ational road to Ohio which
the Government built between 1811 and 1817. These famous stone roads of
Maryland long kept Baltimore in the lead as the principal outlet for the
western trade. New York, too, proved her right to the title of Empire
State by a marvelous activity in improving her magnificent strategic
position. In the first seven years of the nineteenth century
eighty-eight incorporated road companies were formed with a total
capital of over $8,000,000. Twenty large bridges and more than three
thousand miles of turnpike were constructed. The movement, indeed,
extended from New England to Virginia and the Carolinas, and turnpike
companies built all kinds of roads--earth, corduroy, plank, and stone.

In many cases the kind of road to be constructed, the tolls to be
charged, and the amount of profit to be permitted, were laid down in
the charters. Thus new problems confronted the various legislatures, and
interesting principles of regulation were now established. In most
cases companies were allowed, on producing their books of receipts and
expenditures, to increase their tolls until they obtained a profit of
six per cent on the investment, though in a number of cases nine per
cent was permitted. When revenues increased beyond the six per cent
mark, however, the tendency was to reduce tolls or to use the extra
profit to purchase the stock for the State, with the expectation
of ultimately abolishing tollgates entirely. The theories of state
regulation of corporations and the obligations of public carriers,
extending even to the compensation of workmen in case of accident, were
developed to a considerable degree in this turnpike era; but, on the
other hand, the principle of permitting fair profit to corporations upon
public examination of their accounts was also recognized.

The stone roads, which were passable at all seasons, brought a new era
in correspondence and business. Lines of stages and wagons, as well
known at that time as are the great railways of today, plied the new
thoroughfares, provided some of the comforts of travel, and assured the
safer and more rapid delivery of goods. This period is sometimes known
in American history as "The Era of Good Feeling" and the turnpike
contributed in no small degree to make the phrase applicable not only to
the domain of politics but to all the relations of social and commercial
life.

While road building in the East gives a clear picture of the rise and
growth of c