The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-03-19
AWFUL TAX ON BAD ROADS.
Why it is Cheaper to Have Good
Roads than Bad Ones.

Roads than Bad Ones.
The following article, showing the
awful tax imposed on farmers by bad
roads, was written by Prof. W. F.
Massey of the A. and NJ. College, for
the good roads edition of the Char
lotte News and Observer:
It would seem that no argument
would be necessary to convince any
one of the great benefit to be secured
to the whole community, and especial
ly to the farmers from the construc-
tion of good roads. And yet there is
no class Of the community that more
quickly opposes any special tax for the
making of such roads than the farm
ers. The fact is that the farmers Of
the whole country are paying more
tax for keeping the roads bad than
would be required to make the best
macadam roads everywhere. The taxes
that are worked out in mending the
roads and generally making them
worse, are but small part Of the tax.
The great tax that the bad roads i'm
pose on the farmer are the wrecking
Of wagons, the wearing out OF teams
before their time, the awful waste Of
time in hauling half or fourth Of a
load when a full load could be hauled
more easily on good road. Add to
this the loss Of value on the farm be-
cause Of the often impossible state OF
the roads. A farm on good smooth
road may not be worth cent more
for the production Of crops than the
one on a bad road. But the one on the
good road will bring several dollars
more per acre Is sold, and is really
worth more by reason Of the less tax
on it as shown above. Wagons break
down, teams are worn out, time and
temper are lost and the money value
of these is hard to estimate. We
once drove from Raleigh to Durham
across Cabtree east Of Morris7ille.
For miles the road was broad trench
of red clay, and the road members had
just been along as usual throwing
more red mud in the middle Of the
road until it finally got so heavy that
our team pulled the doubletree in
two, and we had to cut sapllng to
mend it. On both sides Of this red
mud trench the fields were macadam-
lied with broken rocks ready for a
road, and In some places the small rock
were piled up along the roadside. And
yet the road members threw clay in
the middle Of the road while there
were rock enough to fill the whole
road two feet deep and to have made
it good for a life time. The mending
was a tax simply thrown away, for it
made the road worse and increased
the taxes the users were paying IN
wagons and team and time.
There IS another matter connected
with good roads, and this is the get
ting free mail delivery. One OF the
greatest obstacles to the development
of the free mail delivery Is the con-
dition OF most Of our country roads
during larger part Of the year. The
free delivery Of the mail daily would
put the farmer in touch with the
worlds would enable him to have his
daily paper and to mail letters more
frequently. But he lives on such a
miserable trail called a road that the
route cannot be established, since no
one would undertake it for the small
pay allowed for such routes. Then,
too. there are plenty Of business men
in all our towns who would like to
have homes in the country to which
they could drive in the evening, but
the roads in most places are so bad
that they stay in town and the lands
remain unsold and unimproVed as the
town merchant would improve his
home. Farmers from off the improv-
ed roads of Raleigh township come in
to Raleigh with a quarter or half
cord of wood on wagon, when on the
hard roads they could easily haul a
cord, and I have often wondered If
the time Of these men is worth any
thing to them.
In the city we see the draymen trot-
ting about with four bales Of cotton on
a one horse wagon, and the horse pulls
them easily. Then we See the farmer
coming in with single bale on one
horse wagon or two bales on a two
horse wagon. It takes the time OF
one man to haul a bale where the city
drayman hauls four, and the farmer
could haul four if the roads were good.
All this tax of wear and tear of team
and waste of time has to be paid for
out of the cotton, and though he may
not seem to feel it at the time, in the
long run the farmers pay heavier
tax for having bad roads than it would
cost him to have them made good.
Down in Mississippi the other day a
farmer hauled forty bales Of cotton on
one wagon, The load weighed 49,
2lS pounds and was pulled by eight
yoke of oxen. On the roads Of Mecklen-
burg pair Of horses hauls ten bales
which is one-fourth the number as
the oxen in Mississippi. Around
Raleigh the farmers off the hard roads
would take forty days to haul that
forty bales OF cotton with one horse
OF power equal to forty horses on the
big Mississippi wagon. The ability
to get big load to market when the
price is good would often pay the far
mers taxes for good roads for years
while he is hauling his little one bale
to town on falling market.
There is no one thing for which the
farmers OF the country pay a heavier
tax than for bad roads, and yet they
are the last people to realize it. They
are in the ruts badly in most OF their
farming, and We will never have the
develoDment we should have in farm
ing itself until ne have good roaus 10
the farms and get business men 10