The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-08-21

" 4. fisi Z ~
RIG CHM IND, u z Y I J d s.
road Improvement, But to pAgse Est
3fea son III was inexpedlent 70 B y
IN sue bonds now for tho purpose nose '
REASONS were briefly these: SIS y. n,
II The county would find great Gill !.
Guilty In plaoing III bonds and u '1'l'si
not rossibl y expect TO place them g On !
IL OF 8 per cent, bnsis ana WOMB WI !
d probably have to pay not loss than q W q,
y per cent. ana I'LL would bu difflcu n +
y the present condition OF the bona NJ
market TO place them at that. T l91
5Bf II Know, I, from the trouble that the y
Barton Heights Town Council had III III
placing its E6 per cent. bonds. II is nov
a more tnfdVorAble time, und prom.
/ tses TO be no for some time to come,
TO place bonds N, N /, &! a ..s i,
~ The industrial activity Of the
count WI great that II would pc 10 Al
most i1ipossibie to got tho necessary
e labor 10 40 the work economically.
3sS g.. The material suitable for mn GU
diminishing the road.--thnt IL, broken Yult1el !
( granite, u Just now eagerly bought !
UP at III flighb price by the builders Of
N reinf creed tor other Kinds OF cotlor 'et!
construction and thoy IRE unable 70
II secure thesnmount TINT they need fo q.
q hikh-priccd construction. Tho county
would have TO- FOL NV tho exn tnple of
Isl Major Lewis Ginter who opened his his
own roc X quarry had Ills owt, crts nc
" and built several miles OF railroad IN
order to transport the rock to MA a-
4 damise the Brook Turnpike md the
4 Gifter Park district. How much this
whole after cost Gun only be con1ec-5
stured, but ~ { was "a very great sum-,
81 fur hey ond anything drcumed OF IN
tho Henrico proposition, or wlthi1, the
U scope. sof a. 800. 900 bond issue. III 5ii
I. Attention was drawn before the
! supervisors and In the newspn pers to
h the great incrensc OF vnlues In real
q estate BY NJ jorI g ihters good roads,
but IL Smust be remembered that, aside
from the great cost OF those X Dads ,!tl :
tho III main one Of (which Nhc Brook
Turnpike) has already worn out, ajorfs
Ginter laid down an elaborate system
OF tile drain, sewers, planting OF trees
and hedges. the cost OF all OF which
4 was such thatsit Is ~ question u ms lH
estate IL being reimbursed oven by
tho pricesE that his executors are fto-s
day get ting after twelve years H OF! OF
waiting. Nj e
s. No scheme Tor the Improvement;
#of tho Henrioo roads has been pre-
K pared or even 81 ggestcd. The hlgh1'-5S
way comm Missioner had not been con-
suited, nor. indeed had no 4 been zee m N
Office long enough to DO in a position
4 to give advice and direction in the
matter, and It seemed that the finan-
clalS scheme should hardly precede
4 the essential preliminaries OF q plan
8ofSpractlcal development 4.
6. ( Henrlco county is slngularly well
\ provided with main roads, all radlnt-y9i
Sing from d Richmond and extending
to the limits OF the county, and all,
either turnpikes, graveled or graded
roads, and generally incomparab
superior to the main roads OF other
counties adjacent to Henrlco. The
* River Road Funder the disc manage
r1cnt OF Nj. Browning, supervis or Of I
4 Tuckahoe District, II am told by nu to-8
3l1lobillsts, Y is a. splendid road, and yet
d It has Il been put In that condition by
the ordinary county levy under I'l'tll-s
dent and q economical management
There are other main county roads
almost II If not quite. as good. SO that
the point was made by one OF So the
supervisors at the hearing thntEwhatl
THE county needed was an #improye-t
ament Of Its cross roads rather than an
q In Its mnini5roads, us was contem--s
plated in 81 the proposed scheme. He
further remarked that there We're
about one hundred miles OF road g Of
fall kinds in one of the districts, and
that SIS, COO. the 81 one-fourth Of the
100000, spent on twenty-five lies Of
the main road would not be Of much n
advantage TO y tho other 4 seVeilt y.fivee.
miles which needed attention.
,2t;s a member OF the last Legislature
from one Of the northern counties g.
gentleman OF signal ability, has writ
ten me q letter thanking me for OPP
posing what; he conceived to Y be an )
K improvdent issue OF bonds for road (
purposes, aud called my attention to
section 5 Of the act approved March
4 6, 1906, establishing al State highway
commission. This section provides
Ethatrit shall be the duty OF the State
highway commission to gather and;
tabu,ate information and %sta tbs les on
road building, maintenance and Inn
provenent, and to dissenlnateEftthe
Same throughout the State, etc. And
section provides that before the
n State highway commissioner IN au-i
thorzo State aid for main travelled 4
road, he or ono Of his assistants shall
view tho road to be improved and
shall carefully prepare plans, spccifi-
I. cations and estimates of cost, for It's
construction with the material agreed
upon, and a copy Of the said plans,
specifications and estimates Of costs
shall be submitted to the local road
authorities etc f5 5S AZ ass ,}3tiSS
All this indicates very plainly that
Z the whole scheme OF road improve
4 1nent, upon which It was opposed to-
issue these bonds, contemplated more
information. elaboration and prepara--
ton than appeared In the Henrico pro-
Z ceedngs.
So far from being opposed to good
roads and their Improvement q t the
expense OF the Taxpayers have stead
tasty advocat ted It for moro than ten 4
years, during good part of which
time was president OF the Good Roads
Association. 1t is not agreeable 70
me to state 1t, but 1t is fair to say
stllat ! have spent very considerable
sums Of my own money IN labor no
machinery for tho Improvement OF pub
4 lie roads. have been n dlllgent ass
Hemlnator OF good roads literature!
giving Information whereby the local
authorities, with the ordinary means
at their hands, could greatly improve
their roads by observing the plain and
essential requirements for nlne,te ms .ui
Hg..Ha -. At,f,t n