of West Orange that completed and finished 
 its roads between 1870 and 1875, increased in valuation 
 from two million three hundred thousand in 1870, to three 
 millions in 1875. In 1892, it is three millions still. The 
 township of Livingston, with absolutely no road improve- 
 ment at all, had a valuation of five hundred and thirty- 
 five thousand dollars, in 1867, and has a valuation in 1892 
 of five hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars ; practi- 
 cally no increase in twenty-five years. The township of 
 Caldwell, which forms nearly one quarter of the area of 
 the County and is entirely rural, had a valuation in 1867 
 of one million four hundred thousand, and has a valua- 
 tion in 1892 of one million five hundred thousand ; no 
 roads except the county road had been built in that town- 
 ship, until the year 1891, when they appropriated ten 
 thousand dollars, and spent it on roads, and curious to say 
 created such a commotion among its inhabitants, that lit- 
 erally tore it apart, and the next year it was divided inta 
 three governments, namely, one borough, the township 
 Verona, and the original township of Caldwell. The 
 next year they did not raise any money, and they are now 
 actively canvassing the road question, and in the next 
 two years will undoubtedly do good work. 
 
 The township of Milburn that had a valuation in 1869 
 of one million, had in 1892 a valuation of one million three 
 hundred thousand ; the road improvements in this town- 
 ship are not large, and are mostly confined to individual 
 enterprise in certain restricted portions, and are not paid 
 for by the township itself, but the increased valuation is en- 
 tirely in the district affected by the roads construction. 
 
29 
 
 We here see the undeniable fact that communities that 
 have steadily and persistently built roads for a period of 
 years, have steadily increased in valuation ; we also see that 
 communities that have not built roads have not increased 
 in valuation ; we also see that where communities built 
 roads and stopped, the increase of valuation stopped when 
 they ceased building the roads ; we also see that the commun- 
 ity that had its valuation stationary for a period of years, had 
 its valuation immediately and remarkably increased on the 
 construction and completion of its system of roads, and I 
 can deduce no stronger argument on the monetary ques- 
 tion of road construction, than these very facts and figures 
 that I have here outlined. Of course, it may be urged 
 that there were other influences at work in the growth or 
 stationary condition of any community ; railroad communi- 
 cation, horse car communication, soil, healthfulness and all 
 those matters should be and have to be taken into consid- 
 eration as elements of growth ; yet when you consider that 
 Essex County in size is only about twelve miles square, the 
 healthfulness of one particular place over another cannot 
 be much marked in that distance, and as to the availability 
 of one place over another for residence, that cannot be 
 much marked either; and we are forced to recognize the 
 value of these figures and the deductions I have drawn 
 from them, without desiring to be considered partial or 
 straining at results, in advocacy of road improvements. 
 There is one point, and it is a mighty strong point too, on 
 the road question, which I feel more strongly about, and 
 more inclined to adduce arguments and figures, than the 
 land valuation (though of course land valuation is affected 
 by this point I am going to allude to), and that is the in- 
 crease of business, and by business I don't mean one par- 
 ticular business, I mean business in general of the whole 
 community through which these roads pass. It is impossi- 
 ble for me to go into all the details and ramifications and 
 cite the different business interests that are affected by good 
 
30 
 
 road construction, but the conclusions are really patent to 
 everybody. The difference between the business conditions 
 of a community wliich has its modes and means of com- 
 munication paralyzed for a certain portion of the year, and 
 another community that has free access, and free ways at 
 all times, is so obvious to the ordinary mind, that much 
 stress is needless on my part. My more particular atten- 
 tion to this question has been directed to the increase of 
 the farming industry in Essex County, due I am satisfied 
 to the roads that have been built. To cite an instance of 
 this, I would say that before the road movement began, 
 there was one road known as the plank road which ran out 
 three miles from Newark, and could be travelled at all sea- 
 sons ; talking with a farmer at that time, who lived along 
 it, he was expressing gratification at the prices at which 
 he sold his hay in the city of Newark. He said that he 
 waited until the rest of the roads in the County were im- 
 passable, and then he ran it down the hard road, and, in his 
 quaint way, said he got two prices for it. Now this was 
 very nice for that individual farmer, but the principle of 
 the greatest good to the greatest number was hardly applic- 
 able in this case. Somewhere about 1860, I think, the 
 city of Newark built a market, and in front of the market 
 left a piazza, or open space of about one hundred feet 
 square for the farm wagons that came from the country to 
 sell their produce ; it was rare at that time to see the 
 piazza fully occupied ; however, when the good roads began 
 to be a fact, it was astonishing then to see the difference. The 
 piazza soon got filled, the wagons kept piling in, and in- 
 creasing in numbers till the whole of the main street for 
 three quarters of a mile from the market was occupied 
 every morning till nine o'clock with farm wagons and farm 
 produce, which was sold along the sidewalks. Under the 
 circumstances this practice was tolerated until it got to be 
 such a nuisance, as the property owners said, to the other 
 business interests, that the courts were pleaded to interfere, 
 
31 
 
 and the final result was that the city of Newark had to 
 spend three liundred and fifty thousand dollars' to furnish 
 extra market facilities for the produce merchants, who 
 brought their product and farm produce from the districts 
 outside the city of Newark. Newark City paid it cheer- 
 fully, as the difference in costs of the material sold was so 
 remarkable, so much less, that the payment of that sum of 
 money was actually a good investment to the county at 
 large. Other matters might be cited, but this one point 
 speaks volumes for itself ; if I had time and opportunity I 
 would liked to have hunted up statistics of the difference 
 in the number of horses proportionate to the inhabitants 
 owned in Essex County in 1890, and what were owned in 
 1870 ; also the number of wagons, and I am satisfied with- 
 out knowing the real facts that the figures would prove 
 equally convincing as to that line of industry. There is 
 one thing I am very free to say, and I think it impossible 
 for any one of intelligence to gainsay, that no man would 
 ever wish for Essex County, N. J., to relapse in the slight- 
 est degree to the original mud, dust and mire, that it ex- 
 perienced and suffered under during the preceding year 
 prior to these road improvements. 
 
 While I have so far detailed the experience and practice 
 in road work in Essex County, it must not be supposed 
 that the rest of New Jersey was idle or lying passive. The 
 county in the north that I alluded to, has initiated, and is 
 progressive with its county system of roads. The county 
 of Union, south of Essex, has done the same thing, only, 
 as I have said, in better shape. The county of Hudson, in 
 which Jersey City is situate, is now building a system of 
 boulevards and driveways, which will be an ornament, be- 
 sides a great improvement, to its, until now, muddy streets. 
 Bergen County, on the northeast, has not yet been able to 
 brace up, if I may say so, and construct any county roads ; 
 but the different townships and towns have taken the mat- 
 ter in hand themselves, and have built and are building 
 
J-" 
 
 complete systems of their own. Outside of that, with the 
 exception of one township in Camden County, New Jersey 
 is in the same condition as the rest of the United States ; 
 and until the States — and I may say here, that the State of 
 New Jersey is the first State in the United States to incor- 
 porate a road law as a State measure, and atford State help 
 in the construction of its roads — and until, as I before 
 said, the State law was passed, no very strong movement 
 for road improvements had been apparent. Last year one 
 or two attempts, which proved fruitless, were made to 
 start in Burlington County, Monmouth County, and Mid- 
 dlesex County ; public sentiment not being educated up 
 to the required standard, the county officials refused to do 
 their part, and as far as Monmouth and Middlesex Coun- 
 ties are concerned, nothing was done. Middlesex, how- 
 ever, at the last moment, jumped in the gap, and has been 
 the first county to take the help that the State has offered, 
 and put it with the money that she herself has raised. 
 The movement, however, is progressive ; there has been a 
 State Road Association formed, with members from all 
 parts of the State ; meetings are held, sentiment is being 
 created, and I doubt not, that in the near future, the 
 southern and western part of New Jersey will have as 
 good and as ample road conveniences as the section that I 
 have heretofore described has enjoyed. As I understand, 
 the State of Massachusetts of itself, has taken hold of the 
 road question as a State measure, and appointed a State 
 commission for the purpose of suggesting and outlining 
 future legislation and action on the part of the State, 
 and its component parts. A brief resume of the road leg- 
 islation of New Jersey, might be advantageous and of in- 
 terest. As originally stated, the pioneer law of New 
 Jersey was known as the Essex Public Road Board law, 
 applicable only to Essex County ; within a year from the 
 passage of that act, Hudson County, the county on the 
 east, between it and New York, had also a County Road 
 
law passed, but from its disordered condition of finance, 
 or from a lack of sentiment endorsing any such movement, 
 trie law was allowed to lapse, or the county never availed 
 itself of its privilege, and nothing was done. Some years 
 afterwards, subsequent to the amendment to the constitu- 
 tion, prohibiting special legislation, a general law was 
 passed in the interest of Hudson County, giving it power 
 similar to what it had under the original law, known as 
 the Boulevard Act. That law provided for a vote of the 
 people to be taken before its being efficacious. If I re- 
 member rightly, a vote was taken and carried, but the 
 imatter was thrown into the courts, and whether it was 
 pronounced unconstitutional, or what the decision was, I 
 forget, but the result was, nothing was done under that 
 act. Some years after, another act was passed by the same 
 county, and about three years ago, a movement was made, 
 and the necessary legal sanction given, and the plans have 
 been promulgated, surveys have been made, and I believe 
 that the work is under contract. Between 1868 and 1875, 
 before the amendment to the Constitution, individual 
 townships had special legislation passed for their benefit, 
 to enable them to Telfordize their roads, and pay for them 
 in the way the law designated, in accordance with the idea 
 and sentiment of each community, varying, of course, in 
 •different townships and cities. Under these special laws. 
 West Orange did its work ; the city of Orange, being a 
 city, did its, and the township of East Orange and village 
 of South Orange. Then there was nothing done in legis- 
 lation until about the year 1885, when a general law was 
 passed, authorizing townships to improve their streets ; 
 this is a very admirable law, and has been availed of by a 
 great many townships, and has proved very successful in 
 its results. The provisions in it are stringent ; they re- 
 quire that the consent of, I think, two-thirds of the 
 assessed valuation shall be given to make an application 
 to the town authorities for a vote to be taken by the peo- 
 
34 
 
 pie, whether they shall bond themselves for that purpose. 
 So carefully guarded is the law in that respect, that it 
 practically requires an almost universal sentiment in the 
 community for the work to be done ; but I have yet to 
 hear of any township making a movement in that direc- 
 tion, but has accomplished it ; probably sentiment was so 
 ripe that the result was inevitable. A number of town- 
 ships have availed themselves of the law, and a number 
 are now agitating the question among themselves. A law 
 also, applying to boroughs, which are smaller municipalities 
 within townships, was passed, with the same idea and same 
 restrictions ; in one or two cases this law has been availed 
 of. In 1886, the law known as the General County Act 
 was passed ; this law authorizes the Board of Freeholders, 
 a body similar to ^the Supervisors in New York, and the 
 County Commissioners in the State of Massachusetts, to 
 take certain roads, which in their judgment are wise, and 
 declare them county roads ; having filed maps, recorded 
 such declaration, the freeholders are empowered to main- 
 tain and improve them as county roads, and macadamize 
 them, and do everything that in their judgment is neces- 
 sary for proper and good travel ; the freeholders are au- 
 thorized, up to a certain limit mentioned in the law, to 
 issue bonds for that purpose. The work is done, and the 
 cost of that work is assessed, a certain sum, namely, two- 
 thirds, upon the county, and the balance upon the town- 
 ship in which the work is done. That known generally 
 as the Union County law, has been availed of by Union 
 County and Passaic County, two counties I have alluded 
 to, and Bergen County has been trying for a number of 
 years to act under the same law, but till within the last 
 year or two, the officials in control have not had the cour- 
 age, or endorsement of the community sufficiently strong, 
 to cause them to go ahead ; I believe now they are build- 
 ing small sections of roads at the county expense, but I am 
 not sure of that. 
 
35 
 
 The next general legislation on the road question is 
 what is known as the State Aid Act, and is the law I al- 
 luded to when I stated that New Jersey was the first 
 State in the Union to grant State aid to roads. This law 
 provides that whenever the Board of Freeholders in any 
 County have declared their intention of causing any par- 
 ticular road to be macadamized, under certain conditions 
 and rules and regulations, they shall declare it a county 
 road, and shall certify to the State Board of Agriculture 
 their action, with the bids on such work ; that on the en- 
 dorsement of the action by the chairman of the State 
 Board of Agriculture, the State shall pay one 
 third of the cost, the balance being paid by 
 the County, who are authorized to tax the County under 
 the general tax regulations. The state is limited in its 
 expenditure in one year to seventy five thousand dollars, 
 and that one third represents a road expenditure under the 
 State Aid Act, of about two hundred and twenty-five 
 thousand dollars for one year. A supplementary clause in 
 that act provides, and this, while it seems to be secondary 
 in the law, is really the main feature of it, when a majority 
 of the owners on any section of road, not less than one 
 mile long, petition the Board of Freeholders, and in their 
 petition guarantee to pay ten per cent, of the costs, the 
 Board of Freeholders shall then get bids, and submit the 
 same to the chairman of the State Board of Agriculture,. 
 who shall then approve or reject, and the State will then 
 pay thirty per cent, the cost of this road is then divided 
 up, owners ten per cent.; county sixty per cent., and the 
 State thirty per cent. The law is a recent one ; the orig- 
 inal passage in 1891 was hampered by the sanction being 
 given to the Commission of Agriculture, the anticipation 
 of the appointment of which was not realized, and the next 
 year, in 1892, it was amended, giving the powers to the 
 chairman of the State Board of Agriculture, and under his 
 auspices, and energetic efforts, whatever has been done in 
 
36 
 
 the State at large, is due to his effort ; and as I previously 
 stated, while the thing is in its infancy, with the move- 
 ment of sentiment and progress through the State, it will 
 become very popular, and the seventy-five thousand dollars 
 will be so sought for and grabbed after, that the State in 
 future years will consider three hundred thousand dollars 
 not too large a sum for that specific purpose. The enor- 
 mity of the scheme of State road construction, may be con- 
 ceived, when I say that the State of New Jersey, which I 
 think is a little smaller than the state of Massachusetts, 
 has eighteen thousand miles of roads in it, and I presume 
 it will be fair to consider that the State of Massachusetts 
 has the same ; and the enterprise that undertakes to im- 
 prove, or try to improve such a vast net work for inter- 
 communication is bound to be opposed, and hampered by 
 opposition and, as I call them, kickers, everywhere. 
 
 In conclusion I wish to claim no particular, or in fact 
 any, advantage in the roads of New Jersey, or the system 
 of their construction, or the laws under which they were 
 built. I recite here in my own way what has been done, 
 what has been thought of doing, and probably what may be 
 done in the future. This experience is valuable, and while 
 your State of Massachusetts may not follow, and may not 
 be inclined to follow the lines of work either in legislation 
 or construction of the State of New Jersey, yet, the ex- 
 perience that State has gone through must be of great 
 value to your State, and, by a study of that experience you 
 may avoid the mistakes and troubles that New Jersey has 
 undergone, and by avoiding these mistakes and troubles, 
 money, which is the basis of all this work in any shape, 
 and under all circumstances, will be and must be saved.