The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1903-04-08
" THE PUBLIC ROADS"

Ill i liz LCducT vi ldSb WIEN vi tIlS
above subject was timely, unless
it be true that it ought to have
appeared sooner. A patient pub
lie will often tolerate public evils
until patience ceases to be vir-
tue. If there is a citizen in this
corner of the county who does not
think that point has been reached
in regard to the condition of the
public highways, he has not been
heard from.
You were right in saying that
nobody expected the roads to be
kept in good condition during the
unfavorable weather conditions
for the past three months, but it
is perfectly reasonable to expect
that an effort to keep the roads
passable should have been made.
The annual fall working necessary
to put the roads in proper condi-
tion for winter travel was not
given; while little or no attention
has been given to impossible
places during the winter. 1t is
currently reported that some of
the contractors worked roads in
adjoining counties and took con-
tracts grading on the Illinois Cen
tral, when their duty to the people
of Lincoln demanded their fulfill
ment of a contract previously en-
tered into with them: A petition
to the last grand jury went up
from this community calling at
tention to the unsatisfactory condi-
tion of the public roads and to the
apparent Indifference on the part
Of the contractor to his duty to
the county, and also to the negli-
gence, if not incapacity, on the
part Of those whose duty 1t is to
see that the roads are properly
worked.
The conclusion is irresistible
that the road commissioner and
supervisors have been presuming
too much on the good nature of
the people. Good nature they
have, as has been conclusively
shown, but it is a finite quantity.
The public, when forced to act,
may not always act wisely, but it
always succeeds in shifting diff
culties, if not in removing them.
Ny own Judgment is that the
above mentioned officers have not
been consciously derelict to their
public duty, but by their prompt
and vigorous action at this crisis
they should leave no room for
anyone to doubt their faithfulness
to the interests of the people in
trusted to them.
The contract system is, without
question, better way than that
which was previously in force, of
working the roads, provided,
those whose duty it is to execute
the law, discharge that duty with
fidelity, But, after all, that was
the true reason the old system did
not work satisfactorily. The pro-
visions of the law were not carried
out. In practice then, the supe-
riority of the present system over
the old is dependent on whether
it can be more certainly enforced.
1t is now up to the people for
Judgment,
| will call the attention of the
authorities to one feature of the
contract system which constitutes
a defect which ought to be cor
rected. Where one man has a
great many miles of road to work,
and of course lives at a consider
able distance from much of it,
it is frequently the case that tree
will fall across the road or a cul-
vert will be washed out, or some
particular point becomes danger
Gus or impossible and the pub
lie be greatly Inconvenience for
many days before The =. obstacle tag is
removed. The travelling public
is not interested in any particu-
lar remedy. It only asks that
these things do not occur.
Commenting The Leader for
its consistent efforts to promote
the public welfare and wishing it
much success, | subscribe myself,
Respectfully,
PRO BONO PUBLICO,
Southwest Lincoln,
April 4. 1908.