The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-08-05

whereon one may ride or drive With
pleasure or have full load without
strain upon the horse. vehicle or bar
ness.
To do this the road must have q
hard. smooth surface and offer the
minimum Of resistance. This requires
the surface to be "metaIed," as the
English say. L g. covered with gravel
broken stone or an equivalent
An earth road may be an excellent
one today and tomorrow q very bad
one. II may be q delight In June and
fright in March. Such roads have
the virtues Of balky horse-they arel
liable to fail when most wanted. With
q stone or gravel road. leading from
the farm, should heavy rain occur In |
the busy season, when for a day OF 80
It Is too wet to go into the field, the
errands to town may be done, sew
eral loads OF grain or hogs taken toi
market, and the time well employed.
With the average earth roads, when
the fields are too wet TO work, the
roads are too muddy TO travel. Hence,
the writer holds to the opinion above
expressed. that no earth road is en-
titled to be called a good road, because
so much OF the time It Is positively
bad.
The extravagans claims that have
been made for the road drag are really
holding back the building of good
roads. Many have believed that ali
that was required to have good roads
was to go up and down streak OF
mud once OF twice, say Presto" and
behold. good highway. This is sheer
nonsense The loud acclaim OF
River to River Road" made good In
an hour or so is a myth This famous
road was greatly improved by the drag.
g1ng. but 1t Is not good road. and
never will be until II Is thoroughly
drained. properly graded and has
hard. durable wearing surface placed
upon It.
II Is human nature TO hunt for some
easy. cheap and speedy way to do
things. and usually no sooner has one
discovered how to make some progress
toward q solution, than he anuounoes
a complete revolutionary discovery that
sets aside all experience and precs-
dent. and gains something for nothine.
The split log drag Is directly In point.
Inc people may az we'll make up
their minds now. as to find out later.
That gooi roads cost money and lots Of
II. but they are worth many times
their cost and they Will pay for thern.
selves over and over again every deo-
ade| well drained and we'll built
macadam road with a good binder NAV
cost anywhere from $4,000 to $4,000
per mile. but such q road with mod.
crate repairs Will last for generations.
Hence the future should bear part Of
the burden There is only one sensi.
bic, businesslike way to build good
roads, and that is, By state aid, where
oy the state, preferably from a long
time low rate bond issue. pays part Of
the expense, and the township issues
bonds. running from 20 to 80 years. for
It's part In this way all the roads
needed IN a township-the main roads
can be improved at once. and the
payments spread over the present and
the coming generations
BY building all at once from ten
TO twenty per cent can be saved In the
cost OF the work, and the community
mas the roads to use from the start.
VI course interest must be paid on the
bonds, but against this goes the use of
the roads II this Ia not worth more
than the interest 1t is better not to
build the roads. The road question is
big one and must be handled in a
big way.