The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-07-30

|Ouhly ioduS III the OrQer or their
Importance.
The only practicable way to raise
the fund of 100000 is to issue
county bonds for the amount. To
pay the interest on the fund and re-
tire the bonds in 20 years would re-
quire only $4,000. The extra tax
levy would hardly realize it had been
added. 1t would amount to only soc
a thousand dollars on the assessed
value. Figure out just how MANY
thousand your property is returned
at for taxation, multiply this by two
and you will have the number of
dollars it will cost you a year to ride
and haul over good roads. Then fig
ure up the number Of DAYS YOU and
your teams spend on the road a year,
the value of those teams, and the
time, take One-half of this amount
(bad roads cause you to take fully
twice the time to do a given amount
Of travelling or hauling) add to this
the repair expense for wheels broken
In mud holes; mules strained and
stove up from straining in bog holes
or hill climbs and other damage TO
teams; the time lost in consequence
OF mules and wagons out of commits
sion, and you will have something in
the neighborhood of one-half what
bad roads are costing you a year. If
the cost Of bad roads is not ten times
the cost Of good roads, on this basis
alone, 1T will come surprisingly close
1t.
Other items that go to add to the
cost Of bad roads consist of the per-
ishable products, and bulky products
which we do not market but allow to
go to waste because the hauling over
bad roads is too great; the neglect Of
the dairy, trucking, fruit growing,
and similar profitable departments of
farming, and lastly, but by no means
least the desertion of the farms by
their owners, leaving them in the
hands of an ignorant and destructive
tenantry-destructive of buildings
and improvements, and more de-
structive of the fertility and produc-
tiveness Of the soil itself. This last
item alone reduces the production
Of our county by half.
The principal advantages Of bond
issue for raising the necessary funds
may be briefly summarized as fol-
lows
We will thus secure good roads all
over the county in the shortest pos
sible time; we will be able to employ
a competent civil engineer for the
period Of construction; we will be
able to construct 400 miles Of road at
a lower cost per mile, If done rapidly
under continuous organization,
than in smaller quantities over a
longer period and under successfully
changed Supervisors and Commits
will be relieved Of construction work
and will be enabled to give it's entire
time to maintenance Of roads, thus
removing the chief trouble under the
present system; the quick construc-
tion Of the road system will advertise
the county as a particularly progress
sive community and draw into our
borders hundreds of farmers from the
high priced lands of Marlboro, Ma
rion, Darlington and Lee counties and
from all sections of the State, adding
another valuable factor to the wealth
of our county, and tending further to
Increase real estate values.
The effect of a general good road
system for the county on life in our
country communities can hardly be
orerestmated. Country life will be
robbed Of that feeling Of isolation
which has been so largely responsible
for the desertion Of farms by their
owners. The city dwelling farm
owners will return to the country;
the farms will be restored to their
former fertility, our county once
more become a community Of attrac-
tive and hospitable farm homes. The
production Of the country will be
doubled and the city. being the mar
ket for the community, will find it's
business increasing In proportion to
the increased production. Country
schools will no longer lack support,
the resident land owners will see that
they are properly maintained and
equipped; each school will have its
school wagon or other conveyance,
making the rounds and gathering the
children in; this is being done in
T. lob