Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1883-04-27
Our Road System.

teresting, and it will serve to e'ucidate a
discussion of this question.
By the act of 1868, Gu 452, the system OF
public road repairs known as the Page
system" Qrom the fact of its supervision
having been entrusted to Capt H. c. Page
was submitted TO the voters of the county
for adoption, and was adopted. The dis
tinetive features of this system, as will be
remembered, were that it made ''every
male resident of Charles county above the
age of 81 years liable to road service upon
the public roads in said county, within
the road district in which he may reside
not exceeding 2 days in each year," said
service to be rendered in person or by sub
stitute and that it authorized the appoint.
ment of "a person OF skill as engineer and
draughtsman, Superintendent of the Roads
for Charles county," the superintendent to
receive salary of not less than $500 mol
more than $1,000.
This system went into operation the fol,
lowing year, Capt. H. Clagett Page having
been appointed superintendent, and the
proper Implements having been procured
This system continued in operation a lit
tie over year, during which time it gave
most positive and satisfactory results -
Substantial causeways were constructed
in many OF the swamps, which had pre-.
viously been impossible in bad weather
bridges were constructed in a substantial
and scientific manner, skiliful system OF
drainage was for the first time established
and the road beds generally were greatly
improved in every portion thst the repair
ing corps were able to operate on in the
short period that the system existed. We
have not been able to ascertain definitely
but we are toldathat the expense of the
system did not exceed the limi, fixed for
the present system-Sfo,0 900 . year g.
Had that system been SLOWED to con
tinue until now the roads of the county
would have been complete turnpikes from
one end of the county to the other. and
the expense for repairs in all future time
would have been merely nominal. But
there are always restless agItaters in every
community, ready to combat its best in
siitutions; and too sften possessed Of sui
ficient Influence with the popular masses
to pervert the popular will. So it proved
to he with Charles county in this case and
in the election for the Assembly in the fall
of 1869, an issue was made upon the road
system The trivial and groundless OBJ
lection was made that the law was uncon-
stitutional in requiring the labor OF indi-
viduals without compensation, and del
egation against the system was sent to
Annapolis.
The result was that, by the act of 1870
oh apter 1879, the law authorizing the road
system was repealed and, by chapter 294
OF the acts of the same session. the whole
regulation of the matter was placed with
the county commissioners, who were
authorized to employ one or more perman
ent corps of laborors, not TO exceed four,
and to appoint supervisors and regulate
their compensation as well as all inciden-
tai expenses, the aggregate expense of the
system not to exceed $4,000 per annum.
By the act of 1874, chap'er 493 the com
missioners were authorized in their dis
oretion, to appoint nine corps for carrying
on the road work
This has been the system which has
been in force for the last 12 years, during
which time about 100000 of the money
of the people of the county has been ex-
pended, and yet the universal verdict is
that no substantial or enduring repiar have
been made. The roads have rather as we
previously stated, become worse under the
present system and the fine causeways,
roadbeds and drains that marked the briei
duration of the Page system have almost
entirely disappeared.
Tie cause Of these bad resclts are, in
our judgmen. not so much in The present
system, as in the fact Of the gross incom.
potency of the supervisors entrusted with
the service and the inferior class of laoeI
that has been employed at high wages in
this service. The road service is made a
political machine by the county commits
sioners and the little ring that control:
them, and the result is that ignorant black
| and white men, s,me OF whom scarcely
know whether water runs up or down the
hill, are appointed supervisors. They in
turn employ lazy and negligent black men
who are too worthless to be employed or
farms, and we witness the result The
road corps or, as they are more properly
called by some Of our literary Republican
friends ''corpses," regard their employment
as reward for party services, and they
naturally enough desire to take their ease
and enjoy their reward. Even in the few
occasional exceptions. when the supervis-
ors have some conscientious regard for
their duty, they are so entirely ignoran! oil
the principles which should govern the
repair of roads as to be working at an in
superable disadvantage. Frequently we
have witnessed one of the ''corpses'' haul
ing gravel on the two lazy old sleepy
mules distance of over a mile, while the
least knowledge of engineering would have
enabled them to discover gravel pits
within few hundred yards of where they
were needed.
Under these circumstances it is not sur
prising that the people are dissatisfied, and
that they desire a change. The questio
which suggests itself to them and which
we have heard propounded is shave the
tax payers the power to effect change, in
the present state of aft tirs here 2" Weare
of opinion that they can, if they will man
ifest interest enough in the question to
bring about concerted action Whether
the taxpayers of the county shall or shall
not succeed in being represented in the
next Legislature by deleg ties from this
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