Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-07-07
snthniiastic, all concede5 that the In
Z = = IL . j ad;ofa ond In

snthniastic, all concedei that the In
crease is marked, immediate and In
evitable. Suppose q county OF 2O0,-
600 sacres voted bonds, and placing the
enhanced value at only $3.50 an acre.
it viii be seen that the land owners
thus benefited would gain not less
than 100000: If the bond issue
amounted to half a million, there
would be 100000 profit at once. The
increase in the profit and price OF
farm products is equally certain and
plain. The farmers produce is worth
nothing unless itcan be placed on The
market. Time was in England when
food would be rotting in oneI place
while people suffered for the lack OF
it In q. community q; few miles away,
because it was impossible to transport
the products Of the farms.
& Price Of Farm Products.
Official records IN Guilford county
show that the price of farm products
since good roads have! ben built has
increased from four hundred TO seven
hundred per cent. And yet, there is
a farmer in my county who maintains
that good roads will ruin him and the
county, because they will reduce the
price Of produce, since, when the
roads are bad, he gets $3.50 a cord
for wood, because wood is made
scarce by the impassability of the
highways; and he says he would
rather hanl wood through mud huh
deep for $3.50 than to roll along .
smooth road and sell it for 81, which
price he claims a cord will drop to in
the event Of good roads: The exper-
ience Of Charlotte and Greensboro en-
tifely diisproye this; absurd idea, fol
there are not two better markets IN
The State, and the first named has 200
miles of good roads leading to it
and the second 100 miles.
Tax or Bonds?
The question comes, how to get
good roads,9 Shall we, vote a direct
tax or shall we issue bonds? Shall
we pay as we go, or shall we pay part
nov and let future generations pay
part To my mind, the whole ques-
ton comes down to whether we want
good roads now, or whether we are
willing to build a few miles now and
! let another generation build few
miles and another and another, until
1 in the course.of human events we Sc
cure good roads throughout the State
E years after every person now at the
age Of acconnta ability is dead and
gone, 4 stand for bonds. Mecklenburg
has been building roads 80 years, and
she has about 200 miles, using direct
tax. Guilford has been building
roads; SIX years and she has 100 miles,
using bonds. We are too far behind
to depend on direct tax. We must
go ahead and issue bonds, build the
roads, increase our wealth, and reap
MANIFOLD the cost Of the roads. Is
North Carolina to labor another gen.
Grafton before good roads come to
pass9 God forbid. We would lose
enough to macad damize every mile OF
road in the State.
Should a county issue bonds be
fore a. dollar is expended, a compe.
tent civil engineer should be secured
and put tc work mapping out the
seountt He should be under either
the county commissioner or high.
way commission composed of the
commissi and other men Sc
lected by the people, 1t is ahso,
lutely necessary that an engineer be
employed, even though he cost con,
siderable salary, for the location
construction and maintenance Of
roads are operations that no man OF
set of men without the aid of an en-.
gineer can conduct in the proper way
to get the best results at the least
cost. There is disposition on the
part Of many people to cavil at the
price paid such an engineer, and i
you undertake to fight for roads you
will meet it at the outset. That idea
must be eradicated, as must also the
idea that the men entrusted with the
public funds will not place every dol
lar where it belongs. In an age Of
skepticism in business, it is not un
natural that people should suspect
that huge sums voted fer roads vii
be preyed upon. No county can builc
roads without an engineer who act.
as pathfinder, going over the county,
studying the situation, making
maps, and doing all that very neces-
sary preliminary work without which
I5ofttimss money is worse than wasted
Road Building an Art.
When county officers learn to ap-
preciate the fact that road-building is
an art, they will rely more and more
upon expert advice and scientific de-
lmonstration, and when they have
learned what class Of roads is desir.
liable, they will construct them and
then guard them.
Thereinslies one of the most impor.
tent offall American highway ques.
tions. Americans build as good roads
as Englishmen or Frenchlnen, bpt
l.hayinq done so, they rest contenteG