and the washing into the drains of even a slight amount of silt.

The removal of excessive subsoil moisture being secured, attention should next be given to the surface of the road, which should be finished with the firmest material at hand, with the common earth of the subsoil where nothing better can be afforded,—and which should be brought to a true grade, with a very slight slope from the center to the edge. For a road thirty feet wide, the elevation of the center above the level of the edges should not be more than four to six inches, and the grade should be made on a straight line rather than on a curve. If the road is made as flat as the turning off of surfacewater will permit, it will be traveled upon in all its parts; while, if it is crowned to a high arch, as is often the case, it will soon be found that the best place to drive is in the middle of the road, and foot-tracks and wheel-tracks will soon form slight channels or ruts which will lead water lengthwise along the road, and which will cause an undue amount of wear and washing. A road may be actually flat to the eye, and equally convenient for travel at every part of its width, and still have enough lateral slope to cause water to run off from it.

It is especially desirable that no surfacewater flowing from the road-side (above all when frost is coming out of the ground in the spring) be permitted to run on to the road. This should be effectively prevented by the formation of sufficient gutters, with such outlets as will prevent ponding at the sides of the road. When it is necessary to carry the water of the gutters from one side of the road to the other, culverts should be provided, and wherever the slope of the road is sufficient to cause water to flow along it lengthwise, that is wherever the inclination is more than about one in fifty,there should be frequent slight depressions from the center diagonally toward the gutters to carry the flow away before it can accumulate sufficiently to form a washing

current.

If it can be done without hauling additional material it is always well to raise the road-bed somewhat above the level of the adjoining land, and this may usually be accomplished by throwing upon it the subsoil of the gutters. In no case should surface-soil sods or fine road-mud be used for repairs. The most serious objection to the absurd system of road-mending so common in this country lies in the fact that the annual repairing is little more than the plowing up

and throwing back upon the roadway of the soft and unsuitable material which has been washed into the gutters.

What is said above applies especially to country roads, but it is appropriate, so far as it goes, to the better-made and betterkept roads of a village. In the case of these latter, except where the soil is naturally dry and firm, some attention should be given to the improvement of the surface, and it is to be considered whether to adopt the expensive process of covering with broken stone road-metal, or to use gravel. One or the other of these is desirable in all cases where there is much tendency to sloppiness in wet weather; but any form of artificial covering is so costly that the early efforts of the improvement association will produce a more telling result if applied in other directions. The necessary cross-walks may be satisfactorily made with coal ashes.

It is even more easy in a village than in the country, to have the grades of all roadways so regulated as to shed rain-water falling upon them, and to have them so furnished with side gutters so as to prevent water from the road-side from running on to them. The simplest way to effect this, and the neatest way too, is to make gutters outside of the line of the road, say six inches deep and eight feet wide, these being at once sodded or sown with grass and grain to give an early protection against washing; made on such a shallow curve, they will afford no obstruction to any system of mowing that may be adopted, while their great width will give them sufficient capacity to carry away the water of considerable storms.

The work of construction having been duly attended to, it is no less important to provide for regular and constant care. Any rutting that comes of heavy traffic in bad weather should be obliterated either by raking or, better still, by filling the ruts with gravel or ashes. If such work is attended to immediately on the occasion for it arising, the amount of labor required will be very slight; for it is especially true with reference to roads that "a stitch in time saves nine." If the filling of ruts and wheel-tracks be done in time, the serious damage that comes from guttering flows of water lengthwise along the road may be almost entirely avoided.

The mere cleaning work of both the roadway and road-side grass spaces, it will be easy to induce children to perform for slight rewards and encouragement. The daily removal of bits of paper and other rubbish

will have an excellent effect on the general appearance of the village. In the autumn the removal of the fallen leaves will call for something more than children's work; but ordinarily this source of cheap labor will be found sufficient if properly directed.

PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY.

As a field for encouragement, rather than as an object for the expenditure of the association's funds, the furnishing of an ample supply of water is entitled to very early consideration. Not only is the question of public health very seriously involved in the water problem, but as a mere beautifying element an abundance of water, to be obtained without labor, will have a very telling effect by the facility it gives for preserving the fresh appearance of lawns and shrubbery, and for the cultivation of flowers and vines.

Regarded from the horticulturist's point of view, the climate of pretty nearly the whole of this country is simply detestable. We may arrange to withstand very well the severity of our northern winters. We expect an entire shutting up of all garden industries, and long cold seasons are an accustomed matter of necessity; but we have never yet learned to accept with patience the almost annual destruction of our lawns and gardens and flower-beds by scathing drought. No public water supply available for an ordinary village would suffice to overcome the effects of a dry season over the whole of even a small homestead; but we may hope to secure enough to keep one or two small sprinklers flowing steadily through the hot months, and so keep a little grass measurably green, and preserve a semblance of life and beauty in flower-beds and delicate shrubbery. It is very rarely that it will be possible to supply water enough in a whole week to equal in its effect a half-hour's rain; but the difference between towns where even the small amount of water is available for the garden and those which are hopelessly given over to drought shows how much may be accomplished in this direction even with limited means.

As in the case of road-making in anything like a complete and thorough manner, the providing of a water supply must necessarily be directed by professional advice. Although the simpler principles of hydraulics are sufficiently understood, and although it would be quite within the ability of a number of the more intelligent men of any village to secure and distribute a satisfactory amount

of water, the cost of doing such work in an experimental way by persons unaccustomed to its details, as compared with the cost of doing it under the direction of an engineer whose natural judgment and capacity are supplemented by experience and skill, would be without doubt far beyond the fee demanded for his services. In this case, as in many others connected with public and private works, it is always bad economy to save the cost of proper knowledge. Very likely-perhaps indeed very generally—the actual performance of the work, the buying and laying of the pipe, and all that, can be as cheaply done under home direction as under that of a public contractor; but the making of the plans-the deciding upon the source of the supply, upon the means for securing a sufficient head, the sizes of the pipes, the location and construction of fireplugs, and all the minor details of the workwill be more or less economical, according to the skill, experience and capacity of the person who directs it.

The sources from which water may be obtained are various. Often enough water of the best quality may be procured by driven, dug, or artesian wells, but whenever this course is adopted, the wells should be located far enough away from the village, or on land sufficiently high, to make it impossible that there shall be any fouling of the water-bearing strata by the filtration from barn-yards, privy vaults, or cesspools. Generally, water so secured will have to be raised to an elevated reservoir by some mechanical force. If the demand is to be a large one, and if the community can afford the cost, the most reliable plan will be to use steampower for pumping; but in smaller places, and where economy is a great object, windpower may serve an excellent purpose.

If a stream of pure water is available at a sufficient height, it may be led directly to the reservoir, or its current may be used to drive a water-wheel sufficient to do the pumping. In a majority of cases there will be found at no great distance a stream capable of supplying the water needed throughout the dryest season of the year, but not entirely free from organic impurities. In such cases it is often feasible, by excavating a filtering sump or pump-well at a little distance from the side of the stream, and at a sufficient depth below the level of its bed, to secure a supply tolerably purified by filtration through the intervening earth. The distance at which this sump should be placed from the bed of the stream will

Dr. Appleton on Copyright.

ANY author who has read Dr. Appleton's recent article in "The Fortnightly Review" on international copyright must have been struck with the absence of his own guild from the factors of the problem presented, and the lack of consideration for the interests and opinions of those who are concerned in the subject, primarily and principally. The omission is not Dr. Appleton's; it is a part of the case. In the history of the attempts that have been made to establish international copyright, authorship has had very little to do or to say. Indeed, it has never been recognized as a leading influence in the matter. Its interests have always been held subordinate to the publishing interest, which has come forward and assumed the management of the whole business. To put the case in Dr. Appleton's own words: "It must be remembered that, so far as any influence upon Congress is concerned, the little finger of Mr. Harper is thicker than the loins of all the literary and scientific men in the United States put together." The writer follows this emphatic statement with another which will give the reader data for forming a judgment on the actual condition of affairs as they relate to the two interests. Speaking of New England, he says: "Its literary men-and there are but few literary men out of New England-believe, as a body, in the inherent and inalienable rights of the author, just as Mr. Charles Reade might do."

In other language, the will and word of a single representative of a single eminent publishing-house has immeasurably more influence on Congress, touching a question which mainly concerns authorship, than the will and word of all the authors of the United States put together. We suppose this is true, and we beg leave to submit that the introduction of the publishing interest into this questionthe thrusting of that interest before it-the forcible mixing of the two things together-is not only an injustice but an impertinence. The only proper way for settling the question of international copyright is to settle it upon its own merits. Then, if any legislation should be necessary for the protection of the publishing interest, on either side of the Atlantic, let it be procured. There is no more reason why the publishing interest should have anything to say on the question of international copyright, or exercise a controlling influence upon it, than that it should undertake to control an arrangement with Peru for the working of the guano islands.

It is not a little amusing, in reviewing the efforts that have from time to time been made since 1838 for establishing international copyright, to see how everything and everybody is considered before the author. He is of very small account indeed. Publishers who make petitions, or who send remonstrances, or manipulate committees, now and then fling a sop of courtesy to him, but he is never

regarded as the principal person concerned. Indeed, one house not only distinctly discarded the claims of authors, but those also of publishers, book-sellers, printers, binders, press-makers, or any other body of tradesmen. "The interests of the people at large are to be regarded, and those interests alone." It is reported of the man who presented this letter that "his speech appears to have excited considerable amusement." We are not surprised with so much of the record, though it is no more amusing that such preposterous notions should be soberly offered than that publishers should assume to have anything at all to do with the question. It really is none of their business. It should be settled on its own merits, and then the publishing interest should take such measures with regard to the new status as circumstances may require, certain at least of thisthat nothing is lost to any legitimate interest by the establishment of simple justice between man and man, or between man and the public.

If there is anything to which a man has a right, it is to that which he creates, or that which his culture and labor bring into fresh combinations for the use of the world. The first factor in the value of a book is its authorship. The first man who does any work upon a book is the author. The question of publication depends, or is supposed to depend, upon the quality of that work. Until the author is fairly paid for his work, no man-publisher or readerhas a right to appropriate it any more than he has a right to steal a sixpence from his neighbor's pocket. Whenever an author's book is of value sufficient to be purchased, then there is a certain sum which undeniably belongs to him; and if he fails to get it, he is defrauded. This is common sense, and when presented simply to the common judgment, will meet with universal approval, the theories of such doctrinaires as Mr. Carey to the contrary notwithstanding.

If there were any danger of the author getting rich, with copyright in every country, we could afford to let matters drift, we suppose; but it is because there is so little money in authorship, at its best, that the authorial interest has so little power in Congress, and permits itself to be overshadowed by an interest whose corner-stone is the author's brain. The primary, vital value of every book is given to it by its author, and this in equity he never alienates. He should be able to win a return for his value from every man all over the world who chooses to purchase the volume that conveys it. It is only by giving a writer his own-if not generously, justly that authorship in America can become a great, life-giving, powerful estate. If the American people desire that American authorship shall be something more than an echo, they must give it a chance. They have seen how the patent laws work. Our mechanics, with the power to get a patent on their machinery in every country, surpass the world in useful and merchantable inventions. The cases are parallel, and there is no more reason

why publishers should mix themselves into, or undertake to control, the authorial interest than that makers and venders of machinery should undertake to make or remake the patent laws which give the inventor the possession of his own invention.

The bill drawn by the late Charles Astor Bristed, at the time (1872) secretary of the executive committee of an association consisting mainly of authors, stands as the best and simplest embodiment of the wishes and policy of American authorship with relation to this question. It ought to be enacted in precisely these words, and soon:

"All rights of property secured to citizens of the United States of America by existing copyright laws of the United States are hereby secured to the citizens and subjects of every country, the Government of which secures reciprocal rights to citizens of the United States."

Let this be enacted, to go into effect in two years, and then let publishers procure such legislation as may be necessary to secure their own interests. We assure them that they will not find authors intermeddling with their proceedings.

The New Administration.

ONE of the most significant, as well as one of the most gratifying, incidents of the political campaign whose result has been declared in the inauguration of President Hayes, was the confidence with which people looked forward to a peaceable settlement of the unprecedented questions precipitated upon Congress after and by the election.

Two candidates were in the field, one of whom carried nearly all the Northern states, with two or three of the Southern, while the other carried nearly all the Southern, with three or four of the Northern. In the count, it came down to the question of a single electoral vote. No great injustice was to be done as against the popular vote-by counting this vote on either side. We mean, simply, that the vote was about evenly divided, and for the sake of this vote the people were in no mood for fighting. It was felt, too, on every hand, that there were circumstances connected with the vote and count of Louisiana, which brought both the political parties under suspicion of fraud. It was one of those ugly questions which, in a petty nation, would have been fought over and made the pretext for a revolution. A mode of settlement was agreed upon, however; and although there were men base enough in Congress to "go back on" themselves, and to flaunt their perfidy in the eyes of a disgusted nation, the question was peacefully settled, and Governor Hayes was peacefully inaugurated. In this dignified solution of the difficulty, the country may justly rejoice, and may properly take new courage and comfort to itself.

Now we are to see how wise and patriotic a man the President is. He goes into office with great advantages. He goes into office at a time and under circumstances which render it impossible for him to be the president of his party, alone. He must be something more than this, or fail lamentably to be even this. He enters upon his duties with no sec-¡

ond term of office to manage for. From all necessity of this he has voluntarily cut himself off. He has his four years of office secure, and, beyond that, nothing to look for-nothing to contrive for. We cannot see that, as an honest and patriotic manand his history gives him a sound claim to this character-he has any motive to be other than an honest and patriotic executive—a president of the whole country; and we shall be greatly disappointed if he fail to win alike the best elements of the North and South to his support.

We are to remember now that the new administration is pledged to a reform of the Civil Service. How much it will be able to effect without the aid of a friendly House of Representatives, cannot at present be seen; but its whole influence must not only be promptly given to this reform, but held to it by the popular demand. The spoils system has been so controlling an element in our politics, that it will be very hard to eliminate it. There are so many men in politics who are there for nothing but spoils there are so many men in Congress with whom spoil has always been the great political motive-that the old system will not be permitted to die without protest. If the new president succeeds in effecting a reform, or in taking important steps toward it, he will do it against the open and covert opposition of corrupt men in both political parties. Public virtue is hardly a Republican monopoly, and political consistency can scarcely be expected of a party whose president is obliged to be patriotic rather than partisan in his administration. There will undoubtedly be a great deal of "filibustering" on this question; but we look to see the reform persistently pushed as long as Mr. Hayes is president. If he can in one term of office purify American politics of this debasing element, his name will stand among the foremost of those presidents who have established claims to the gratitude of their country and mankind.

The question concerning the currency seems to be rapidly settling itself. The return to the gold basis grows to be of less importance daily, of course, as we approach it. It would hardly take a very momentous financial stroke at this time to give our currency the gold value which its figures call for; and we may expect the change at any time. General Grant was so honest a friend of a sound currency, and so faithfully labored to secure it before he left office, that it seems a pity that his retirement could not have been punctuated by a universal return to specie payments.

The most vexing and difficult questions with which the new administration will be obliged to deal are connected, of course, with its Southern policy. How to secure the satisfaction and confidence of the white man, and, at the same time, the perfect freedom and perfect safety of the black man, will be the difficult problem. It is time for murder and bulldozing to cease. It is a shame to the American name-it is a disgrace to American civilization-that such deeds of outrage and blood as have been perpetrated at the South for the past few years, for political reasons and ends, are permitted. No matter who is primarily or