The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-24
WHAT MARENG0 |S
 DOING FOR ROADS
Thinks Its Efforts Entitle It to Be On the Jackson
 Highway Route

To the Editor of The Age Herald.
 In the Age-Herald of the 2oth inst. there appeared an article written by l.. s. Betty, fin which he endeavors to outline the condition of the roads over which he passed in his trip from Mobile to Mont gomery and advises what is necessary to be done for the roads in order to secure The Jackson Highway
 I wish to take exceptions to one DOT ton of Mir. Betty's article which reads as follows: ''1n Marengo county. where big strip of the highway is being sought, enly improvement of the most advanced nature must be made if the road will lead through that county Linden, lle county seat. has high hopes of securing the high way. but it is exceedingly doubtful if Lin- cen will realize her dreams, for tho road proposed. covering stretch of many miles, is practically impa ssaole How ever, Marengo county, as is known, has recently embarked upon road building campaign of wide scope. having voted bond issue of about s1ooooo, and If suffi- cient guarantee Is offered then Linden. after all, may secure the highway
 A part of this statement is true. but l llQkI MT. I3eIty VIII paTuOil fn6 II 5tN he is also mistaken as to a part of 1t. It Is true that 1t will be necessary for us to have Improvements of the most ad vanced nature' if the road shall lead through Marengo county; We also admit that the road over which MT. Betty passed is practically impassable'' after a rain of several days, as happened when MT. Betty made his trip through Maren- go It is also true that Marengo has em- r1ra rad hnft1tnsr paa mai isf, of wide scope. The statement In refer ence to having voted bond Issue Of about $200000' is untrue. l wish to state exactly what has been done by Marengo in her effort to secure the Jackson high way.
 On July IS, 1915. the commissioners court of Marengo county issued warrants iH the sum of si20,000 for the purpose of Improving the roads of Marengo county; s6o,000 to be used In constructing a sand clay and gravel road, with concrete bridges from the Dallas county llne on the seat to Linden and from Linden to the Clarke county line on the south When completed this will give Marengo 46 miles of tlrst-class road on this 46 miles of road six miles of the best grave, road in the state have already been cont pleted at a cost of about s2i,0oo. So we think we have offered sufficient guaran- tee" and have done all we think neces- sary to secure the Jackson highway by spending $S1,000 in order to obtain It. The contract for the building of this road was let by the commissioners court to Nixon- Smith Construction company on August g. 1915, to be completed by September l, 1916. Work has already begun by the construction company with large force of workmen and teams working in several sections. The remaining $60.000 was used in building gravel roads from Demopolis to Faunsdale and from Faunsdaie to Dayton. I will state that over sl00,000 have been spent in improving the roads of Marengo county since 1911, not includ, ing the recent warrants issued by the commissioners court.
 We believe that Linden's chances for securing the highway are exceedingly good. notwithstanding MT. Betty's state ment to the contrary. Let it be under- stood that his 46 miles of road above mentioned, upon which actual grading and eravellng has commenced, which leads off from the proposed Jackson highway route from Dallas county and intersects 1t again at Thomasyille. in Clarke couIty, is what we propose to guarantee when completed. What more could we guaran- tee? Or what more could be asked of us? Yours very truly. LAMAR NAPKIN.
 Linden, October 21. 1915.