The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-11-25
THE PUBLIC ROAD PROBLEM.
Prof. Holmes Address Before the
Good Roads Convention.
NEW ERA IN THE SOUTH.
Bad Roads Have Retarded Our De-
velopment Along Every Line--Mud
and Sand Tax.

Carolina, before the Good Roads Con-
vention in Columbia during fair week.
He said:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen:
Our meeting is An evidence Of the
fect which we have come to recognize,
that the publio road problem is the
foremost of the economic problems
which, in this part of our country, We
are called upon to solve at the present
time. The awakening of interest in this
subject is one Of the phases in the de-
velopment OF the new era in the old
South. During the past quarter OF .
century We have seen in all the Southern
States the gradual development of this
new era, especially in connection with
the growth of diversified industries,
such rs the trucking industry along our
gulf and South Atlantic seaboard, the
springing up of various manufacturing
enterprises throughout our hill country,
the growth of our mining industries,
the development of our systems of
transportation, both by railroad and by
water.
We note but one exception to our in
crease in prosperity along various lines,
and that is in connection with the agri-
cultural interests of the country, and
while in some respects these interests
have pushed ahead, in other respects
they have gone back. twill be out OF
place here to enter into discussion as
to all of the causes of this agricultural
depression about which We hear so
much, but undoubtedly one of the
greatest causes is the condition of our
public roads.
These bad roads have retarded devel-
opment along every line. They have
interfered with our schools and with
our churches, and with the pleas
ures and comforts OF our peo-
pie in many other ways. Their
blighting influence bears heavily on all,
but especially on the farming classes.
But what is of more vital i'm
portance is the fact that these
bad roads constitute an enormous
mud and sand tax of not less than
s. per capita per annum on every man,
woman aud child living in the South
ern States. In South Carolina alone
this terrible burden amounts to not less
than IS, 900, oOO annually. No wonder
that our people stagger under such q
burden, which they do not seem either
to realize or to understand.
This means that it costs the people OF
South Carolina every year s., 0O0, 600
more to do the hauling and the travel
ing which they now do on the public
roads, than it would cost to do the same
amount of hauling and travelling II
there existed in the State good macadsm
roads instead Of the present poor dirt
roads. Every tar levied is supposed to
benefit the people who levy it and tho
money thus paid by the people as the
tax soon comes back into circulation
and reaches them again, but this S5,-
600, ,0OO mud tai, which il levied re-
gardless of the will of the people by
the inexorable law Of nature and the
conditions of trade, is Q complete loss,
n it benefits no one 1t is simply an
enormous yearly dram upon the ener-
Ries, resources and money Of our peo-
pie, which is as senseless and useless a
It is enormous, and is Q total loss.
Our people complain that they are al.
ready too poor to build costly macadsm
roads. The truth is we are too poor to
do without them, and so long as our
bad roads continue we may expect to be
poor. Indeed, IS compared with other
States and countries which have good
roads we may expect to become annually
poorer. Without good roads every phase
of the industrial progress Of the South
will be greatly retarded and her agri-
! cultural interest will relatively 60 back
ward
This public road problem is of too
vital importance to be left longer in the
background. We must give it the re-
cognition which it demands. We have
been asleep long enough. We are not
. wealthy people, nor have We Q dense
population, but We must accspt the
sitnation a. it is and make the best
Of IL
Friends Of good roads must organize
and carry this campaign of education
into every household. The Good Roads
league and the wheelmen must enlist
in this work the farmers, the poll.
ticians and the bankers, the preachers
and tho doctors, the women IS we'll as
the men, colored citizens ~ we'll as the
white.
The State must do its rart We
ought to have in every Southern State
q road commission to officially aid in
organizing and directing the work of
road improvement. The State should
provide for the training of road
engineers at all of it, institutions for
higher education. It should make an
appropriation which could be used to
supplement the moneys raised by
counties and townships for permanent
road work and thus encourage this sort
OF work. It should use its convicts for
the crushing of stone at certain central
points, from which stone could be
shipped to the various counties.
The counties must do their part. They
must be the unit of action, provide
funds for pushing forward the work on
q business-like basis. They should
purchase full outfits of road machinery;
they should use all their own convicts
sentenced for periods less than 10 years,
and hire labor when necessary to sup
plement the convict force. The people
living along the lines OF road to be i'm
proved should give the right Of way for
new roads; they should give the stone
from their farms for macadamiZing pur-
poses and should cooperate in every
possible way with county and State au