The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1880-11-25

Oh Il COUNTY are paced UaueF tie
troll of supervisors, whose duty it is TO
control and work the roads Of the
county, and t. look after the bridges.
and highways. For this purpose
suitable tools are provided, and the
board Of supervisors are made re-
sponsible to the law, after the manner
Of the mayor and aldermen Of an IN
corporated town. a road fund is
also provided and placed under proper
restriction, to be expended in keeping
up the public roads. It occurs to the
| writer that system Of this sort could
be taken as basis in Tennessee. Let
the next Legislature pass a law re-
curing the county court to designate
certain prominent and more import
ant lines Of travel, leading from the
county seat to other prominent places
in the county, each Of these lines con-
shutting a road district and placed
under special road commissioner for
said road, the commissioners to be
appointed by the court or elected by
the people. Then let the county
court assess n road tax for fund to
be expended by The road commission
ers in keeping up these main lines Of
travel, and purchasing suitable tools,
carts and horses for this work. For
this purpose the board Of commission
ers can be required to give bond for
the proper disbursing Of the fund and
to pass their accounts at stated times
before the county court for approval.
In addition to the Iaborers to be en-
| ployed, let the misdemeanoy convicts
who fail TO pay or secure fines and
costs foI violating the law, be sen
fenced to work out these judgments,
under the commissioners, on the
public rords, at stated sum per day,
uutil the same are paid In this way
the county is saved the enormous ex
pense Of paying twelve dollars q
month board in the county jail and
also the cost bill in these cases. The
workhouse law was intended to meet
this trouble, but practically the work
house law in most Of the counties il
the State Is entirely useless for sucL
f a purpose, and the counties have al
, most universally found it cheaper t.
pay these Jail expenses than to keeI
! mp a workhouse. Some ether plan
, must be adopted to meet the enler
8 gencies, and it seems to the write
this latter suggestion will meet it
In this way the county can build VI
] their roads, and at the same time
save these heavy Jail and court costs
OF course some authority and polio,
; powers must be conferred upon the
, road commissioners to compel con
= victs to perform the labor. The fine
assessed against all misdemeanor con
victs may be required to go to tn,
t road fund and thus the road tax b;
reduced. In this way it would only
require few years to put these main
lines of travel in excellent order, ant
. after that the expenditure woul,
necessarily be much less, and the tn.
e but nominal. 1t may be objecte,
that tax spent income portion of tn
/ county does not benefit the people il
= another portion who have to pa,
: taxes. The same objection may b
r urged to building bridges BY taxation
+ in one portion Of the county whel
T the people who help to pay for it ar
+ not in the part in which the bridge
, built. But this objection IS unsound
o for public roads are a necessity t
: every part Of the county, and reall,
G Of more general benefit than bridges
b By keeping up these main lines PEG
f pie who have to travel, or who hav
. to haul over them to market, vii
/. make it convenient to get to one o
of these lines by the shortest route t
= it, after which they have a goo,
f thoroughfare. The lateral an,
f neighborhood roads can be kept u
as at present by road hands unde
overseers in the neighborhood or vi
: entity of these roads. Perhaps i
o would not be cumbersome to requir
o the road commissioners to look afte
+ the working Of these lateral road
under the present system. OF cours
q these commissioners ought to b
paid a reasonable compensation 70
! their work and responsibility, an,
by securing practical men, who vii
make it their business to 90 owe
their lines, and also to acquaint them
, selves with all the requirements 0
their roads, such as bridges, washes
quicksands, etc, rs well as milt
marking and placing sign-hoards up
the public will beamply compensate,
for the outlay. a close study Of tht
new and improved implements nov