The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-06-16

sary to repair it, and the price
which must be charged, all depend
on the good faith and fair dealing of
the reporter, or of the person who
makes the repairs.
Such a custom, wherever it exists,
is utterly inconsistent with good :
business methods. We do not know 4
to what extent it is practiced by the (
present Supervisor, nor to what ex-
tent it was practiced by any of his
predecessors; but the large number
of minor charges on the annual and 4
quarterly reports, indicate that the ,
custom is in force to a considerable 4
extent, and has been for many years.
That the charges, small in themselves
run into the hundreds OF dol
Jars, furnishes some idea how the
! county may be imposed on by de-
signing persons; that the custom
admits of fraud being practiced on
the county is too patent to need ar
gurrent. y
Of course there will always be 4
temporary repairs to be made upon 4
the roads; but these repairs will be 4
much less frequently required when
the roads are worked properly, and 4
when the bridges age properly con- 4
structed and inspected. There are 4
many ways which might be employed 4
to get rid of the waste of public .
money brought about by the system,
or custom, complained of. .
In the first place, all emergency
repairs, or practically all of them,
grow out of defects in bridges. A
defect on the roadway, other than at '
bridges, can be avoided, where the '
road has any width, and may be re- =
paired when the road is worked, but =
a defect in a bridge must be made at =
once, when it occurs, and there is no =
chance to wait without the county =
being subjected to damage suits. We =
believe that the bridges of the coun- =
ty should be under the supervision .
of a bridge force. In other words .
the regular road workers on the pub :
lie roads should have nothing to do !
with the bridges, except to make tenn :
porary repairs, and the bridges :
should be kept in proper repair and '
constructed by a bridge foreman. :
The railroads have this system of I"
looking after their bridges. The /"
regular track hands, under the Sec =
ton foreman, look after the roadway, =
except the bridges, and the latter are I
looked after by the bridge "gang,"
as it is called, we believe.
If a bridge is properly constructed, =,
or if it is properly repaired when re-
pairs are necessary, there should be -,
little demand for emergency work on
it. We think the bridge forces on
the railroads cover their territory
about ono every six months. There
is no reason why the bridges of the t
county should be inspected oftener
than this if the bridges are properly
built, and if all proper repairs are -
made at every inspection; and there
is no reason why these bridges should
not be inspected every six months up
on the PUBLIC HIGHWAYS of the =
county. if the people of each neigh .
borhood were left to work their pri-
vate and neighborhood roads Ia pre- y
requisite to any progress in road .
building in Abbeville county,
Whatever temporary repairs are
necessary in emergencies should be Il
made under contract with a town. n
ship over-seer or the repairs should "
be- made under his direction by those n
persons who owe labor to the county o.
on account of road duty. And in
this connection, we reiterate that the
roads of the county will never be s.
properly worked on a communication b
tax of a dollar per year. The tax C
was fixed at the last legislature at s.
two dollars per year for every county s
except Abbeville, while in this coun- p
ty, with its great number of miles of
clay roads, needing constant atten-
ton, the tax was fixed at one dollar. y
1t takes money to have good roads, or