Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-04-24
ROAD TALK.

Although, for reasons already explain
ed, it was impracticable to give, in The
ENQUIRER of Wednesday, an outline Of
the discussion of the road question at the
meeting of the county board of commits
sioners last Tuesday, the matter is still,
no doubt, of sufficient interest to warrant
publication.
The proposition of the Yorkville COM
mittee, as stated by Mr.. Finley, it will be
remembered, was that there had already
been contributions in Yorkville and vi
cnity sufficient to furnish the material
with which to macadamize at least five
miles of road, and that if the convicts
were brought to the roads leading into
this place, they would be furnished with
material to keep them employed on the
different roads indefinitely.
Commissioner Gwin stated that at a
previous meeting of the board there had
been adopted resolution providing that
the convicts be allowed to work given
length Of time in each township, until
the whole county had been covered. 1t
developed, however, that while such a
proposition had been discussed during a
meeting of the board, no formal action
had been taken. At least, no such reso-
luton had been recorded in the minutes.
Mr.. w. B. Moore made the point that
even if such resolution had been adop-
ted, it could not fairly apply to York
township, for the reason that the work
done in this township was altogether
upon the voluntary motion of the board,
experimental in it's character and not
nearly so efficient as it would have been
if the people had been invited 10 cooper
ate, etc.
Commissioner Miller took occasion to
state that the work was not exactly exper-
imental, as suggested by Mr.. Moore; but
that at that time nothing better had been
offered, and the operations in this vicini-
ty were merely for the purpose of giving
the convicts something to do, etc.
Commissioner Wilkerson gave it as his
view that the convicts should be en-
ployed on public work. The people
along the various roads should do all the
grading and shaping up that was necessa-
ry, and then let the convict plant come
along and do the macadamizing. He was
not asking for the chaingang for bis Sec
ton this time; but would promise that If
the county would furnish good road
machine and roller, the people out his
way would put the roads in firstclass
shape to receive the finishing touches by
the chaingsng later on.
Commissioner Gwin made some state
ments in behalf Of the road from Lock-
hart Shoals to Sharon. He gave de-
tailed estimate of the amount Of hauling
that was done over the road annually.
His figures ran to nearly 100000 pounds
of produce, merchandise, etc., which in
cluded not less than 5000 two-horse wsg-
on loads. He thought that the road was
one of the most important in the county,
and entitled to especial consideration, at
least in the fixing up of the worst places.
Commissioner White made a short
speech on the road question in general.
He ad vocated the idea Of the special tax
proposed by the board sometime ago, and
petitions for which are now being circu-
lated in the various townships. The pri-
vate subscription idea he held was wrong
in principle, as it was necessarily the case
that men of small means would contri-
butte much more literally than men of
larger means who would receive the
greater benefit. Taxation distributed the
burden more equitably among the people
in proportion to the benefits received by
each. During the course of his remarks,
he said that he believed that Catawba
township would vote the proposed tax
willingly, and if so, would, no doubt, be
glad to take the chaingang off the hands
of the county entirely, paying the entire
expense.
1t was not until after this preliminary
discussion was over that formal motion
was offered. There was practically no
opposition to the granting of the request
of the Yorkville committee, and about
the only result of the balance Of the dis