The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1903-06-18
Progress of the Good Roads Idea.

more unQlVlGeQ atteNtlOn lndu
that of good roads, and we
Ire highly gratified to see that the
.eaven of road improvement is working
in almost every county in Georgia.
From day to day the Constitution
has contained excerpts from the week
~ press of the State telling how one
county after another is directing its
attention to improved highways, and it
is evident that before many years the
county in Georgia that hasn't thor
ough system Of modern, well-gradeh,
macadamzed or graveled roads will pc
The exception and not the T,ile.
The frequent rains of the past winter
have. as usual, made tic roads almost
impossible in a majority OF tie couE-
ties of the State, and this las helped
to place the good roads idea uppermost
in the peoples minds. Farmers. whose
hauling has been so seriously interfered
with thereby, and merchants. whose
trade has been correspondir=iy hurt,
lrc coming together Oh tie propcs:-
ton that good roads are the cheapest
in the end-that bad roads in fact, as
the Constitution has so often sai;l, are
about the most expensive lu%ur2s that
any community ever indulgad in.
In connection with the &ocd roads
movement in Georgia it is both inter-
rsting and important to study what
other States are doing in the effort to
improve their highways. The PennSyl-
vania Legislature, for instance, has
;ust appropria ted $G,5G0,0o0 to ce spent
In road building throughout the State.
New York and other States have a
Eimilar law providing for State aid
fer those counties that undertake to
Eecure modern roads.
In Pennsylvania the State aid idea
Las taken firm hold. The plan just
adopted is for the State, the county and
The township to cooperate in the work
&f building and improving the roads.
the State is to pay two-thirds of tile
Expense and the county and township
N which the work is done each one
sixth eof the expense. The State las
nadesavailable for this purpose $4,000.
700 to be expended during the next
:ew years.
The principle involved in the State
laid plan is exactly the same as that
involved in the scheme for National
aid which has developed such popular
lty recently. The fundamental idea of
both is that road Improvement is not
merely a matter of local interest and
responsibility, but matter of interest
and concern to the whole people: OF,
10 put it another way, road building
is coming to be viewed rs a species
If internal Improvement" belonging
in the same class as river and narbor
! improvements.
Another reason advanced why Ma
Iional and State aid are becoming so
popular is the realization that, unless
something Of the kind is adopted, the
burden Of bad roads, like the poor,
will be always with us. The bottom
less roads of the country constitute a
sort of slough Of despond,' in which
people are destined to founder until
some one comes along to help them
out. In fact, the expense for improv-
ing the roads in many localities is a
burden which the local population is
wholly unable to bear. 1t IS urged
that whenever the State or the Nation
reaches out a helping hand to such
communities, they will grasp it and
bend all their energies to the great
work of improving their highways.
An Eastern man who has recently
aiken a trip through Texas says the
enthusiasm with which the people have
aiken up the good roads idea' is Won
ierful. In some counties they are in
langer of "going Wild on the subject.
Funds are being raised, mainly by
he issue of county bonds, and a sim.
lar plan is being adopted i'll North
Carolina.
All of these plans can be studied
with profit by the people of Georgia,
low that we have become aroused to
The necessity of improving our high
ways. Too much attention cannot be
siven this all-important subject.-At
ANITA Constitution.