The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-07-08
GOOD ROADS RALLY.
MEssRs. A. v. SMELL, +. III. COL
COCK AND II. Ii. BEIISER
SPEAK ON FEATURES.
Representative Audience of Farmers
From Dalzell. Providence, Hagood
/ and Rembert, Hear Good Roads
: Speakers at Providence ON July
Fourth.

The audience that listened to the
good roads speakers at Providence IN
Tuesday was not large one. but q
was an attentive one and those who
i stayed or came to listen seemed much
Impressed by what they had heard
ON this very important subject. The
speakers for the occasion were Mr..
A. v. Smell. secretary OF the Chamber
OF Commerce: Prof. +. Horton Col
cock. dean OF tho department of en-
Eineering and mathematics OF the
University OF South Carolina and Hon.
n. u. Belser. member OF the
house OF representatives OF South
Carolina.
Mr.. J. c. Dunbar OF Providence
acted as chairman OF the meeting
(which started of In the pavilion
with a very fine audience Of beauti-
tul young ladies and gentlemen OF all
ages. After the preliminary speech
es had been made the music for the
dancing arrived and the good roads
speakers end audience had to ad-
,ourn to the nearby grove. dancing
and music being called for by the
young folks In preference to speech
es on good rcaos. which one of the
young ladies' said everybody wanted
and for tina. reason there ought to be
no dificuity in securing while one could
mot get music to dance by every day.
Nr. Smell was the first speaker. He
spoke on the INTERPOLATION Of town
and county I'm the matter OF good
roads The dependence Of one upon
the other.
Prof. colcock followed him with
|bpe<ch on the value of good roads
from an economic and social stand
point Mr.. Belser told about the
.Ho46o In the county and why the
CvHem was the best method for
otfIhg the good roads which were
much needed. He gave some gov.
\ <1urtble arguments to show that SUM
~ county was tagging behind other
co<oties because OF it's lack OF the
*itn1 necessity to a prosperous COM
1nunity-good roads.
NJ. j. G. Dunbar In his introduc-
tIon stated that Sumter county had
vome good roads. but II needed more
of them and that the county could
not AFFORD to continue to 60 on In the
Ecme old way. fixing up roads when
n became necessary and letting them
remain In their natural state. The
county wanted to go forward and this
sgood roads movement was the best
method OF showing that tho people
wanted to get In the line of prog
ress. He then introduced Mr.. Smell.
the frst speaker OF the occasion.
Mr.. SHELLS address was short and
was wei. received by his audience. file
stated that he had come to Sumter
Yrecently as secretary OF the Chamber
OF Commerce and that ne spoke as
the representatives OF that body. He
said that 80 per cent of all OF the
produce of the country was carried
over the public roads and To enable
those carrying this produce from the
Hplace n was produced To market at
the least possible cost and with the
greatest saving OF time the roads
must be good. The county and the
town were so closely connected that
one could not grow without the 9TH
er growing. The building OF good
roads was one method Of getting the
country more thlcl;ly settled and at
the same time OF increasing the pop
ulation OF the town. There had for
several years been a great exudus OF
the young people OF tbs south TO
the west and efforts were being made
nav 10 create another such exodus.
but sdch a thing could not be brought
about should the farmers have good
roads here. The building of good
roads was a means of saving to the
farmer whereby he could use that
money saved In building up his farm
and its appurtenances.
He stated that one objection that
had been offered to having good
roads was that II would draw the
trade from the small towns I'm the
county TO the larger ones. He said
. that this was not the casa aise,yber.
and he did not see why would be so
here. He said that In his own State
New York-there were a number
1f towns not more than ten miles
apart and that all Of them were do
Ing a good business and i'm no way
conflicting with that Of the other