The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-18
The Public

4 friend, vino is a distinguished citizen of the
State, has written us Il private letter congratu-
lating us for agitating the subject OF public
highways, and although the letter is addressed
TO- us individually, with the injunction not to
publish, we have omitted 4 part Of the letter
itself and nave kept the name of the writer
out of print. He says he gives US, for what
they are worth, such thoughts as have suggest
cd themselves to him, and they are so forcibly
put, and so well said, that we have not only
borrowed his ideas, but his words as well.
There is no subject of equal importance now
before our people, as the road system, and
there is no tow in the State which has suffer-
ed more in the past, and is suffering more at
present from bad roads than this very tow
of Abbcvillc.
While no one will deny that we need more
railroads, it is still more imperative that our
roads should receive the very work and change
which our correspondent suggests.
We spend between 5000 and 5000 annually
for reads and bridges, besides something like
5000 in transportation expenses in sending con
victs to Columbia. After they get to Columbia
they are worth each to the State about fifty
cents Il day. We actually pay the expense of
SoiiN ltilHS llltlll IL Noult tliu tlitil ptJ III SA-
pcnsc of transportation to the pcnitcntiarE at q
time when we need the services of 4 hundred
such. laborcrs on our own public highways.
.Abbcvill" today has nearly enough convicts in
the State pcnitcntiary to work and lay Of
anew every road in the county, and yet this
work is neglected, and we 60 to great expense
to send away the very labor which We so much
need. The evil of the practice seems so plain
to lis that it is Il wonder that the custom has
not been stopped long ago. The coEvicts arc
ours, and We should, by right, have the bcnc-
tit of their services, and We should have laws
! which would enable us to make all necessary
changes in roads, without being subject to UNI
necessary delays.
Our correspondent seems to think il would
be necessary to levy q tax for the support of
the c~onvicts, and the expense of the guard and
surveyor. This is doubtful, 81 far as .Abbcvillc
county is concerned. We spend annually
thousands of dollars for bridges. If we had
competent and efficient men in charge of the
c~onricts, they could build the bridges at NOM
inal cost, which at present cost so much. Gen
cral Bradley, when he had charge of cGnvict$
grading the Greenwood and Augusta Railroad,
stopped the work and took a contract to build
Il line fence with the cGnvictS, and made a
handsome profit, the proceeds Of which fed the
%convicts for Il long time.
BY applying business principles and practi-
cal common sense to the work, We believe that
we can easily enough have splendid roads,
without q burdcnSOmc tax.
There is scarcely a road in Abbcvillc county
which could not be chcaply improved, so that
a team would haul double the amount which
is possible low. Teams can move with much
greater speed IN good roads, and nearly every
road in this county can be made straightcr
and shorter. Every mile saved in distance, is
that much saved in Keeping up. y road on a
level bed is not near as hard to keep up as one
which goes out of the direct route in order to
climb oyer all the highest hills in the neigh
bOrhOOd.