The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1915-03-12
Farmer" Wants Good Roads.

Mr.. Editor: You invite all of us
Voters to use your columns freely to
discuss good roads. take the liberty
of stating a few facts as | zee them,
and making some Inquiries. | am
farmer and own u small tract of land
and pay $500 tax; now, Farmer Ken
ncdy tells us that my additional tax
Will be $1.1O each year; that's not so
bad. The physician tells us it takes
4 long time for him to get out to see
if the roads are bad. We believe
that, and he has to charge more, we
| know that. Some other writer tells
us that our land will increase in value
more than enough to pay the tax; u
! other says we can do our haul y G.Htf
half the mule power over goou rsIIp,
and get to town twice as quick-We
believe all that too. Still another
says the automobiles will not scare
our mules half as bad if we had 30
foot roads and in good shape-so they
like the pharisee of old, could "pass
by on the other side" And so far as
the dcvilish motorcycle is concerned,
the better the roads are, the faster he
will go and the sooner break his neck
All of us farmers know the benefits
to be derived from good roads; we
must use the roads twelve months il,
the year, good or bad; our very living
depends on the roads, for | am sorry
20 have to admit that far too much
of our living is hauled from town. The
automobile man and the motorcycle
man can put their machines under the
shed when the mud comes; was any
body'S mule scared with them last
december or January? But there
never gets too much mud for the man
with the wagon or buggy.
We farmers suffer most from bad
roads and are benefited most by good
roads; nobody can tell us anything we
don't know about that. But what we
ar" longing to know is what somebody
f, Will have TO tell us before we vote for
even the Sl.IO extra tax, will those
OF us who 1--we from three to five miles
oil the mann roads come in on this
deal; we know after we get out to the
nam roads we can go all right, bul
what about getting there?
Mr.. Editor you say we are all sell
fish and YOU are awful close to the
mark; now if you will show us what
some folks tell us that the railroads
telegraph and telephone companies
factories, big land owners and rich
folks in general will have to do mos
alI the Daying and us farmers do all
the hauling we are selfish enough /,
.av. "Go to it boys, and help vote the
bonds"
Whom tn money obtained from the
bonds become available for the a.
miles Of main roads will all of N
tlg. !.
90 miles Of roads in the county ~
@Hcnt on th" remaining 40 miles oil
cross roads? thus riviN~ them dOuha
be amount ordinarily used, and all
ne time of the chainpang and town
hiD and county officials arc the road
mentioned in the Good Roads bill tho
only roads that the commission can
Improve? Can't the work on tn,
cross roads begin as soon as that on
'hc main roads, and be completed
much quicker than that on the main
roads? We all know that most Of the
money and time of the changing has
been spent on the very roads that the
commission will take off the hands of
the ordinary road workers of the
county. Can any responsible party
have bid at a section of the work to
be let out by contract, hauling, grad
ing and the like, thus giving us farm
ers chance to make some money this
summer?
A good road is often worth a dollar
trip to us; we need them, are willing
to pay for them; we only want to be
sure that we get what we pay for.
Now, Mr.. Editor, don't beat about
the bush, but "pintout" these facts
to us and we will all be with YOU on