Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-08-27
Mlistellaueuns &eadiug.
THE PURLIC ROADS.

The annual time for working the public
roads has arrived. The road law requires
the superintendents of the highways to ap-
point the overseers in his highway district,
and to assign them hands. The overseers
are required to have the hands warned to
work the roads, giving them twelve hours
notice of the time and place of working,
and the kind of tool each shall bring.
All our citizens should be interested in the
public roads of the county. If the law is
complied with as it should be great i'm
provements will be made in the roads,
but we are sorry to notice that too fire.
quently the law is evaded. While great
many overseers try to do their duty faith
fully, others are satisfied to call out their
hands and to throw up little fresh dirt
into the middle of the road in places, and
seem to try to see how soon they can march
their hands with their tools on their shoul-
ders from one end of their section to the
other, unless the superintendent of the high
ways designates the number of days to be
worked, and then to see how little can be
stances of this kind in the past, but hope
that we have no overseers now but faithful
ones. Superintendent of the highways
should see to it that the roads in their dis
tricts are properly worked. Where all su-
perintendents, overseers and hands do not
faithfully discharge their road duty, the
burden falls unequally upon the citizens.
One overseer may do five days work on his
section of the road, and another overseer
not so conscientious may only do one or two
days work on his section, although need
ing work Just as badly. So it is important
that superintendent of the highways should
look closely after this matter.
The road law imposes penalties for its
violation, yet it is very seldom that one is
punished for its violation. A strict enforce
ment of the law by the county commission
ers and superintendents of highways will do
more to improve our public roads than any
thing that can be done at this time. It is
too often the case that county commission
ers fail to enforce the law because they are
afraid that they would lose some votes at
the next election. AS a general rule the
law would be enforced more strictly if the
office of county commissioners was an ap-
pointive one and not an elective one. But
Anderson county will not suffer in this re-
spect from our present board of county COM
missioners, for they are all fearless men in
discharging what they deem to be duty.
They have had an abstract of the road law
published and sent to each superintendent
OF highways IN the county, ana SeVeral
copies for general distribution, in order that
the people might be more generally inform
ed as to what is required. So those neglect
ing their duties in this respect may antici-
pate, as far as the county commissioners can
do so, to see the law enforced.
We think the road law of this State is de-
ficient in some respects and should be
amended, but we think only by the enforce
ment of the law as it stands now, can the
roads be improved until better system is
devised.
The road law requires that all roads shall
he twenty feet wide, except those leading
to Charleston, Georgetown, Columbia, Ham
burg or Cheraw, which are to be thirty feet
wide. In great many places in the county
the roads are not ten feet wide, caused by
the farmers ploughing into the roads. This
matter has been presented to the grand jury
of the county and should have the attention
it deserves. In working the roads, the
overseers should work them the width they
were laid off, no matter if it destroys the
corn and cotton of some private individual,
for he had no right to cultivate the public
roads; and if necessary to prevent such tres
passes on the public roads, let the commits
sioners prosecute some of the trespassers for
obstructing the public highways.-Ander-
son H1teNigencer.