From "ST. PETER'S DIAMOND JUBILEE Roads or highways in 1900 presented an ackward and sometimes an impossible journey. Our hard-surfaced roads of today do not present such obstacles to travel(1939). Suffice to say, all hauling nineteen years ago was taken care of by horse drawn wagons."

For Better Roads in St. John. (1913) continued...

Can we still tolerate such conditions or shall we awake to better our conditions? With our public roads no better than they were many years back, is it not true that we have wasted our funds and today have nothing for the large amount spent on these roads? If so, is this not the opportune time to remedy the past evils and plan and do better things in the future?

Our experiences of the past twelve months with model dirt roads built at the cost of a thousand dollars a mile, with parallel canals making drainage from the roads an impossibility, has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that such roads are not what we need, for, during the rainy spells which frequently outlast the good weather, these model dirt roads offer no better faculties to travel than the old dirt road. Having experienced the failure of model dirt roads, but recently; now then is the time for the tax payers of St. John Parish to come together and devise plans for better roads. Why not follow the plans set by other progressive parishes and through proper methods adopt a system of good hard surface roads open to travel at all times of the year. When doing so, let us not fear investing too much money in our good roads for "cheap things always cost high" and "what is worth doing is worth doing well". We must have roads that will withstand the heavy rains of the months of January, February, and December, for we recall but too vividly the paralyses of business during those three months just past, and caused by muddy, impassable roads. In view of the fact that we have had our experiences with bad roads, it is about time to awake to the advantages to be derived from good hard surfaced well drained good roads.

Who of us will deny that good roads will greatly increase the value of our properties and help to keep on the farm many of the present and future generation naturally inclined to leave for cities, where life offers more charms? Let us build good roads and offer to residents some of the charms that make city life so attractive, that is the absence of mud and the ability to travel at all times. Who will deny that good roads will attract outside attention and entice home seekers to make St. John their future homes, thereby helping to increase our population and consequently improve the valuation of our farm lands, whose soil is far richer than many strips now purchased by distant settlers? Again, will not new roads benefit all lines of business, at the same time reducing expenses necessary to carry on said business? And will not good roads offer manifold advantages to those pleasure bent? For after all, this life is too short not to enjoy it in the same way and surely no one will say that traveling through muddy roads is a very fascinating pleasure, when good roads stand awaiting our command at a maximum cost of three mills. Will not good roads enable those whose business calls them on said road, to travel much faster and with less horse power and also less wear on their vehicles? Take for instance a baker or butcher or delivery man or any other businessman who is now compelled to feed an extra horse all year around simply to assist him in traveling in muddy roads. When, with good roads, one horse could do the very same work, thereby saving the capital invested on the extra animal and his feed for three hundred and sixty five days. Is this saving not worth considering? Will not this saving fully compensate the tax payer for the small amount he may have to pay for the proposed tax for good roads? Who then will raise an objection to this three mill tax which means that for every dollar of assessed property the tax for good road will amount to thirty cents a year or three dollars a year for property assessed at one thousand dollars? Where is the tax payer assessed for one thousand dollars who does spend more than three dollars a year through a broken wheel, axle, single tree, etc.? Again, will not the savings on the wear on our harness and vehicles fully compensate the cost of the special good road tax? Why then should anyone think of sacrificing the advantages of good roads for the nominal sum of a three mill tax?

Again, what is the use of having large and modern school houses and have no decent roads for our children to reach said schools? Where is the one who will enjoy seeing his children trudging along in the mud to reach our magnificent schools? And still, that is the very thing we are doing with our old antiquated system of mud roads. Shall we sacrifice the many savings to be derived from good roads, and shall we sacrifice the health of our children and shall we sacrifice about the only pleasure of country life, which is good roads, for the small tax of three mills a year? No, we should not, and now is the very time to clamor for better roads, and make ourselves heard through a petition or petitions to our police jury to create two distinct road districts, one on the left bank and one on the right bank of the river and then by a vote for a three mill tax, assure for the present and future generations a system of hard surfaced good road, which will be the pride of our parish and which road will justly place St. John among the small but progressive parishes of the state, offering to it's residents and outside visitors advantages which mean so much in the business and pleasure of country life. Yours for better roads and very soon.

HENRY MAURIN