The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-29

IT IS true tQat the pest ROAD builders
divide their forces into camps Of about
force constructs complete from one to
two miles Of perfect road. depending
upon the nature of the ountry
through which they pass.
If the State would maintain fifteen
camps Of sixty men each they should
construct at least twenty-five miles
per month for nine months during the
year. Think Of it! Two hundred
twenty-five miles Of perfect and per
manen State roads per year. No one
can conceive Of the lasting and per
manent good that would be done. and
l believe hat in less than five years
North Carolina GOULD be considere5
the most progressive State in the
Union.
Another argument I hear against
working State cOnvicts is, that the
penitentiary will not be self-sustaining
while the roads are under construc-
tiOn. / grant this is true. 1t is also
true that if every man. or set Of men,
who have built up great industrial
plants in North Carolina had figured
that these plants would not pay inter
est or dividends while being construct
ed, and had not built them on this
account, then, this State would be 8
back number and there would not be
an industrial plant within her borders.
On the other hand, after these roads
are built the State would gain SO
rapidly in population n wealth that
no one can figure what percentage of
profit would be gained to the State
each year for the next twenty-five
Years, and I think it would be the
biggest dividend-paying investment
eVer made by our State.
At present l am informed tha We
are working our convicts on farms
and in direct competition with our
best farmers throughout the State.
When a man commits a crime against
the State he should atone by doing his
State some service and not be sent in
competition against the farmer.
On the other hand. the farmers need
good highways as much, if not more.
than any other class. and there is no
better service that q convict can
render his State han by constructing
permanent ana lasting highways as o
monument to his folly.
[ see SO many Of our cities and
towns very much excited over secur-
ing through their towns the route Of
the proposed thoroughfares, now be
ing agitated, from New York to At
lanta. Let the chambers OF m
and all Of h business men of the
State agitate continuous State High
ways throughout the State. and they
can then rest assured that the scout
cars will find these roads and North
Carolina will be advertised through
her good roads, as are such States as
New York, Pennsylvania, Massachu-
sets, etc. Should we induce the
scout cars to so over a bad section Of
roads they will make one trip and one
trip only, and the towns and n
who have the bad roads will truly be
advertised and for years to come.
L venture to say there are at least
V miles OF Macadam roads
under construction at the present
time by the different counties in the
State. Should the State begin con-
structing State Highways, we find with
only a few counties missing that We
nave almost a continuous line of fine
roads from Raleigh to
charlotte, and the missing counties.
orange and Davidson. are a~gitating q
BOND issue to make the connection.
| saw a fine road built at Pinehurst
of sand and clay. This class of road
could be built in the Eastern part Of
the State very rapidly and at a very
low cost. Government experts are
now demonstrating in and around
Fayetteville and Pinehurst the the
rne qualities Of such a road In the
eastern part Of the State we are
cursed with bad roads on account Of
the deep sand, where. with q force
OF cOnVlctS constructing sand clay
roads, and at a very low cost per mile.
we could transform this section into
the flower garden Of America.
Wh1le IN the Central and Western
part OF the State, where it is hilly and
mountainous, we gind stone sufficient
to ~macadamize and build all of the
roads and Of such a character as TO
stand in these sections.
l have advocated for the past ten
years a Great State Highway from the
Mountains to the sea. I believe that
l will yet live to see it constructed.
M see cross sections Of State and
county roads running north and south
connecting almost every county in the
State. The able-bOdied convictS of the