Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-07-26
gt1istellaueons &eadima.
OUR PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
ANOTHER LETTER ON THE SUBJECT FROM
SENATOR BUTLER.
EDGEFILD. July II.


EDGEFILD, July II.
LET us visit all countries Of the earth, and
wherever we find no facilities for travelling from
a city to town, or from village to a hamlet, we
may presume the people to be barbarlans.
This sentiment was uttered by "a French
writer of distinction about the middle OF the
18th century, something more than hun
dred years ago. Now, while we have some
facilities for travelling from city to town
or from village to hamlet" l am afraid
in parts of the country, and between Il
number of our Settles and towns" and
of our "villages and hamlets," we have
not such facilities" as will take us entirely
out of the category embraced in this sweep
ing statement. / am sure | should feel in
clined to resent the imputation of "barba-
rianism" if it should be applied to this To-
cality, and yet if facilities for travelling"
is to be construed as referring to public
highways, and they are to be the measures
of our advancement in civilization, l do not
see how / could well escape the impeach-
ment. Many of our highways are public
roads only in name. We manage to get
over them after fashion, but they cannot
be said to afford facilities for travelling"
In many places their location is faulty,
their construction worse and their mainte-
nance superlatively bad, and it makes one
feel like barbarian" or heatkcn, what
ever may be his pretentions to civilized
existence, every time he travels over a
"chronic case" of bad road. / have tried
to find some way out of the ''old ruts' and
at the same time adhere to our present sys-
tenn of public-road working, but have not
succeeded. I do not believe there is way
out except by changing the law. The force
provided by law is strong enough in num-
bers and muscle, but the machinery for
utilizing the force is defective and ineftica-
cious. 1t does not operate efficiently. You
may bind together an army of the best
fighting material in the world, and however
skillful and able the general, without organ
ization and discipline they will be no more
You may assemble upon the public high
WAYS of South Carolina hundred thousand
or hundred and fifty thousand of the most
stalWart laborers to be found, to work and
keep them in repair, and if there is no 9TH
er inducement to make them do their work
we'll than their own volition, and the pres
ence of an overseer or superintendent, they
had almost as well be at home. There is
really no other inducement under our sys-
tenn, unless you take into account the Sentl-
ment of patriotism and the meager penalties
provided in the statute. Patriotism never
worked road fit for goat to travel from
the days when the Roman consuls and
praetors made their enduring "ways'' to
the last spasmodic efforts on the Horns
Creek Hills in this county. And the ''pen-
alties" have few terrors for the average road
hand. We place in the hands of our county
commissioners a huge machine without
the power to make it operative, and yet ex-
pect them to give us good roads. They
Simply cannot do it, if each one of them
was an expert, as accomplished as McAdam
or Telfourd, and would devote every work
ing day in the year to this business and no
other.
1t was part of my purpose originally to
have given a synopsis Of the road laws OF
several of the States as well as of our own,
but find upon an examination Of the stat
utes it would occupy more of your space
than / could properly ask for, and shall,
therefore content myself with the leading
features of our own statutes and such refer
ence to others as occasion may require. l
was in hopes by this time to have had the
number of miles Of public roads in this
State, but as yet very few replies have been
made by the several boards Of county COM
missioners to the question thatI took the
liberty of submitting sometime since. The
process of procuring the information ap-
pears to me very simple. Every county
IS divided into ''road districts" Overseers
are appointed over every section of road,
and of course each knows how many miles
he has under his supervision. So that it
would only be necessary to get returns from
the overseers and add them up. l do not
care that the reports be more than approx
imately correct, for my purpose in asking
the information is to form some estimate
(Which can only be approximately of the cost
of maintenance under given plan. And
my interogations about bridges and ferries
were prOpounded with the same view.
However, have no doubt this information
will be forthcoming in due time, and in the
meantime Gn my next cOmmunlcation) l
will address myself to the consideration of
our own statutes.
In the interest of an intelligent consider
alton Of this question it would be very de-
sirable to know how many persons. ARE liza
BILE to road duty in South Carolina. Taking
out the inhabitants of cities and towns, who
are not liable, but are taxed either in their
persons or property or both for the expenses
of the municipality, the number OF road
hands ought to be almost equal to the num-
Der of voters outside of incorporate limits /;
but more on this branch of the subject here
after.
am fully alive to the difficulties in my
path in the treatment of this subject. I re-
alize how the consideration Of any econom-
ic question in this and other Southern States
is embarrassed and complicated by the
heterogenousness of the population; one
class paying a large portion of the taxes,
and the other very little, yet all sharing
alike the benefits of public expenditures or
improvements.
lam fully conscious of how prone our peO-
pie are to regard with distrust propositions
looking to the abandOnmentO of old and time
hOnored methods, or make innovations upon
settled customs and habits, and how jealous
ly they watch any movement likely to result
in an increase of taxation. This is as it
should be. 1t IS right and proper that we
scrutinize closely the imposing of taxes and
appropriations of public money, for IN that
way alone can we have pure and economic
administration of our Government. l go
further, and say that no change of law is JUS
tifiable that is not sanctioned by sound rea-
son and the exigencies of the public, and no
increase in taxation is justifable over and
above the actual demands of the public ser
vice that cannot be clearly shown to be at
tended by compensatory advantages to the
people.
1 appreciate, in their most emphatic i'm
port, all these difficulties and many more,
but a frank discussion of a great question
like this can result in no harm. The need of
Improvement and reformation is admitted
on all sides. 1t is purely an economic ques-
tion, and has no elements that can give it a
political or party complexion, and on that
account is more worthy of the best thought
and earnest reflection of every citizen who