The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-04-28
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~toN n2aGWaH. lulS Is proven
l.; ,.iy number and enthusiasm OF it's
supporters. and even more strikinSiy
Ivy the consterE2 ton of those who are
openly or secretly opposed to the
scheme. When the agricultural bill
came up in the National House Of Rep
reSenta tives recently remarks We're
dropped by i number Of speakers
which indicated that letters. petitions
and resolutions demanding the passage
of the Brownlow road bill are coming
in from all sections. The same thing
happened again when the bill came up
in the Senate. Senator Bailey, of
Texas. WHO is opposed to National aid.
said it was easy to see what is com
ing. and addressed this significant re-
mark: Il will live. ie live as long as
my father has done, 20 see Federal
officer probably supervising all the
county roads in this country"
While none of the so-called good
roads bills have come up for action III
either end of the Capitol, the friends
of the road office in the Department Of
Agriculture have scored an important
victory in securing in the Senate an in
crease of $4,000 in the appropriations
for road Investigations and expert
ments, including the building Of object
lesson roads.
This is National aid on small scale.
But it is Of great Importance from an
educational point of view. Heretofore
this object-iesson work has been con-
Quoted in the following manner: An ap-
plication is sent in by some experim ent
station or agricultural college, or by
road officials or public spirited citizens
of some progressive community asking
the Government to cooperate in the
building of a short stretch of road.
The Government usually furnishes
nothing more than an engineer or an
expert to make plans and supervise the
work. Road-making machinery is usu-
ally furnished free Of charge by the
manufacturers for the sake Of the ad-
veItisement it gives them. The rail-
roads also take hand and transport
the machinery free. The institution or
community making the application has
to foot the bills for labor and materials.
Among the. benefits flowing from
such work are O that it gives an ex-
cellent opportunity to investigate and
test the various local materials; (2)
that it gives the people Of that locality
a lesson in the methods Of road build
ing and in the use Of road materials
and machinery, and ~ that the build
ing Of short piece of good road usu-
ally leads to the building Of large
mileage Of improved road in the vicin-
ity. TO have Uncle Sam come into a
community and help build a good
road, be it ever so short, seems to
arouse great popular interest and
stimulate local effort. 1t is claimed by
those who know most about the results
of the work already done. that in no
other direction does the Government
accomplish so much with so little out
lay.
But the opponents of National aid
are afraid that object-lesson roads are
only a stepping stone to National aid
of vastly greater dimensions, and in
this they are probably right. However
that may be it appears certain that OBJ
ject-lesson road building will be car.
ried on next year to a larger extent
than ever before. Many applications
are now on file in the Department. of
Agriculture and many more are ex-
pected.