File:American highways; a popular account of their conditions, and of the means by which they may be bettered (1896) (14583253030).jpg

Identifier: americanhighways00shal (find matches)
Title: American highways; a popular account of their conditions, and of the means by which they may be bettered
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate, 1841-1906
Subjects: Roads
Publisher: New York, Century
Contributing Library: Boston College Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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abolished in perhaps half of the country, the method isstill in use in many of the Western and in nearly all of theSouthern States. There is a singular custom which is fol-lowed by the road-masters in Virginia and some otherSouthern States, who have, or are supposed to have, thecontrol of the impressed road gangs. It consists in cuttingwith an ax or knife three vertical lines in the trees frompoint to point along the road, these usually being crossedby horizontal lines, so as to make a rude sign for theRoman numeral III. Although there is no tradition as to the origin of this usage, its wide distribution and the factthat before the Revolutionary War the main roads wereknown as the kings highways makes it seem likely thatthe marks were intended to signify George III; there hav-ing been no successor to that monarch in this country,there has been no occasion to change the sign. In the present condition of this country the resourceswhich favor distant transportation are well organized. 5 a
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EARLY AMERICAN ROADS 27 The development of the railway and interior steamboattransportation has provided for these needs in a measni*ewhich has been attained only in some of the richest Eu-ropean states. It is otherwise with the ways which servefor local intercourse; these have been so far neglected thattheii* ill condition operates as a distinct check on the socialrelations upon which the character of our local communi-ties intimately depends. The political life of our common-wealths, as well as their economic advance, is to a greatextent determined by the readiness mth which the peopleobtain that association with one another which leads to the development of a public spirit. Important as are theeffects of good acquaintance in the communities of anystate, whatever be its system of government, they areparticularly important in a democracy; for there the un-ending task of holding fast to the good which has beenwon, and of winning gains for the future, is to be effectedonly by means of a

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