The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1909-10-21
FROM MOUNTAINS TO SEA.
Continued from Page l

for his own gOO0, out TOT the SOOO u
the cause itself. Fur politicians are
not good martyrs unless there is an
issue in the role, and we must not
expect to pave our roads with the
political corpses of self-sacrifcing leg
islacors. Under such q system, even
those roads that we have would
speedily fall into a state of sad dis
rejair-not to say inocuous de-
suetude.
Out of Politics.
The matter of roads, therefore,
should be, in as large measure as
possible, taken out of the hands of
county determination. By this l do,
not mean, of course, to advocate a
centralized system under the complete
control of either state or nation. But
there should be given an incentive to
the counties and townships to declare
for, and tax themselves for, good
roads in return for and in considera-
ton of assistance from the state at
large. To the end of highways that
shall be properly constructed, that
shall be judiciously planned and that
shall be the logical parts of system
destined to network the state with
pike and by-road, each adequately
constructed and maintained, l take 1t
that the greatest measure of success
will follow upon the highest uniform
ity of conception and construction.
Once the state is as thoroughly COM
rr:itted to the principle of good roads
as the people are to good schools
there will be at once the end of hap
hazard method and ill-defned plan.
Ill
m oral advantage of rough and mar
row" way has been relegated finally
to the realm of allegory, That is
where it belongs. ''Facilis descensus
averni" may have once been true. Our
aim now ought to be to make the way
to market equally broad and equally
Nj. L. SHIPMAN.
smooth. 1t is to an industrial and
commercial heaven that we must look
for the broadest measure of moral
expansion. The road that is narrow
is now the road preferred by vice
and Stunned by virtue. The church
and the school house seek the high
way. Heretofore, the very vital need
Wb-Ch every resident of our country
districts has felt for improved high
ways has, in sense, contributed
through jealousy and contention to
postpone and hamper the good work.
Who of us has not sickened at the
spectacle of county wrangles over
road routes? Who, if he has ever
yielded so far to ambition as to sit
on a county board, has not prayed
fervently to be delivered? Or, if he
has been merely a spectator of their
troubles and an auditor of the abuse
and scandal heaped upon their de-
fr EelesS heads, has not taken sat-
i action in the thought that his trOu-
bles, at least, were not complicated
by the laudable desire to shoulder
those of his friends and neighbors?
From the very nature of the case, the
county unit is too small an one to
permit of the proper mapping of even
it's own roads.
Individual Work
However we'll the work may be
done in the individual county-and
there are brilliant examples-it must
inevitably, if performed with sole re-
gard for such a unit, not only result
in discord and lamentabIe dissension,
but it must also fail of its best OPP
portunity, in scope, in purpose and in
progressive economy. What we need,
therefore, in these comparatively
smaller counties of he west, is a sys-
tenn of road building, declared upon
and endorsed by the state, which will
aid the county in its work, while at
the same time giving full scope
for the exercise of county enterprise
and the enlistment of county pride.
Already there is in the state policy
towards schools a feature that it seems
to me is a direct precedent and JUS
of the general plan that I
have in mind on this road matter. I
refer to the fund from which we are
establishing the rural school libraries. |
I have not the figures at hand, nor
am l proposing to deal in figures, |
(even a statistician must now and |
then take a day off in the interest of |
truth) but we all know the gratifying |
success and extension which has FOL- |
Lowed the execution of that policy. In |
short, the state sets aside a. fund, |
raised by taxation out Of the whole |
people, and says to every school dis
trict in the state: "See here, do you |
want a library in your school? Then |
go to work to get one.
State Aid.
"Raise a certain amount and the |
state will supplement the fund in |
your district, out of the fund collect |
ed from the whole people, whether |
they qualify themselves for libraries |
or not" We know the result and it |
took but a superficial knowledge of |
human nature to forecast it. There |
Is something of the trader in us all |
and a little more--if reports OF some |
commissioners alleged experiences |
be true-in us, of the west, than in !
others. The state is dotted with rural |
libraries, selected by the far-sighted |
and cultured heads Of the educational |
department, which were purchased |
by the people with voluntary dona- |
tons of their means because they !
wanted to get the benefit of the state |
fund. AS a result, there have been
placed in the hands OF the poor the
magic means whereby their souls are
stirred to rise. These have been placed
before the wondering eyes of those
rino11ipc In dorlypaSe tho valiant vi.