The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-04-08
correspondence
RUTLDTHa AND MAINTAINING PUBLIC
ROADS.

CuFrempond@nc@ Of The Progressive E3rmef.
AS / have been very busy in the
discharge Of my duties as teacher of
q public school, my correspondence
70 your columns has been neglected.
II your readers win indulge me, III
contribute something al 90 the build
ing and maintaining of good roads
We are painfully aware OF the fact
that In this section, with one or two
exceptions, We have no roads worthy
of the name. We are further aware
that the present system has been in
use for over fifty years, and has
been a disastrous failure.
In the first place, 1t Is not TO be
supposed that q man who never saw
q good road is a past master in the
art of laying OF, building, or keeping
one in good order. Yet that is the
very man who in appointed overeeer
in this county. Boys of 20, who have
never been 80 miles from home,
never saw any implement but an axe,
q mattock and q shovel, N placed
In charge of q force Of hands, three
fourths Of whom don't own a horse,
q mule or vehicle of any kind, and
who are on all occasions walking
delegates. Each man In warned TO
bring an axe, or q shovel, and some
out s'bresh" and put them in the road
while others cover them up. The.
drst heavy rain washes Is all out,
and leaves the road gutter-shaped.
Before court they go through the
same process, and each time the
supervisor, who Is q squire that
never saw q good road either, goes
over t. and declareB the same In good
condition.
Being road overBeer and teaching
school are the only two voCations
where knowledge and experience
count for nothing. II q man can't
read, never tried TO read the school
law, can't spell, and don't know
whether Porto Rico IL in Chicago OF
Fleet Street, London, he Is certain,
here, 20 get 90 on reading, 80 on
school law, 100 on spelling, and 100
on geography. II he is "agin'"
taxation, stagin'" free schools,
"agin'" every Improvement, and re-
CARDS Cleveland County rs the be-
ginning and the end of all earthly
wisdom, he is the ideal candidate for
the honors and emoluments Of road
overseer.
While every up to-date farmer
uses reapers, mowers, steam thresh-
ers, and disc plows and harrows, he
pursues the same methods of work
ing highways that were in use when
wheat was out with a sickle, ground
plowed with a twister, and people
drove oxen TO sleds instead of horses
to wagons. We now have the bicycle,
the automobile, the pneumatic tired
carriage, besides the ordinary buggy,
improved wagon and carriage. All
these things require good roads. In
addition, we are olamoring for free
rural delivery, which necessitstes
good roads.
Good schools and free rural deliv-
cry will do much to deliver Us from
our badge of illiteracy. In order to
have these, we will find good high
ways a potent factor if not an abso
ute necessity. Many children are
kept away from schoolin bad weather
because they are unable 30 navigate
the thoroughfares.
1t is known TO all men who ever
saw a good road, that a horse can
pull 1000 pounds on a good road
easier than 500 pounds On q bad one.
A horse a draw a buggy eight
miles an hour with less fatigue,
more safety and comfort to driver
and rider, than he can go over a bad
route at the rate of three miles an
hour.
People can attend church and Sun
~day-school better, and do more haul
ing of produce 30 market than they
do at present, were the highways
better.
With two little mules and a mar
row-tired wagon, 1 saw a man in No.
10 Township of Cleveland County,
this winter, haul one-quarter of a
cord of wood at a load when, with a
better road, the same could have
easily drawn a cord. The peoPls of
No. 10 haul a good deal of monazite
so Shelby. Is takes three or four
horses to draw !, 800 pounds over the
roads, when one horse could do it