The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1905-08-24
THE ROAD QUESTION.



son. Martin and Brandywine road.
From it many branch roads lead,
covering not only large slice Of
Claiborne county, but opening ur
much territory in Jefferson and Co.
piah counties where the people
trade largely both here and at Mar
4tin. The nearer it approaches
Port Gibson the heavier its traffic
becomes until over the four miles
between its Tillman branch and
this town wagons are sometimes
seen passing each other in long
strings This four miles is excep-
tionally well located. very wide,
and easily kept up to its present
width aud grade It's average width
is more than four times as great as
the averegr width Of the four mile
str. tch leading from it to Tillman.
-wiriie H. uafic is perhaps fifty
times greater.
Certainly no one would tolerate
the idea Of the specifications in a
contracl f"r the working Of the first
named four mile stretch at a less
widG. and less easy grade than it
alread has For it is not one foot
wider than is necessary 10 accom-
modate It's present travel. Nor can
1 see how any one could reasonably
advocate The expenditure Of enough
money and labor to bring % the
same standard of width and grade.
the little-used four mile stretch be-
tween the former and Tillman Sta
ton. For to do so would cost over
ten times as much as the total val
ue Of all its probable traffic during
the next 20 years.
Now then. as to whether these
two stretches are awarded to
two different contractors. or Goth |
of them let out to one and the
same man, makes but little differ
ence to me. But the thing / do
most earnestly contend for is that
they should be worked in accord
ance with two radically different
sets of specifications. IF for the
present our roads are to be given
no artificial surfacing, i. e.. no oil
ing. or gravelling, no burnt earth
or macadam covering-then the
four miles from town to the mouth
of the Tillman branch could easily
be brought by a skilled road-maker
up to a high standard of excellence
for $4,000. To bring the other,
or Tillman. stretch up to the same
standard would cost fully ten times
that much, $1,000 90. OF still more
concern, however, than that wide
of initial cost is the other
stolid fact that the disproportion of
is as great as to SO
as, for instance, where the traffic is
worth 5000 on the main road. it is
worth but SIoo on the Tillman
stretch Yet it is stormily argued
that with all this dissimiIarity of
and vast disproportion
Of importance these and all other
such strongly contrasting stretches
Of road throughout the county,
should be let out to contract under
but the onf st of mere general
specific mons r. Formerly. I be-
lieve. the president of our Board Of
was an architect. Could
he imagine himself as gravely ad-
vising one of his clients 10 award a
contract for the building Of a cow
she'd. gin. barn and modern ho-
tel,-under the one act Of mere gen.
eral Specifications No. he would
prepare specific and and different
specifications for each character of
So too does common
sense, it seems to me. dictate like
care. and particularly in the prepa-
ration of specific specifications for
each different class of our county
roads. Otherwise we can reason
ably look forward to but one of the
following contingencies. viz
I. We will obtain good roads
only at an enormous cost.
2. We will obtain good, roads
only by bankfupting the contractor.
3. Or. the contractor with keen
eye to the boundless latitude which ,
be inevitably must enjoy under any
mere neutrality-suspicious., (" that
can be drawn. will give the roads