The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1915-02-19
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1915.
Mr.. HANEY'S OPPOSITION

Mr.. R. G. Haney, in this weeks
Times, opposes the 100000 bond is
sue for the building of good roads.
We cheerfully publish his letter, and
must say that he has conscrvatively
stated his case and we believe in a
frank free discussion of the matter.
We throw open the columns of this
paper to the fullest discussion of all
public questions, irrespective of
whether we believe in the principle
advocated or not.
AS to Mr.. Haney's contribution, we
have this to say:
l. He is entirely correct in the p9-
sition he takes as to the poor results
obtained in the past for the money
spent on the roads. He is correct as
10 the poor roads obtained in the
construction of the macadam road.
He is correct in the assumption that
frequently the mud has been worse
after than before working. He is
correct in the statement that we
have spent more and more on the
roads and without getting adequate
returns. In reply to these facts, we
beg to submit that it is no reason for
giving up because of the past failures
Past failures call for a change Of
method, not a surrender. And the
bond issue is a radical, complete
change. The commission appointed
for the carrying out of the plan are
not Office holders, they have no po:
ftical debts to pay, they are good
business men and, if the issue carries,
will serve without pay. The who'll
plan is outlined in the bill. The peo-
pie know just what to expect. Ger
tainly past failures should not make
us give up in despair.
We will, for Mr.. Haney's benefit,
publish next week the amount of in
aebtedness of Union county. His let
ter came too late for us to get the
fgures for this week.
The question of increased taxes is
raised by Mr.. Haney. We have sta
ted before and state again: the in
crease in taxes will be 20 cents o.,
each hundred of the assessment val
uation put on your property. That is,
if your assessment is $500 you will
pay 81 year more taxes than you
now pay, if the bond issue goes
through. If we are not willing
pay that, why, the thing to do is to
vote against it, and that's all there
is to that.
Mr.. Haney says if owners Of auto
.aobiles and motorcycles want good
roads, let them build them. We have
already pointed out that they will
pay more than three fourths of the
ta1. But if Mr.. Haney had seen the
4 mules hitched to wagon that
pulled into Union one day last week
with two bales of cotton on the wag-
On, he would see that the farmers
need roads worse than do the motor
cycle and automobile owners. On.
mule could have done what the foul
did, and in less time. There were
three mules working an entire day
as tribute to mud. 1t costs about
30 cents a day to feed mule, that
was $3.50 wasted, to say nothing of
the farmers lost time. We beg to
say that in our humble opinion, the
farmer needs good roads more than
any other man in Union county. He
is paying the highest price to the
mud trust of any living man.
As to unborn generations-If ]
work and save for a life time and
leave my child the entire net earn
ings Of all my effort, don't see any
thing wrong with leaving my child
some of my problems. I must die
and go where mud will not be a
problem. If leave the good roads,
need not be troubled about leaving
some Of the tax that produced them