Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-06-22
BETTER ROADS BADLY NEEDED
THE COST OF CONSTRUCTING THE STONE
ROADS OF NEW JERSEY IS DIVIDED.
THE STATE AID SYSTEM or MAKING ROADS.
Tho Farmer Should Bear lust Proportion
OF their Cost, but Not Moro.

there arc still many who believe that
their cost must necessarily fall upon
the a,rriculturist. Just as the farmer
was hhe pioneer settler in most of
the States, 80 he has been the pioneer
road builder. At his town meetings
he has determined where new roads
shon!l be laid out, which Of them
should be "worked" and improved,
and how much of tax should be
expended upon each improvements.
AS it was left to him to plan this
important work, so its expense has
rested almost entirely upon his shoul-
dcrs. Now that the cry for macad-
amized highways is to be heard in
the city and country alike, farmers
believe, as rule, that they are to be
called upon to build them.
This is wrong. Farmers have
enough in the way of taxes to pay
without undertaking the building of
elaborate gravel and stone roads. 1t
is unfair that such burden should
be added to their already heavy load.
Whatever may be undertaken in Che
way OF constructing permanent high
ways should be done at the expense
of those who are to reap the benefits.
True it is that the savings in the cost
of hauling crops would be considcra-
BILE, and that this saving would result
almost entirely to the farmer. But
that is no reason for asking him to
pay the cost of building such roads.
He is not the only one to use them.
They serve to bring city people and
city products into the country as
much as they serve to bring country
people and country products into the
city. The merchant who has bust
ness with the farmer is as much benc-
litcd through good road to travel
over as is the farmer who comes to
town on business of any kind. Neither
is tho use Of roads limited to those
living in the vicinity, and travellers
from a distance share the benefits
resulting from their iml rovcmont.
1t would be the height of injustice,
therefore, to ask the farmer alone to
stand the cost of good roads.
The proper division of the cost of
good roads has been accomplished
through State aid. This is the sys-
TEN by which the stone roads of New
Jersey nave been built. The farmers
in that State are 80 enthusiastically
favorable to the extension of the
State aid system that it deserves to
be described. In the first place,
under the working of the State aid
system, no Improvement is under
taken except upon the petition Of
those residing upon the road to be
improved. When such q petition
has been duly signed it is presented
to the county board, who proceed to
have the necessary drawings and
specifications made. These are then
presented to the State Highway Com
missioner for approval.o Upon their
return by the State Commissioner to
the county officers they proceed to
advertise the proposals to build the
road. When the contracts are let
copy of each contract must be filed
with the State Commissioner, who
thcreupon appoints supervisor of
construction, upon the accommodate
ton of the propcrty-holdcrs who
have pctitioncd for the improvement.
This supervisor must give his whole
time to the work and see that the
conditions Of the specifications and
contract arc carried out.
Under this State aid system the
cost of improvements is divided
between the State, the county and
the adjoining property, the State
paying one. third, the owners of the
property adjoining the improvement
paying c-tenth and the county pay
ing the remainder.
The bill introduced in tho Now
York Legislature by Senator IIigbie
provides for similar State aid sys-
tenn of road building, except that the
proportion of the expenses borne by
the State is raised to one-half the
total cost. This bill is the result of
numerous conferences between Mr..
Isaac b. Potter, Of the League of
American W hcclmen, and represent
tativcs Of the various farmers organi-
zations in New York State, and will
have the generous support of both
farmers and whcclmen.
This system of building improved
roads is highly popular because no
work is undertaken except upon tho
petition Of those to be benefited. At