The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-07-29

issue. He laid particular stress on
the fact that all of the money OBJ
tanned from the bond issue would
be spent in the county, something
quite different from any other kind
OF building The principal features
OF good roads were drainage, grad
ing, foundation, alignment and sur
face dressing. All of these features
were permanent except the dressing
which had TO be repaired. In Mar
ion county where the first sand-clay
road in this country was built-it
was built in 1S91-the road was still
in good condition and not one cent
for repairs had been spent on it.
This showed the lasting qualities Of
the sand clay road which was by
far the cheapest and best for this
section of the country. He advocat-
ed the building of concrete bridges
over streams. He said that rail-
roads which always took time to
0"ii"O PioiilS, we're pullt Dy means
of bond issues and this fact, if no other
ought TO prove that the bond issue
was a good plan for building roads.
as no one was willing to say that
railroads We're not money paying
Investments. He was in favor of
having the work done by con-
tract as in this way the men do
ing the work knew something about
it and did not have TO be showed
what to do every time they started
a new piece of work.
He told about the work of the
man who had built the first sand
clay road The builder had been ar
rested and indicted for running the
county road and was ordered to put
the road back into it's previous con-
dt:ion at his own expense. lie had
had narrow escape from the pen
itentiary. Now the people wanted
more such roads. Richland county
had the most complete system Of
sand clay roads in this State, but
those roads could have been built
cheaper and would have been bet
ter had the building been super
vised by an engineer, as the ones
which were to be put in this county
would be. 1t was always best to
have an experienced engineer build
the roads, as this always meant
big saving. He was glad TO see
that the supervisor of this county
was modern enough in his ideas to
approve this plan. This State held
the worlds record for the yield of
cotton and corn per acre and all it
needed now was to give the people
OF other sections a chance to see
its lands by putting them where
they could be reached and this
could be done only by building up
a system Of good roads.
He did not think that there could
be a Generalization Of farm labor
and there had never been where
he had seen the roads built. He
knew, however, that there was al
ways a big jump in the price Of
lands and increased prosperity in
those sections that built up systems
of good roads.
Mr.. r. b. Belser told Of the plan
that was proposed by which the
county was to get the complete
countrywide system of good roads.
He then went over his talk of Tues
day as to the number of miles Of
road To be built in the county and
how the amount Of funds TO be de-
rived from the bond issue of 5000
600 would build all Of them into
good sand clay roads. He said that
ne mad given the matter careful
consideration and he had found
from inquiry that road building by
means Of contract labor had not
hurt the farmers in other places and
he did not think it would do any dam
age here. All of the big farmers
We're in favor Of the bond issue, and
they were the big tax payers. The
present county board was an econ
omical one and If they wasted mon
ey it was because Of the system un-
der which they worked. They could
we'll be trusted with the $4,000 Il
year for road building. He hoped
that the bond issue, as advocated in
his act would pass, and if it did,
five years from now, the county
would have 4 complete system Of
good roads. He spoke urgently in
favor Of having a road engineer to
supervise the building Of the roads