Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1916-03-03
Road Matters

State, if enforced, and proceeds
10 score the supervisors, road COM
missioners and contractors. The
road law says the road shall be let
to the lowest responsible bidder;
that is all right, so far, but right
here comes trouble, | would say
something like so per cent of the
sections have two bidders, rs to 40
per cent of sections nave cne bid
der and the rest of the sections
have no bidders at all, and the SUI
pervisors and road commissioners
have to 60 begging for some one to
work the balance of the roads.
Have they any choice? Not a bit
of it. Does your road law make
any PROVISIONS? | will say no, so
you see there is no choice but to
take who they can get. We will
say % per cent of the contractors
are fairly competent men and the
rest have had little or no expert
ence.
Now, brother, here is where the
commissioners trouble commence.
Any one can see where the COM
missioners get in a hole with from
s to II men to look after that have
practically no experience in road
building. Did you ever try it? If
not, you had better, and possibly
you will be given some eggs to
suck.
As to our contractors | think
they will average very we'll wit!
The rest of our farmers, but | don't
pretend to say they are all strictly
honest. | do say there are some
If them do as we'll as they know,
and some of them have to be pinch
ed to get them to work their sec
ions of roadr As to the contrac
tor counting the commissioner and
taking him home with him for din
ner, | think, this very generous
act, as the commissioner can't
work for nothing and board him
SELF and as to the commissioner
tnhin4 the contractor over his sec
ton of road with him, | say he is
certainly to be common led for that
and | would suggest that all the
rest do the same, as you can show
a man what YOU want done better
than you can tell him.
AS to boys IL to ID years old
working the roads "while dad stays
at home and works on the farm. !"
l will say, was road contractor
for years myself and have found
out by experience that boys II to
Is years sometimes knows as much
about the working of roads as some
men twice that age. What we
need is practical road men to over
see the working of our roads and
not @ practical road man to look
nver them after they are worked,
and we will never have better Is
until then. "A practical road man
can do as much work on the road
for $40 as a man without expert
ence can do for SIS. Now that is
just about the difference between
experience and no experience.
Where is the man that would
hire a man to build him a house
who bad no experience; Or you
may take a man who has had ex-
peIience mauling rails and he will
make as many as one-third more
than an inexperienced man can do,
yet it would seem like a case of
main strength; and it is surely the
case in working roads.
| have read the road law differ
eut times but the law is easier read
than complied with. = I will agree
where contractor and commissioner
combines TO defraud the county a
term in jail is not too good for
them, but have not the least idea
there ever has been such case in
our county. The law states where
the com missioner fails to make the
contractor come up to specifications
be must work the road, or be fined
by the court. Now. does the law
provided for any tools for saiG
commissioner to work the road
with? Not that | have seen; |
guess he must buy them out of his
ample salary of two dollars per
| day: he must leave his owns bust
mess and 60 possibly 10 or Is miles
! and pay board and work 10 to II
hours per day and get at the most
81 rs per day, while our road law
provides for the commemorative
attorney fee of SIS dollars for any
trouble he may have in the premi-
ses between the commissioner and
The contractor, while the county is
already paying him a salary OF
$500 per year for attending to the
county's business. Good provision
for the man that does nothing,
sure! I think the law could have
provided where the commission
found any section of road in bad
condition after 10 days notice to
said contractor to PVT his section