The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-01-12
SUMTER. S. c.. WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 12. 1898.

SUMT e
road .and Horace states that they were
ssless fatiguing to people who trave
slowly" They were remarkable
chiefly for their lavish disregard o.
every obstacle, and are monuments
rather of military despotism, thaa Of
engineering skill.
During the reign of lawlessaess
following the breaking up OF the en-
pire these roads were infested with
robbers and cut throats and were
avoided and neglected by the people,
and soon became impossible; such
intercourse as was maintained was
conducted over fade paths. With
. the reconstruction Of society the
roads gradually became passabIe for
animals and the rude vehicles Of the
tine !; bnt no serious attempt was
made anywhere to replace the public
highways until the middle of the sev.
enfeenth century.
Road building was taken up in
France about 1860 by Louis XIV,
who had several fne roads made in
tue vicinity of Paris They were
very wide, but we're paved only in
toe centre The people very soon be
gan 10 appreciate the advantage OF
good roads, butt was not until the
advent Of Napoleon that the modern
system Of magnificent highways was
Sinaugurated The material and
fDsncial prosperity, thriftiness and
Scoatentment of the French people
has long excited the admiration Of
world neither internal revolution
nor defeat from abroad appears to
have entailed npon them burdens too
heavy for them to bear Students of
economic problems ascribe this mar
Velloas condition to the far reaching
and splendidiy maintained system OF
highways, on which the obstacles to
economics transportation have been
reduced TO the minimum .
The almost incredibly bad state of
5sheroads 10 England towards the lat.
terpars of the l7tb century appears
from tho accounts cited by Macaulay
(His b G 1l113 The Encyclopedias
Britannica SAYS 1t was due chiefly
to the state of the law which com.
PEELED each parish to maintain It's
roads by statute labor " a hundred
years later it does seem to have been
greatly improved Mr.. Arthn.
Yenng writing IN 1910 Of one of the
principal highways. says Il know
not il the whole range of language.
terms sufficiently expressive to de-
scribe this lnfernal road. !"
Il was attempted to relieve this In
tolera5ls condition by a system of
tol. roads. and about 10000 miles
were bnilt by the end of the century;
but they were SO badly built that
they were soon in as bad or worse
condition They were managed. y
says the Encyclopedia Brittanica,
s.by ignorant and incompetent men,
until Telford aud Macadam brought
scientific principles and regular sys
tenn to their construction and repair /"
The name of Telford is associated
with type of road which had been
used by Tresagnet in France fifty
years before |; "and the name of
Macadan often characterizes roads on
which all bis precepts are disregard.
ed " Contemporaries, and in some
respects rivals, to these two men
England owes her present admirable
system of roads Dickens says /:
Our shops, our horses legs, our
boots, our hearts, have all been bene-
fted by the introduction of Maca.
dam "
Most of the paragraphs above have
been condensed from Highway
Construction by A. T. Byrne, and
from the Encyclopedias Brittanica
They would have been quoted out.
right had space permitted.
In the United States, the road
question came into prominence at a
very early date. At the beginning
of the present century congress set
aside certain part of the proceeds
of the sale of public lands to road
building. The ninth congress pass
an act providing for che construction
of the Cumberland Road" from
Cumberland, Maryland. into Ohio !;
and from 1910 to 1916 appropriations
were made for continuing this work
amounting to $3.50. 900, and $50 miles
were built
10 1917 Juo. C. Calhoun introduced
measure 10 congress providing thai
the bonus and dividends received by
tte United States fron i,s newly char