The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1911-09-08
ROAD WORKING.

uRder our system most of the road
working for the twelve months
period is done, a few words regard
ting this important matter of public
Improvement will not be amiss. The
herald is not an expert on the
question Of road construction or
highway repairs, but there are GER
cain phases of the work that should
be perfectly apparent to any one
with intelligence and observation.
It will hardly be denied that very
much of the work that has been done
upon the roads in the past has been
absolutely wasted. Too often the
road overseers and commissioners
have been incompetent and indiffer-
ent. They have acted upon the idea
that they had an unpleasant task to
perform and the sooner they got
through with it the better they
would feel. And the same spirit has
been manifested by the hands
who, under the law have been as
signed to road work.
The Herald does not believe in
the system of having hands" work
on the roads. 1t believes in build
ing and repairing roads exclusively
by taxation. In lieu of the time"
required from hands" on the road
Il would be infinitely better to col
lect a cash tax per capita on the
order of the poll tax now levied.
But we have the present antiquat-
ID system and must do the best un
der the circumstances Primarily
the fault with road repairs in the
past has been the temporary nature
of the work, the rush to get it
through with. The result has often
been that the first heavy rains of
the winter absolutely destroy all evil
aence that any work of repairs at
all had been done.
Mud holes are indifferently fixed.
Culverts are made too small. bitches
wholly inadequate to the water sup
Dly are opened. Recently the writer
rode over a number of roads o. the
county, some of them pixies built by
the county. others pixies owned by
corporations. The road working had
consisted ef cleaning out the bitches
on the Is of the road and throw
gng the nFhs to the center of the
pike. The s&ult. after rain, was
q perfect loblolly right in the center
of the highway. Such work as that
is worse than wasted. 1t were bet
ter not done at all. Of course the
bitches should be cleaned out, but
the mud should never be heapej in
the center of the road merely for
She purpose of getting rid of it. II
placed there to M washes or breaks
In the center of the road bed it
should be promptly covered with
heavy coat OF metal.
For a country that is fabu.cusly
rich in road building materials we
ore most nigardly in their use.
Gravel and rock and crushed stone
are used as sparingly as if we were
I'm constant danger of exhausting the
supply. The writer knows of mud
holes right in the centers of some
Of the most travelled roads of the
country through which car after car
f corn and wheat have been hauled
Ill this spring and summer where a
few loads Of rock or gravel would
have made god road. But the peo-
Die and the road ofilcials manifested
90 little interest In the question
that nothing was done. A few days
work would have added immensely
t. the hauling power Of their teams,
would have saved in wear and tear
on wagons and harnes and would
have extended the lives Of the horses
and mules But public spirit was
lacking. What was everybody's
business resolved itself into no
bodys business and the struggle to
get through almost impossible quas-
~.,{r1. continued
In building roads and working
them let the work be done for the
future and not alone for the present.
And do not spare the use Of rock
and gravel and shame the citizen
who is benefited by the road who at
tsmpts to exact price for the rock
and gravel taken from his premises.
Make him so heartily ashamed OF his
niggardliness and lack of public
spirit that he will never repeat the
offease.
THE DEMoeoGUERY OF 1T.