The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1895-03-28
About and Suggestions for
the improvement
PRESENT SYSTEM ROAD WORKING,
The Removal Of Rocks VIII Aid Easy
Travelling and Will Certainly
Prove Beneficial.

the public roads, just before the
Grand Jury is in session, is not soon
abolished, the time will soon come
when our roads will be impossible
Blk months in the year. Let any
one take pleasure ride to. day over
any Of the roads in Cobb county
and it will not take any other ar
gument to convince the most skep>
tical that there, is screw loose in
our road system that needs tighten
ing. Hir
In my judgment the principal
cause and trouble lies in this fact,
that just so long as the overseers are
compelled through the fear OF an
unjust, tyranical and foolish law to
work the public roads before the
Grand Jury meets, regardless of the
condition the roads are in, before
they are worked, or the condition
they are left in afterwards; / say,
just so long as such law exists and
threats are made to overseers OF it's
enforcement, unless strictly COM
piled with, just that long will the
State of Georgia be cursed with
public roads that are a disgrace and
travesty on the name OF the road.
| say, also, thara different method
of working the rosas will have to be
inaugurated from the one now prac-
ticod by a majority of road over>
seers before we will ever have good
roads. | don't care what time of
the year they are worked.
The practice of throwing every
rock and stone that can be found
along the highway up into the mid
die of the road, ought to be prohib-
tied and enforced by law. That is
the first necessary step in the right
direction toward an Improvement in
our public roads. Let the Commits
sioners when appointing overseers,
notify them that they must not ais
low rocks thrown upon the road,
but instead to take the picks and
remove every stone larger than an
egg off Of the road and place to
one side where they will not inter-
fere with tn public travel. After
the stones. are removed the first time
it will not be much trouble after
that. Now, / do not care how mnch
rain We have or how deep the mud
gets n the road, if there is no
rocks or other obstruction to inter-
fere with smooth passage through
the mud, it will not only DO much
easier pulling Tor the animal, but
when the roads dry up they will
soon wear down and make a smooth
level track, that will be a pleasure
to drive over, while on the other
hand, every stone that the wheel of
a wagon comes in contact, not only
requires extra exertion on the part
of the animal, to overcome the OBJ
struction, but it Injuries the vehicle.
Not only that, after wheel passes
over stone, it drops down sudden
ly and gouges out hole in the
ground. The next wagon that
comes along, what does it do? Fill
up the hole? Oh, no, it simply
gouges the hole little deeper, and
so on, until to-day the composition
Of go per cent of all the roads in
this county is rocks and chuck holes,
aad when you 60 out for a pleas.
ure riie over what could be made
some of the smoothest drives in the
county, with little common sense
and judgemnr mixed with a little
practical labor, instead, you chuck
into hole, up against rock, and
ever another rock, and down into
another hole, until you feel like get.
ting out of the wagon and fixing the
road yourself. s
will venture to remark that
there are lots Of rocks upon some
Of the highways that the public