Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-31
THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR.

Build roads, build good roads, but pay
for them as you go.-[Belton Journal.
The public road question is one of the
most important matters with which the next
legislature will have to grapple, but not less i'm
portant than railroad regulation Pittsburg
Gazette.
The discussion of the road question by
our newspaper brethren throughout the state re-
minds us very much of the convention of rats
which is said to have been held once, to decid &
what should be done with the cats. After much
talk 1t was unanimously agreed that cats were
dangerous animals, and that they ought to be
belled; but the question OF greater Importance
to them was, Who was to bell them and how ii
was to be done. Our quill drivers and every
body else have unanimously agreed that roads
in Texas are bad and that our present road sys-
tenn is farce, but the question of most import
ance is, What is the remedy and how shall it be
applied Pamela Watchman.
Everyone has had something to- say IN
regard to roads. and we have held our
peace, as we supposed the people had as
good roads as they wanted. The law gives them
control, and If they are IN bad condition the
fault lies with the commissioners, oVerseers and
the people. We do not deem the present load
law good one, for we have always favored tax
alton SO as TO reacn corporations, nOn-reSl0entS
and those over forty five years of age. Citizens
should be allowed to work out their tax, and
they should be made to give an honest
days work. The commissioners in gen.
erSl are failing to do their duty as
road supervisors, but we fear they do not fail to
draw their per diem for such services. The law
ought to specify the character of roads, graded
from the center to each side, so as to secure
drainage. Every gully and ravine should have
an ample culvert forthe escape OF accumulated
water, and soft, spongy land or slpes covered
with brush and then weighted with top soil and
not with clay. These specifications nominated
in the bond" would give supervisors a standard
by which to report their roads. AS the law now
stands everyone has his own ideal to be gov
erned by and not legal Standard Wills Point
Chronicle.
The people want roads and good ones,
but are not ready for and Will not sanction the
methods proposed to raise money for this
purpose. The daily press of the state in
duIging in the sheerest nonsense when they ad-
vocate the policy of issuing county bonds to
get money TO macadamize the public roads OF a
county. 1t is all very well and easy for these
doctrinaire gentlemen to sit in their sanctums
and write out great long editorials IN advocacy
of a bonded debt sch eme for getting revenue for
such objects, but when you get down to the
question and take ''hoss'' sense view of their
plan, it is visionary and impractlcable: There
is no provision of the present constitution that
had subserved wiser and better end than the
one inhibiting counties from issuing bonds
TCrockett Courier.
And why visionary and impracticable?''
The Courier admits that the people want good
roads; it will probably also admit that good
roads cost money. Then; it is simply question
of the best way to raise the money. There
are but two ways-direct taxation and bond
issue. The former means that the work shall be
done by the wasteful drlblet plan the latter that
It shall be done at once; that the people shall
enter without delay into the enjoyment of good
thoroughfares and pay fer them gradually. The
adoption of an amendment that viii leave it OPP
tional with every county how the money shall be
raised, whether it be raised at all or not. that
tinue to pull through the mud, is what the
'sdoctrinaries'' of the daily press are urging
The Courier assumes that the taxpayer cannot
be trusted to manage his own afairs-that I'M
less the state puts check upon him he Will rush
headlong to ruin; the daily press insists that he
is a rational being, who should be left free TO
manage his own affairs in his own way Hous
ton Post.
AS public roads are being generally
discussed by the candidates for governor and
others, and as I am plain farmer, I will give
you my views, which You can publish if you
think any of my suggestions are worthy of con-
sideration. They as follows:
/. Repeal all road laws.
2. Divide each county into four or more road
5. Let the grand iuries do this at the first term
in each year
l. Let them appoint one road supervisor for
each road precinct at salary of $50 for every
month he is at work on the roads, counting
twenty-six days as one month.
3. Let him hire able bodied men to go and
work on the roads in his precinct twice in each
year and keep all bridges and roads in good re-
pair, each of said road supervisors reporting to
the grand Jurors of their respective counties at
eac6 session IN case of death or Tesirnation
let the county Judge appoint his successor.
Now for the way TO do this and how TO get at it:
6. Repeal the saloon tax now in force.
T. Then levy tax of $1,000 on each saloon
in each and every county, and let
this be road and bridge fund, and be used for
s. Then levy poll tax on every voter of 81,
and allow no man TO vote until it is paid an
nually, and let this go to roads and schools,
8. The men that are selected to sit on grand
juries of each county, on an average, are better
Offices and they should be the men to select
road supervisors and to report the condition of
the roads in their road precincts to the next
Throckmorton' s views about reducing the mum.
Der of offences for felonies may be a good one,
but when you come down in the dark counties
and fill our iails with negroes for petty larceny
and require the honest farmers and taxpayers to
pay SIS s month to feed these thieves and keep
them in idleness it viii not do. Put them on
the road. "a Farmer in Texas Western.
The question of good public roads is
sim being discussed by our farmers. and in fac
they seem to be getting just fairly interested in
the matter. We have given considerable atten-
ton to this subject, and have arrived at some
conclusions which we give our readers for their
consideration.
In the first place we have poor road law, and
In the second place the poor law we have is still
more poorly enforced, and taking the two poor
things together. we have . very poor thing IN
deed.
If the terms of even the poor law we have
were complied with By overseer and hands
much better roads would be the result.
It is a fact too well known 70 need anv manner
of proof that the average oyerseer and his hands
90 on the road merely to kin time and make u
pretense toward complying with the law, and
the careless manner IN which the grand jury and
comInissioners' court have passed over the re-