Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-02-19
One Of The plaintiffs In The
Tobacco Road Suit
Tells Why.
PIKE SEVERELY CRITICISED.
Compares Christian Systems Of
Road Building With Ten
nessee Method.
Editor Hopkinsville Kentuckian:


A news item in your issue of Feb
ruary 18th, is headed "Sore on the
New Pike" and goes on to state that
a suit has been filed to recover mon
ey paid out by certain citizens to
macadamize a four mile stretch of
the Pembroke Tobacco Road, or, get
the road built according to contract.
Sore on it? Certainly. And why
should they not be sore, when they
have been humping over it ever since
the boulders, of which it is largely
constructed, were thinly scattered
over it. Yes they are sore, because
they have lost heart from watching
the boulders and cobblestones slowly
but surely sink into the ooze that
constitutes the road bed. Truly tits
a veritable Slough of Despoud." 1t
is high time for the citizens of Chris
tian county to be sore of the condi-
ton of the roads. 1t would be Sc
rious reflection on their intelligence
were it otherwise.
The manner of using the road fund
of this county is antiquated. ineffi-
cient, intole,able and unpopular.
The people are tired of it. Smearing
thin LAYER of rock varying in size
from blackeyed pea to peck meas
ure on the ground and telling the
voters of the county tat this is
''macadamizing" the public highways
is beginning to fail to make hit
with the more thoughtful of the vot-
ers and taxpayers. Hiring negro
contractor with little or no capital to
make him responsible for good job
of road work does not appear to the
average mind as good business.
Working inefficiently on mere sec
tons of road is no way to have per-
manent, excellent highways. Where
ever this scheme is followed you find
no roads worth the mentioning and
the county's money wasted
Thirty thousand dollars year for
roads, What can a paltry sum like
that do towards building turnpikes
in county like Christian? You hear
this question asked. 1t will build ten
miles of Is foot macadam like the
pike from the State line near Edgo-
ten to GAINESVILLE, Tennessee, if you
will use it on one continuous stretch
of road, completing so much of it
each day. Let the county furnish
the convict labor to crush the rock,
and the county machinery to roll it
down on the highway. Let the far
mers along the route haul the brok-
en- stone, they will gladly do it for
nothing. and then you will see what
the thirty thousand dollars will do.
What do you know about it," Some
one asks | helped to build a road
this very way myself. Not in my
own state and county, am sorry to
admit, but in Montgomery county,
Tennessee, which at least in road
building is more progressive and up
to-date than we are. Ye gods! Let's
separate the road business from the
political game. The average citizen
scarcely cares fig who holds an Of
flee, but he does want decent road
to travel over. This is not aimed at
persons or political parties, but at a
system and practice that is dis
grace TO the county; that is so lack
ing in business methods, that put in
to practice in a private enterprise
would bring ruin and bankruptcy
more speedily than a crooked bank
President OF cashier.
Christian county has full quota
of good business men both in town
and county. They can tell when a
thing is a business go or a mess.
The, Lnouy o,1r road avstam Is had