Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-12-04

of the agriculturist and the manufacturer,
and that we have belt Of mineral resources
running through the State as rich, if not rich
er, than any that have been discovered else
where. In fact, these natural resources are
far more abundant and important than is
generally known to our own people them
selves, much less to outsiders.
If it is the policy of the State to encourage
immigration, to bring foreign capital into
our midst and to have these resources devel.
oped, nothing, think, would tend more to
the accomplishment of these ends than relia.
BILE facts and data collected by some author
lied and responsible agency and condensed
and methodized into statistical reports and
results, so that the character of our resources
could be seen at a glance and the valuable
informatticHl this collected promptly utilized
to the ends suggested. -----,,--->--.
This is the age of rapid thought and move
ments, and condensed information is Of the
very highest Importance, and nothing has
played more effective part in the pro
gress Of other communities than reliable sta
tistics in reference to the various material in
terests upon which their growth depended,
and what has been made useful elsewhere can
be made useful with US.
I therefore recommend this subject to your
careful consideration, hoping that some plan
may be adopted by which we may not only be
put abreast with other States in these matters,
but also our valuable resources brought to
light in such way as to attract that attention
which they so eminently deserve, and may be
made the means of promoting widespread
prosperity.
PUBLIC ROADS.
"The roads of country have been frequent
ly said to be accurate and certain tests to the
degree of its civilization. Their construction
Of people from barbarism, and their i'm.
provements should keep pace with the ad-
vances of the nation in numbers, wealth in
dustry and science, of all Of which they are
at once an element and an evidence they are
the veins and the arteries of the body polite,
through which flow the agricultural produc-
tions and commercial supplies which consti.
tute the e-blood of the State, and upon their
condition, suficiency and number depend,
in great degree, the health life and vigor Of
the industries of the people"
If our civilization was tested by this rule,
I fear that our position would not be as high
in the scale as we are disposed to claim. Our
public highways, as general thing, are in a
wretched condition, and one of the necessi-
ties of our situation is radical change in the
road system. We have railroads now rum
ming to most of the County sites in the State,
and as a consequence, the County villages
have become market towns to the inhabitants
of the Counties in which they are located,
where their produce is sold, and from which
they are mostly supplied with their CONNER
cial supplies. What an impetus would be
given to agriculture, to progress, and improve.
ment in every way, if to these different County
sites, from the extremities of the respective
Counties, we're running we'll graded, level and
firm highways? Every branch Of industry
would thereby be materially benefited, the
expense of carrying to market every article
reduced, and the necessities of life greatly
cheapened to the consumer.
The difference as to ease and. rapidity Of
transportation resulting from improved high
ways-improved by proper skill and labor
bestowed in laying them out, leveling and
keeping them in constant repair-is much
greater than is usually imagined.
As an illustration Of this fact, would refer
to a statement made by one who has thor
oughly examined this subject, as follows: "ln
road rising hundred feet in the distance
of two thousand, its ascending slope would be
one in twenty. One-twentieth of the whole
load drawn over it must be actually lifted
up the entire height of one hundred feet;
but upon such slope horse could draw
only one-half as much as he can upon level
road, and two horses, therefore, will be need:
ed on such road to do the work Of one if
the road was level" If this be the fact-in
the matter of leveling and properly grading
simply-the cost of carriage could be greatly
reduced and when added to this the constant
repairs of the surface-which could be kept
up by judicious systematic advantages
would be almost incalculable. These ad-
vantages would not be confined to those
who trade at the market towns, but would
extend to the towns themselves, enabling them
to grow and expand indefinitely, multiplying
their population and increasing their wealth.
Our present system, if adhered to for all time,
could never produce these results. 1t is def
cent in two essential particulars-skilled su-
perintendence and control, and constant and
efficient labor. These cannot be supplied by
the present system. Each county should
have practical engineer or road commission
er, in sole charge Of the county highways;
his whole time should be devoted to the bust
ness. The necessary labor should be furnished
him by county and other convicts, commuta-
tion tax, and such other labor as migh not be
able or willing to pay the tax. And this off,
Ger should be held strictly responsible for the
condition Of the roads. In system OF this
sort, after short experiment, l am fully per-
suaded the people would most cordially COOP
crate; and besides furnishing employment
for many deserving young men, and inducing
scientific education in direction much needed
for the full development Of our resources, q
patriotic rivalry would spring up in the diff
ferent counties, and with the different officers
in charge, which would soon work most
wonderful change in the face Of our country
leading to the wealth and prosperity Of the
whole State. I most earnestly recommend
this subject to your consideration, as the one
matter most needing attention in our present
condition.
Governor McDufie, in his Message to the
General Assembly in 1887, in discussing the
road system of that day, said: "The roads
through the State are in much neglected
condition. 1 travelled through some Of the
Western districts of the State soon after the
crops were laid by, and found the roads in
many places almost impossible by wagon or
carriage. The citizen loses, as it may be
safely affirmed, four times as much labor as
is rendered to the State, and the portion that