The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-09
M E N w o M E N
 A N D T HIN c 5

7 ceiiIninary surveys are at present be- i ns made
 1 lshave, however. ridden oyer twelve 1'miies of-1te Rooster road which leads
 gut from York and is headed for But
 Ter. the county seat of Choctaw coun-
 t.. In the twelve miles I had the
 chance to see three different kinds of
 road
 The first lap of three miles was most | familiar as it was made out of Bir- I ringinghard chert. A six-mile stretch is constructed of clay on sand. The
 last bit made me homesick for it is rTostly white sand like the old roads
 of my boyhood days in Barbour, Bul- lcch, Dale and Pike
 There seems to be a Strange fatality
 which dogs the steps of good roads
 Ter many years many counties were pluSdered by corrupt officials. Then when the money5was honestly used for the purposes for which it was raised the contractors failed to live up to {, their contracts, or defaulted on them
 before they were completed.
 
 I Again, when officials and contractors performed their parts intelligently and honestly no fund was left for mainte- | nance and in a few years the high l ways were a reproach and a shame and disgusted taxpayers vowed that never again would they vote to be taxed on any road building programme. All of these things have worked in the past tj hold back the advocates of good roads
 Another thing, however, beyond the control of men has played havoc with much wisely planned road construction work. speak of rains and floods. This was almost. knockout blow for the Rooster road, for after it had been we'll made, packed and cherted and substantial steel bridges erected the Aiamuchees got on the rampage, over ! turning bridges and washing away great slices of the road, undoing the
 work of months.
 1 For time it looked as if the ca i lomity was too great to be overcome. but a few brave spirits got together ard said there is no use grieving over
 something which may not happen for a generation, and plucking up courage | they set about to salvage what they could and today road and bridges have been rebuilt and repaired and are
 among the best in the state. l The Rooster road. out from York it
 seems was the bird which fathered the bigger project at Demopolis, as it was | held in York in June, 1919 While
 roosters were growing, bulls wers
 believing and hogs grunting at the
 sale. In fact, anyone donated what
 ever they pleased and it was auctioned l off by Parker, while Frank Derby was the originator and life of the sale. At
 the time $12,o00 was turned over to
 Sumpter county, which matched it. l The thousand dollars or more left in
 the treasury is now being used to
 put clay on the road and Messrs Run,- Hey, Abrams 6 Derby have donated
 1.-the use of their trucks, while many | farmers along the route have lent their
 mules to match the county teams. It's easy enough when a town or county
 has raised funds by taxation to build
 loads, but it takes the spirit of CO.,
 operation to carry it on as is being
 done at present on the Rooster road. l Y nj far ct tad ir, nIa pit which seems to be of the very
 best quality. It has been dug down 20 feet or more and yet-there seems to he ] To bottom to it. It has been demon
 strated that the right kind of clay properly placed on sand makes fine
 road for ordinary traffic. I saw pieces
 on the Rooster road which had held up
 in patent Jumper made by Henry
 Alexander, a farmer. It is cheaply
 built and certainly does the work. I
 met him and saw the Jumper at work. l I was called into the Rooster road
 by the ladies of York who agreed to
 raise $2,000 to put alongside of the
 s.,090 given by the town of York. They | have banked more than half of rhe
 sum needed. The scheme to raise the | balance was to auction off boxes anl | Frank Derby, having seen me work in the stand at Demopolis, urged them to call me into service.
 | I accepted with pleasure, for auc- | tiCneering has four-minute speak, ing pushed off the boards, as 1t is more like continuous performance. In the
 first place the auctioneer is expected 1 to make at least 20-mnutes spech
 to warm up his crowd and create q 1buying atmosphere Then all during the sale he has a chance to stop and good taste of it at the rooster sale, l the state to help out in Red Cross 1 clean-ups.
 l But if you haven't been to box
 party in a town or country district lycu have something coming to you for there is something happening ev- cry minute It's business and society
 in partnership. and a good way to l raise money and at the same time have a lot of fun. The thing in the sale conducted on Saturday night which surprised me most was the beautiful ard tasty way in which the numerous
 boxes were wrapped and decorated.
 Some of them were li'..e bouquets.
 They were sold. so to speak, blind- folded. that is as to the boxes. for the leyes of those who donated them were .n the dark as to the contents and | tha dOnOrS wara cold bx, ~>,,vv,