The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-12-22

supervisor as chairman of the board.
From this board one member is elected
as q member Of the State board of
equalization. The supervisor and
chairman OF the township boards are
required to lay off into convenient
sections roads, bridges and ferries.
and number them for the purpose of
letting out same to DO worked and
maintained by contract. ADVERTISE
ments are made for bids, which bids
must be submitted in writing. The
contract system is not made obligatory |
upon the county boards.
The board having tried last year the !
plan OF letting the working Of roads by
contract, have abandoned that system
and now work the roads under the
following provisions Of the State law.
The county board of commissioners
have the right to employ overseers TO
s~uperintend the working Of highways,
whether the con ract system be adopt.
ed or not. a Communication tax is
provided for which may be paid in
lieu of personal labor. Road over.
seers are appointed by the township
boards. The courts are required to
sentence all able. bodied male convicts,
whose terms are not over two years. to
hard labor upon public works of the
county In which conviction Is had.
These convicts are organized into IA
county chain gang, under the control
OF the supervisor, but are not per-
United to be worked in connection
with or near a road contractor or over
'""". Fh" ""n'~ "tatiou tax provided
ior in LnlS b.l, Wa ~. IL i vas found
that many preferred to perform work
instead Of paying, and in Mach, 1895,
his tax was reduced to 81. This re-
d~uction met with approval and is
found to be satisfactory as Il source Of
revenue.
"lnasmuch as the contract system
was left discretionary with tho county
board OF commissioners, and the system
was new, withOu rules of prccedents
to guide in the details Of tho work,
very few OF the counties have adopted
IL. In fact, Anderson county aloue ap.
pears TO have fully adopted it and
taken The initiation in demonstrating,
unatded, that the system is thor
ough aud satisfactory in cost and in
giving the best roads the South has
ever had. IA first supervisor, w. Il.
Snelgrovc, was elected two years ago,
and Is again renOminated in the Demo
cratic primaries by an overwhelming
majority. 1t is very significant that
almost all Of the other Supervisors in
the State were defeated before the pri-
maries.
From the very beginning Mr.. Smell
grove has exhibited a marked interest
IN This new road system. and in the
plans adopted by him has clearly
ton. ln Anderson County there arc
seventeen townships. Up to this time
Mr.. Snelgrovc has purchased for these
townships sever Steel Champion road
machines, which are manufactured by
the American Road Machine Company.
kennett Square, Pa. These ma.
chimes were selected after careful!
comparison with other similar ma
chimes manufactured by others, and
Inoy nave gwen perfect satisfaction,
Ihose machines shape, grade and
ditch, leaving u smooth track sloping
rom II centre to the side bitches,
forming a kind of watershed, which
prevents the standing of water on the
road-bcd. 1t is found that each Cham.
p on does the work OF about sixty hands
supervisor intends to put IL Ste.i
Champion machine in each township
IN h county in the course of q year
or two. There is only one squad OF
convictS in the county at present, aud
in the different townships work has To
be performed by hired labor, but the
machines have gone ove nearly the
whole county, cutting down the hills.
rounding up the roads in good shape,
and leaving them in a condition to be
easily finished.
AT the convict camp there arc
about thirty convicts. The campinu
outfit is complete. There is q SUP.
stautiai tent for the convicts l6 Nv 4o
iect. at night the men are placed
with their feet together, chained anG
guarded. The tent for the guards is
~ by 1T feet, and conveniently located
| near ina rlnUlpt fnn Thn -.N.
aniquo article, perhaps, of this can.p.
II Quilt is tho portable Kitchen.
blilt OF corrugated iron and plac d on
wheels. This kitcneu is nv II feet.
with a stove boited down securely
it is arranged inside with shelves,
tables and everything neccs- ary for
cooking purposes. Ventilation is pro-
yided by means Of wire gauze doors.
Two mules only are required to move
tnl9 kltchcn from place to place.
Every thing has bccn working smooth
~ at the camp SO far. No attempts to
escape have been made, but among the
necessities OF the camp are blood.
hounds. Several Of these dogs have
been purchased and arc Il terror to the
COnvicts.
The task Of transforming a mlllioo
miles, or more, Of bad roads into g,O0
ones, a task which involved the dis.
ruptlon OF century old systems, the
development OF new lines OF legislation
In all the States Of the Union, ard in
many even the changing their con,
stitutions, and which has threatened
TO require an expenditure running into
billions, has commonly been dcemed
SO vast and difficult as to be utterly
hopeless but it suddenly appears that
the few good citizens who have had
the courage to attempt it here and
there, have reason to be astonished at
their own success. Not only have the
ways and means been found without
oppression to the taxpayer, but the
actual cost OF good road making has
oeen brought far below the carly esti-
mates. Sixteen States nave passcJ
new o q laws, more or less radical in
their nature, and one has amended It's
constitution to permit the adoption OF
such laws. Many hundreds Of miles OF
good roads have already been built.
In localities widely separated, undcI
varying conditions and through various
methods OF administration, finance and
construction. In the South NOR,
especially the question of better roads
has beer thoroughly discussed, and