Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-06-25

GOOD roads as Englishmen or
Frenchmen, but having done so,
they rest contented with their eff
forts and let each passing breath
of air, speeding automobile, or
drenching rain blow or wash the
road surface away.
In the countries of Europe, where
the well.nigh perfect roads are the
pride of the citizens and the envy
and admiration of visiting Ameri-
cans. most jealous care is constant
" given; a careful day-by-day in
snection is made and every depres-
sion is quickly filed and all Unequal
tiles rolled or tamped.
Two requisites, therefore, con
front the county supervisors at the
outset-frst, to ascertain what
roads would be most suitable to
that particular section, and to pro-
vide for funds to expend IN their
maintenance after completion.
Those are vastly important and
the Nations very small percentage
of improved roads is due largely to
a failure to give consideration to
them. Millions of money have
been wasted in building roads
which local conditions made I'M
practicable and out of all cost pro-
portion to the county's revenue.
These arc exceptions to all rules,
however, and Pike county, Ala
bame, stands as a gl!ttering eXcep-
ton to the usual construction
blunder. There the county officials
had planned to expend a large sum
in the building of gravel roads.
w. L. Spoon, United States Su-
perintendent of Road Construction,
being sent to make an inspection Of
the county's road possibilities,
| learned that 700 miles of important
routes needed improvement. he
figured that the cost of gravel
roads would be $1,000 a mile
plainly a sum greater than the
county could be bonded for. Con-
ditions, however, were ideal for
sand-clay construction, and he
strongly urged its adoption. BY a
legal proviso the county could be
bonded for only 3 l-2 per centum
of the assessed value of the real
and personal property. The plan
was decided upon and an issue OF
SAB 900 was voted $780, OC
worth of the bonds were quickly
suld, being disposed of in $50, OOt
allotments.
The first allotment brought q
nremi,,m of 1925 and the second
), one of 1925. Forty thousand dol
lars were at once spent for mules
and bodybuilding machinery anc
work was started.
With the sum remaining, lie
miles of the finest sand-clay roads
in the South had been built within
two years from the date of the
bond issue; a generous sum was
still on hand; eight gangs were at
work, and the people were so pleas
ed that they stood ready to take
up the remaining issue of $43, OOt
and expend it in the same way.
1t is the belief of the Director o.
the Office CT Public Roads thai
such facts should be impressed up
on the people of all counties deslr
Gus of extending and improving
their highways befo.e actual worl
is under way. When that ha'
been done, he is warmly in favor o
the raising of funds by ISSUING
county bonds with the restriction
which the Virginia Highway Law
imposes, viz: that all moneys 81
raised shall be spent under TIT
watchful supervision Of a Stat
Highway Commissioner, becars
otherwise the money may be vast
ed.
Many farmers fear a bond issu
as they do the visit of the chlncI
= bug or the Kansas grasshopper, bu
the benefits they derive from tina
method of raising money for roa'
Improvement are far-reaching AM
immediate, while the individual ia.
II 4l,o+ - =, cooroo