The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-27

In this connection 1t may be asked why
the county commissioners do not finish
building the Meridian road and macada-
mize it. The road as projected would
benefit a section of country that is more
thickly settled than any other, and where
property is more valuable and more taxes
are paid than elsewhere outside the city
= The Meridian road also crosses
the county land and its construction
would greatly benefit the value of thar
public property. The old board of county
commissioners built the road from the
Montgomery cross-road, northward for a
distance of two miles. Little or NOTHING
has been done towards completing the
work by the present commissioners For
some reason the commissioners have set
their faces against the work Possibly
the hostility is due to the fact that il
was projected by their predecessors
There isn't sane man in the county who
doesn't know that more people would be
directly benefited, and that more benefit
would accrue to the county by the buill-
ing of good road in the eastern section
of the county like the projected Meridian
road than from the improvement of half
dozen such roads as the Ogeechee or Au-.
gusta roads" On the same date the
Evening Press, quoting "a commissioner"
says the road is not needed the
present board of commissioners has done
great many things the old board did not
w, anu leAuSeu 70 40 a great many things
that BOARD contemplated, and to refuse
to carry on the work of the Meridian road
is not the least of them The proposed
Meridian road would benefit two points
Bethesda and the Isle of Hope These
TWO places can be reached by the Waters
or Skldaway roads. The routes are a lit
tie longer and not quite as straight as tho
Meridian road would have been. but there
is not enough travel into the city from
! that direction to warrant the building Of
| shelled road Sc feet wide. as those who
planned the Meridian road intended doing.
The News states that the Meri-
dlan road would cut through the county
land and enhance it's value What
| 40 the commissioners want to enhance
the value of the county land for? =
| Inc county land is not for sale The cost
! OF the Meridian road as proposed by the
OLD board of county commissioners, would
| nave been enormous. The ma
cadamizing of the Ogeechee road the
Louisville road, Bay street extended AMI
the Augusta road, will benefit a great
| many. The building of the pro-
| posed Meridian road would benefit a few.
There is one great difficulty to be over
| come before the Meridian road could be
built that the old board encountered. and
which stopped it from pushing the work
| on the road. That is, the great trouble
to get clear titles to the property to be
used for the highway. There is proper
| ~ through which the road would pass, if
| built, to which clear titles cannot be OBJ
] tanned. The old board found this out
! long before they were retired from Office
All the work the old board ever did on the
Meridian road was done on the county
land. This work was done right in the
| middle of the proposed straight line to the
Isle of Hope and extended but a short
way"
The language above quoted from "A
! Commissioner by the Evening Press
gives the key to the whole cause why moth
| ing has been done on the Meridian road
since the new board came into office and
| justifies to some extent, the surmise of
! the News that 1.-THE hostility Ito the road
is due to the fact that it was projected by
their predecessors" 1 cannot think this
is true as applied to a majority of the
commissioners, for the published records
and interviews in the newspapers show
that they have favored building the road
| all the time. A dominating spirit seems
to have prevented the work being done.
In the extracts above quoted "A Commits
sioner" makes some statements which ap-
pear to have no foundation in fact, and
which he would find it extremely difficult
to substantiate. He says 1.-The proposed
Meridian road would benefit two points
Bethesda and Isle of Hope, but
there is not enough travel into the city
from that direction to warrant the build
| ing of a shelled road 66 feet wide
as those who planned the Meridian road
intended doing" He is challenged to
show when, how or where
those who planned the Meridian road
! intended" shelling it "66 feet wide" If
"a Commissioner has ever been on the
Meridian road-and it is supposed he has
Ibis knowledge of widths would show
him it is only graded to width of "a feet
/ i- tprIsa donc ha mot CT fafa cd
| by his own statement. either as being
woefully ignorant or making a wilful mis-
! statement? To shell or macadamize it
| would not cost as much per mile by one
sixth as the Ogeechee road has, as the
| latter is paved that much wider than was
intended for the Meridian road Again.
| calling attention to the last para graph
quoted, "a Commissioner is challenged
to show by the record or otherwise that
| the "old board was Stopped from
pushing the work on the road on account
of the great trouble TO get clear titles to
the property to be used for the high
way" He is challenged to substantiate
against the road OF the former commits
sionerS that "the old board found out
long before they were retired from Office
| that clear titles cannot be obtained or
| he will stand convicted of misrepresenta-
ton. The other part of "A Commits
sioners' statements is ably answered by
| an admirable letter which appears in the
News Jan. II over the signature of "R.
q. o." Space will not permit more than
one or two extracts. Commenting ON the
| Ogeechee road Improvement, he says:
| Should those benefits be confined to one
portion of the county? By no means and
/ have no idea that this will be the case.
would hate to think that the board of
county commissioners could be predju-
! diced against any portion Of the county
or against any road. I cannot believe
that recent newspaper reports reflect the
sentiments of the entire board. Why
| should not the Meridian road be compile
ted at once and hardened--either with
| shell, ebert, or stone? There
are enough shrimps, crabs, fish and oy-
sters brought to Savannah from the dis
trict extending from Bona Bella. to Mont
gomery to pay for four times the produce
brought over the Ogeechee road to mar
! ket
1.-THE permanent residents, not counting
the summer residents, in the district of
| coast mentioned outnumber twenty to one
those Of the entire country from the Louis
| vile road on the northwest to the Mont
| gomery road on the southeast"
Chatham county owns about thirteen
hundred acres of land through which the
| Meridian road passes. Part Of it is de-
voted to the convict camp and a part to
| the poor farm. A portion has been dedicat-