Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-06-22
Good Roads.

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l have been reading the series of ar
ticles on the above subject by Mr.. New
by with great interest. A few years
ago urged through the GAZETTE the
employment ofconvictson our roads and
am glad that an abler pen than mine
has taken up the subject and presented
it in such forcibie manner. 1t is a
fact that cannot be disputed that the
present way of working the roads is
farce and great waste Of both time
and money. l know whereof | speak,
for have been there ''m ny a time and
oft" Every time new overseer is APP
pointed over piece of road he pro-
ceeds to work it according to his ideas
and frequently spends the two days in
undoing what his predecessor had spent
the same time in doing. | remember
on one occasion that an overseer put
bis force to work in ditching very
sandy piece Of road. They put in an
entire day on very short stretch and
shoveled the sand out of the ditcfe5 in.
TO the road and just about sundown
rainstorm came up and by sunrise next
morning it was all washed back and no
one could tell that bitches had ever
been within mile Of the spot And
then the bitches that some overseers
make is perfect farce A plow is run
up one side of the road and down the
other, the dirt being thrown toCards the
road by the plow, and it is left in that
condition. Now how is it possible for
the water to run through the bank OF
dirt thus left, to get into the so-called
ditch? Others will run the plow in the
other direction and never remove the
dirt.
How can the water run through such
ditch? Another 'hoss' makes
hobby of "water breaks" and puts
them in at every place he can find in
the road, whther suitable or not, fire.
c,uently on level ground. l know of
one hill, not dozen miles from your
city, that is not 100 yards long and had
ten of these so-called "breaks" on it,
and not over two of them reached the
ditch at the side, and in consequence
the water would run round the end of
said breaks and make the road worse
than if it had none. For breaking wa
ter they were failure, for breaking
vehicles they were a perfect success.
Another had trunks on the brain and
in one year put in eight new ones in
less than two miles, through four of
which the water has never yet run.
He, evidently, was believer in plank
roads.
Then, again, the way the work is
done. The overseer consults his own
convenience as to the time Of working,
and it is generally put Off till the last
moment, which is late in the fall. New
dirt is thrown into the centre of the
road and it makes a perfect muck all
the following winter. For an example
of this remember the condition of the
Little River pike last winter, from the
"Stone bridge to the top of the hill
west oft. The majority Of the men
who do 90 out to work don't seem to
regard the matter as anything more
than frolic and don't care how it is
done. | have seen carts hauling loads
that would not be large for wheel
barrow and two horse wagons with
loads that would put one horse to the
blush.
As long as the present system is in
force such things will continue, and the
overseers will continue to work out
their taxes on the roads. Mr., Newly
has wisely taken Mt. Vernon District
for an example, for in that district by
the mutations of politics new board
of Road Commissioners has just been
elected who are energetic men and
great things are expected of them. Let
them try Mr.. Ms plan for one year and
see how it works. 1t can do no harm.
Things are in such q condition that
they cannot possibly be made worse
and all the chances are that they can be
made much better.
would, however, so step farther.
WHY should we be burdened by support
ing crowd of lazy convcts every win
ter in our snug jail, in perfect comfort
and idleness? We have to elect q dele
gate to the Legislature this fall; let us
Support no man who will not pledge
himselfto do his utmost to have a law
passed, so that every man sent to jail
for any term over two weeks shall be
| subject 10 NuEu lduOl iul po noVS "
work on our roads. These creatures
do not work and pay no taxes and
every winter steal s )mething so they can
have comfortable place and good food
for the winter and all at the expense OF
honest, hard working citizens. In this
way convict labor will not be brought
into competition with honest labor;
| ,D, =, otorc, will NOT hp able TO add
to their gains by paying 20 cents per
day for such labor, instead of giving the
market price of honest labor, and m our
whole State will reap the benefit. We
are taxed to feed and clothe the con-
victs and surely the people of the State
are tie ones who should derive any
benefits or profits that could be made
from them. If convicts know they will
have to work, we will soon see fewer in
our jails. In the good old days of the
whipping post we did not have half so
many petty criminals. But in these
degenerate days it is impossible to get
that back and equally impossible to get
| ~, overooa candidate for leoiclatrra RI