Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-13
GOOD Rods.

The Constitution has been peggfng away on
the subject of good roads for many years but the
! subject is of such vital Importance to the we'll
being of the taxpayers OF the state that its dis
cussion is interesting the year round. The Phil
/ adelphia Press has an article headed ''Good
Roads and Civilization and there can be no
doubt that the two go hand in hand. Good roads
! are educators in every sense Of the word and at
the same time they are evidences of the public
spirit and enterprise that are the outgrowth of
the highest civilization.
We are surprised to learn that the roads Of
Pennsylvania are no better than those of Geor-
gia, both dating back, so far as their condition
is concerned, TO the colonial times. This condi-
ton is an evidence that the American system of
road making is still primitive. If the money
that has been spent in useless but costly work on
the public roads in Georgia during the last half
century had been devoted to making permanent
improvements, every community in the state
would to-day be enjoying the blessing OF good
roads.
But during all this time, the money paid for
work on the roads has been thrown away. There
is but one method. The bitches on the roadside
are cleaned out and the dirt thrown into the mid
die of the road. 1t is a foolish and costly sys-
TEN, ana there is no sort of excuse for it any
more than there is for sending cotton to market
in an ox-cart when they can send it on the rail-
road.
Fulton county has set an example that might
well be followed by the rest of the counties of the
state. For several years the county commits
sioners of Fulton have pursued the policy of max
ing permanent improvements on the public roads,
carrying these improvements to the county line.
The result has shown that this policy is the very
essence Of wisdom and economy. The work has
been carried on slowly but none the less surely
Every year something has been done, and the
work is of a permanent character.
There IS no county in the state that cannot I'M
dertake and successfully carry out the policy
that has given and is giving Fulton good roads,
ATLANTA Constitution.
When old states like Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Georgia advocate permanent i'm
provements OF public highways, Texas
certainly should heed the lesson con-
veyed. No doubt there were men in
the three states named fifty years ago
who advocated permanent improved
roadways, since means Of communication
is coeval with civilization and, as much
as anything else mark the latters s pro
gress; and no doubt there were men,
also, at that time who acclaimed against
the expense of such Improvements in the
interest of 'posterity. Had the men
who lived in those days legislated and
builded for the people then on the earth,
the people now on the earth would be
enjoying the same blessing and would not
be confronted with the same problem.
The article from the Constitution is
worthy all consideration; it is addressed
70 the wisdom of man and not to the
demagogue or penny wise. Those gen,
tlemen in Texas who are so concerned
about posterfty should read and re-read
this from the Georgia paper:
eff the money that has been spent in
useless work on the public roads III Geor-