IN ROAD BUILDING

It was once the usual practice, as it still is in some localities,
for each farmer to give a certain number of days each year to work
on the roads. Now, in the most progressive communities, the roads
are better and more uniformly built and kept in better repair
because they are placed by the community in charge of skilled
roadmakers paid for by taxation. But whether the farmer
contributes money or labor, or both, cooperation is planned and
directed by the government. (See Chapter XVII.)

IN HEALTH PROTECTION

In Benjamin Franklin's time, each householder in Philadelphia
swept the pavement in front of his home if he wanted it kept
clean. Franklin, who was a splendid example of good citizenship in
that he was always looking for opportunities to improve his
community, tells what happened:

One day I found a poor industrious man, who was willing to
undertake keeping the pavement clean by sweeping it twice a week,
carrying off the dirt from before all the neighbors' doors, for
the sum of sixpence per month to be paid by each house. I then
wrote and printed a paper setting forth the advantages to the
neighborhood that might be obtained by this small expense. ... I
sent one of these papers to each house, and in a day or two went
around to see who would subscribe an agreement to pay these
sixpences; it was unanimously signed, and for a time well
executed. This raised a general desire to have all the streets
paved, and made the people more willing to submit to a tax for