The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1902-11-12
What Bad Roads Cost.

The good roads bureau of the feder-
al government has done great deal OF
investigating as to the cost of carrying
over the different kinds of roads and
submits the following estimates of its
chief engineer: The cost of moving
one ton by horse power over mile OF
sandy road is 81 cents; over damp
sand, 80 cents over ruts and mud, 80
cents; over broken stone and ruts,
26 cents; over dry, hard earth road,
Is cents; over a broken stone road in
good condition, s cents; over hard
gravel road, 8.S cents over stone paw
ing, 5.33 cents; over asphalt, 2.7
cents. This is the actual cost In time
and labor without counting anything
for the wear and tear on draft animals
and the hardship of the drivers, or the
bad temper and profanity engendered,
no small item, although it doesn't
figure in the dollars and cents .es-
innate.
New Jersey has devoted within the
past few years more attention to the
road question than any other State in
the Union, and has made more pro-
gress on that line, and therefore the
results in that State, thus told by a
writer who has been doing some in
vestigating, Will be interesting. He
says; -. 49,.
/, 800 pounds, sWith four horses and
two men to haul l1a tons of produce
to market from Camden county farm
and bring back a load of fertilizer of
the same weight, and then they were
whole day doing it. Often enough
the wagon got mired and then it took
more than day. Over one of the
new roads it now takes only one man,
two horses and wagon weighing
2, 800 pounds to carry a load OF four
tons to marked and bring another load
of the same weight back; and the
round trip is made in half day
With good roads one man and two
horses will carry nearly twice as much
to and from market as two men and
four horses could on the bad roads,
in one-half the time and of course
with incomparably less labor fer both
man and horse.
With such object lessons, and such
actual demonstrations as this there
should, and doesn't now seem to be
needed any argument to convince peo-
pie of the value of good roads in New
jersey, and there shouldn't be in any
State.
With the exception of New Jersey
and Indiana North Carolina is making
as much progress on this line as any
other State, and she is often referred
to as an exemplar by the good roads
advocates in other Southern States,
who seem to be keeping pretty close
eye upon what is being done, fact
which should stimulate still greater
effort. This is about the only State
! in the South, which thus utilizes con-
Wet labor, the good effects of which
have been so fully demonstrated in
lMecklenburg county, which is now
| credited with about 5000 miles of
| macadamized roads,, Wake and For
syth, in each of which convict labor
has been largely employed. But still
Notwithstanding the complimentary re-
ferences by papers in other States to
| our achievements, we have not yet
made right good start and will not
until we map out a broad guage State
road system and put our penitentlary
conyicts to work upon it.
The State should provide the main
turnpikes, which would make it a
comparatively easy matter for the
counties to construct branches to it
Wilmington Star