Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-04-14

huio iiohi tHe Street, ana leaves from
the trees. This should never be shoveled
into the road, but it is good material fol
any field and farmers should be anxious
to secure 1t as an excellent fertilizer.
The necessary machinery for the max.
ing Of good roads is the stone crusher
and the steam roller. The latter NAV
seem to many, to be an unnecessary
luxury, but 1t is most valuable and in
dispensable machine. To be good, a road
must be solid and smooth, and both
requisites are secured by its use. Even
dirt streets can be repaired and rendered
fair by its use, without the expense OF
such additional labor, provided always
that there is good drainage. Frost, a
formidable foe to roads, will be made
harmless by the use Of the roller and
good drainage. II the roadbed be rem
dered dry to below the frost line, and
the surface hard and smooth, there can
be no harm done.
The cost Of making good roads would
not drive us to the necessity of making
loans, If the work were done judiciously
and the money economically expended.
Governor Hastings in his message, be-
fore referred to, says: "This great sum
OF money, averaging about $4S 70 lin
Springfield 1t is about 500 per mile, ex-
pended annually for many years past,
should, IL laid out with intelligence and
economy during the last fifteen years,
have made every thoroughfare in the
State equal to our best turnpike roads,"
The stone crusher could he so placed
that very little hauling would be re-
quired. The stones are SO convenient in
every section of this township and sur
rounding districts, that the expense Of
buying and shipping stones which is the
greatest item of expense in many sec
tions, would here be mere trife.
Let one section Of the road be properly
made one year, until the money is ex-
pended. That section will need no re.
pair worth mentioning for many years.
Let no money be expended in shoveling
dirt or mud into the roads. The next
year another ction can 5e made, and
as year by year rolls by, our roads will
be macadamized. Then the taxes need
not be one fourth of what they now are.
With good roads and low taxes our
property will increase In value, and we
can live in comfort in summer, and
spring will be shorn of its terrors.
That our roads are intolerably bad is
not due to poverty. A district that
spends $4,000 yearly for practically
nothing, can not with good grace make
that plea. No, the fault lies with the
laws which are responsible for the pres
ent system. They were intended for a
period in our county's history when no
roads could be made, for want of funds,
machinery and laborers.
Then the road tax me.saf so many
days work as each mans share toward
making the rude highways passable. In
this pernicious rule which defeats every
attempt at useful work, and which will,
as long as it can, defeat legislation cal
culated to really better our roads.
The Farmers National Convention,
composed of intelligent farmers, work.
ing in the interest of farmers, which
was held at Indianapolis last No
vember passed this resolution: "Re-
solved, That all road taxes should be
paid in cash, as experience has shown
that several times the usual amount of
work has been accomplished where this
plan has been in force in place of the
old systems of working out road taxes"
While many work out their tax con-
scientiously and try to do as good work
as possible under our present system, to
class Of others roadmaking is picnic,
a grab game to see who can work ont
the most tax by doing the least work.
They care nothing for the result of the
labor. They browbeat the supervisor,
inducing him to work roads where there
is no necessity for it, by threats Of re-
fusing to pay their tax, and of prevent
ing his reelection, unless he bends the
knee and meets their unjust demands.
To them Supervisors qualifications de-
pend not upon the good, permanent
character Of the work done, but upon
the opportunity he gives them to work
out taxes. They are responsible that
higher wages are paid on the road than
are paid elsewhere. They are not actu-
ated by motives Of economy, they only
look for the greatest possible share Of
spoils. They are the ones who would
suffer by change in the laws, and they
are the ones who will oppose any change.
Were 1t not for them we could easily
have good roads in q comparatively
short time with gratifying decrease in
the tax rate in sight, even under our
present road laws. If honest labor shall
be done on our roads, what can it mat
ter whether the taxes are paid in money
and the labor also paid in money at a
proper price? The honest tax worker
would have nothing to fear, for his la
Dor would still be in demand, and in
stead OF the consciousness that eyery
days work means robbery OF himself
and everybody else, he could rest in
peace in the knowledge Of work we'll
done. The Supervisor would not be
handicapped and prevented from doing
good work, and verybody would view
roadmaking in the light of business
transaction, to be conducted upon prin-
ciples Of economy and improvement
Let us work for laws that will give
our streets better grades, that will pro-
hibit the waste Of money, that will abol-
ish the enforced working out" plan that
will allow the election of good conscien-
tious Supervisors for term Of no less
than three years, and IL we succeed the
time will not be far distant when the
mud fiend will be conquered, and the
child Of the next generation will sit on