The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-01-15
THE GOOD ROADS PROJECT.
Interesting Letter From Congress
man Ryrnes on the Subject.


Washington, D. c., Jan. 13, 191i.
Editor Bamberg Herald. Bambers,
South Carolina.
Dear Sir: have read with graft
fication the report of the meeting
:.eld to consider my road PROPOSE
ton. because even though the conf
mittee in it's wisdom saw fit not to
accept the proposition l believe that
their report IS bound to result in pro-
noting the cause Of good roads. The
newspaper comment on the estimate
of the agent of the government as
to the cost OF the road that would Re
built under the direction of the de-
partment of agriculture leads
me to believe that it is mis-
understood. Under this PROPOSE
ton the joint fund contribut-
ed by the national government
and the county is used upon roads
selected by the county. In response
TO an inquiry, Mr.. Toms, the ageL- Of
the department, stated that he wcu'd
estimate that the cost of constructing
roads would average no more than
$1,000 a mile This estimate of his
was based on a road "a feet wide,
with an S-inch depth of clay. .Eae
figures are tased entirely upon the
employment of free labor. Mr.
Toms stated that if the county would
use in this work convict labor, the
cost would be about so per cent less,
or $500 per mile. In arriving az bis,
estimate he stated that he figured on
labor at s1.00 a day, and teams 1T
$500 a day.
Two miles of model road I've
been built in our district under the
direction of government engineers.
one mile just outside of the city of
Aiken and the other near Allenc"ie
Being interested in the estimate
made by Mr., Toms have, since nv
return here. inquired as to the co3--
of these two roads. The engineer in
each instance had to, keep ar Gccu-
rate account of all expenditures, a6d
at Aiken they estimated the cost of
the mile of road to be 1891. Coz
victs were used in this work, and l.
arriving at the cost they estims;ed
the cost per convict 40 cents day
and double teams, which we're rur-
rished by the county, at S1.00 day.
There were no culverts, and material
purchased amounted to about SIS or
$40 the balance being the cost of the
labor. At Allendale the cost of the
mile of road was estimated at $435.
In this estimate the convicts were
figured at so cents a day and coun-
ty teams at IS cents. No. materials
were purchased, the entire cost be-
ing for labor. The agent also re-
ported that the work at Allendaln
was merely directed by the govern
ment engineer, the local road officials
doing all of the work, and in estimat-
ing the cost they also included the
cost of the labor performed by the
captain of the force.
AS We so seldom keep an accurate
account of the cost of constructing
roads I thought these figures woulI
be interesting to you, and they also
give a better idea of how the sov-
ernment agent arrived at his esti
mate of $1,000 a mile for free labor
From what We know of the wages
paid the free labor and their work
as compared with convict work
l should not be surprised #
he were not justified in estimat-
ing the free labor cost as twice tnat
of the chain gang. Of course load
can be built for much less than sii1s.
You can put as much money or as Il,
tie money as you please IN road end
like everything else you generally
get what you pay for.
do not write this for the pur-
pose of inducing the county officials
to accept the government proposl-
ton, though / know from my oDsel-
vation of the mile of government
road at Aiken, built five years ago,
that it is a permanent road AMI l
would love tc see similar roads ally
over Bambe:g county. / know the
financial condition of the county ann
know that the people who pay the
taxes are the best qualified to judge
what kind of improvements they
want.
This $4,000 l secured was The
last of a fund of s500,0O0 approprl-
ated for experimental road building
Only a few States were able TO Sc
cure any of this amount, and most
Of it had been spent in building