The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1920-01-08
Good Roads and Prosperity

There never has been put one leellf
mate excuse for bad roads III South
Carolina. That excuse no longer en-
lists. The State could not be expected
10 construct and maintain highways
as long as il was bankrupt and power
tv stricken. Today its people nave
more money than they ever mad De-
fore and the Federal government mas
taught them some things with refer
ence to taxes which they ought no"
to put to profitable account here at
home In the pas: year the people
of South Carolina have paid to ncle
Sam more money than they have been
:, tho habit of raising for their own
State government in decade ana
while il has hurt we have not heard
that il has put anybody out OF ouSi-
ness.
Mr., David K. Coker is absolutely
right when he says IN a commuhica-
ton printed in The News and Courier
that the question Of good roads Is the
most important matter when VIII
cor,e before the session OF the Legis-
,atnre soon to convene at Columbia.
Improved transportation 1acill'ieS
and improved educational facilities are
tho vital requirements of South Car
DINA at the present time. We are go
ing forward educatiolally. ana inc
momentum which has been gained al
ready can be counted on to carr! US
fast and far. But in the matter oi
road improvement we are worse thah
standing still. Comparatively speak
ing the roads of this State are not
half so good as they were nifty years
ago or even a hundred years ago.
That is to saw, while the roads OF hall
a century ago were bad enough IN all
conscience, they were far better adapt
ed TO the means of conveyance then
in general use than the roads OF tne
present time are to the present means
OF conveyance. In the past ten years
the automobile has become the chieI
reliance of those who have most oc-
casion to use the highways. Yet we
have gone on from year to year lg-
noring this fact and attempting TO
get along with the sort OF roads
. which were only passably adapted TO
horse-drawn vehicles and which are
notoriously inadequate for automo-
biles.
Will the Legislature of South Car
olina recognize this fact and be gov
erned accordingly? The members OF
that body should frankly understand
that their fulflment of their obllga-
ton to the State will be judged
broadly by the manner in which they
deal with this question. There IS
onlv one formidable obstacle in fact
to the enactment of a progressive
good roads measure, namely, the pet
ty attitude which still exists and which
STAYS action lest peradventure some
counties or some sections might bene-
fit more largely than others. Surely
however, there is enough patriotism
and common sense in the General AS
sembly of South Carolina to overcome
narrow and antiquated jealousies OF
this sort.
The big thing to remember is that
upon which Mr.. Coker, one Of the
ablest and one of the most successful
business men in South Carolina ard
the South, puts his finger when ne
says. "The saving in time and in up
keep of automobiles, trucks and horse
drawn vehicles would more than pay
the interest and maintenance charges
ON a system of hard-surfaced State
highways which would reach every
county. So, it may be argued that
such system would cost the people
nothing, and the enhancement in land
values, the improvement in business
the additional profits to farm pro-
ducts and the social betterment in the
entire State would all be clear pro-
fit."-News and Courier.