The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1919-01-30
SOMETHING ABOUT
GOOD ROADS
PARAGRAPHS WORTH READING
What Bad Roads Cost the County.
and the Benefits Which Good Roads
Would Bring.


Mornin', Abev, s.mornin', sam.
What's de news? "Nothin' 'cepin
read IN the Reveille 't'other day
about a awful thing happenen in Port
Gibson" ssHVhat was dat? why
de Reveille man said de bottom drapt
out o. Church Street" which street
Is Church ST.? ITS dat street what
runs by all de churches" "Aint they
gwine to fix de bottom in any more"
rsckon so, but you knows they is
is.ts 8 places outside Of Port Gibson
what Amt got no bottom, if they is,
AMT seen 'em since long before
Xmas. They tells me the road is SO
bad, that even Mr.. Beard can't drive
bis Ford over some Of 'em, and you
gnoW when dats de case, some'p'ene
awful de matter.
The Board Of Supervisors in a GER
tain county in the southern part of
the state after the people had voted
for good roads, and the roads had
been graded and built, thought the
bridges We're sufficiently strong to
hold any load that the teams could
haiti They soon found it necessary
10 pass an ordinance, limiting the
loading 10 5000 pounds,til the bridges
could be rebuilt a team that can
pull 1000 pounds over the roads Of
Claiborne County nov, can pull 5000
pounds with much less fatigue and
n shorter time, when the roads are
graded and graveled
Caesar built good roads in the Gal
lie country 55 years before the Christ
ian era. Some Of our American
boys have marched over the same
roads, and met and defeated the de-
scendants of the same people that
Caesar met. We are told that some
Of the roads are still intact.
st. Paul was carried to Rome,
prisoner, along the Appian way. The
same road is there today, and the
nineteen centuries that have passed
have not destroyed it, OF course the
road has had to be repaired, but that
rost has been small, compared with
the advantage the road has given to
sAe nation.
Churches and schools indicate the
moral and intellectual enterprise Of
community on country, The roads
ana streets mark the progress in COM
psercaal developments. Maury lane
has cost the town OF Port Gibson, in
the last three months, more than the
cost Of building mile of good road.
Brookhaven was the first town in
south Mississippi to take an interest
in good roads. A few Of the business
men Of the town graded road, a
little more than twenty years ago.
An enterprising farmer, living south
Of there 3 miles, soon after, carried
into Brookhaven, load Of forty bales
Of cotton, drawn by eight yokes of
oxen, an average Of five bales to the
yoke. There have been very few
critics of good roads in that county
since then. Under the old system Of
working roads, one and two, and at
the most three bales of cotton was
good load for a yoke of oxen.
A town in one OF our neighboring
counties, has merchant with small
capital, whose cash sales the day be-
fore Xmas was S1700, mostly to coun-
try people, and it was raining all day.
The roads leading out of that town
are graded and grayelled'
Who pays for good roads? The
people. Who pays for bad roads
The people. As question in econo-
my, which is the better, TO pay di-
rect tax to build and maintain good
roads on which the merchant, farmer,
DOCTOR lawyer or any other man can
travel with comparative ease and
pleasure, OF to pay the indirect tax
of overworled mules, broken harness,
broken down wagons and automo-
biies7 The former is a light tax, the
latter heavy tax. The former col
lected by the sheriff, the latter col
iected by every manufacturer of har-
ness, wagons, buggies, automobiles
and that element that no man can
estimate in dollars and cents, mental
worry and nervous exhaustion
A man lives five miles in the coun-
try. He has 100 head Of cattle, fat,
ready for the market. St. Louis wires
him to ship the cattle, market is good.
It is raining, he starts to the station,
the cows bog through the mud, they
get to town fatigued. BY the worry
OF the drive they have lost from five
to twenty pounds each They get in
to market muddy, in bad shape. They
left home prime The mud and the
rain places them two points lower. |
Who pays for bad roads2 Yet we
are inviting men to come into Clai-
borne county to raise cattle.
Mr.. AS wife is taken III at mid |
night The doctors telephone rings. |
Who ID this? It is Mr.. A., my wife
is very ILL want you TO come TO see
her aa quick as ppsKibld II can't get
MeFe, can't 10 hi an automobile, and
Hie mud is Sd deep in certain places
that can't even ride horseback" Who
pays the tax for bad roads nj this