Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-06-16
To The Herald:

A&G4 WAGA EACaN GANCAN1k AAAN
article appearing in Tuesdays Her
aid by my good friend. Mr.. A. j..
Carpenter, the Will Rogers of the
Lower Rio Grande, and no n can
appreciate more than / do the NEE
things Mr.. Carpenter says about
me. ! appreciate it all the more
because 1t is sincere; and I give
the right to other people TO dis
agree with me on the road pro-
gram, as we'll as on my other mat
tiers Of public policy.
I want also to testify 70 the
wonderfully unselfish spirit Of Mr..
Carpenter and his, the RIO
Hondo. community in the past on
road propositions. I cannot forget
that within the first two weeks OF
my taking office in 1920. wnen
the Rangerville community was
drowned out and the Rio Hordo
community was in the mud. that
the Rio Hondo community went
unanimously on record as favoring
taking road money to build lsvees
TO protect the Rangerville section.
Conditions are now largely g
versed and Rio Hondo has three
first class concrete roads leading
into IL. and Rangerville has only a
dirt road; and I hope that this un-
selfish spirit will continue ard
that Rio Hondo will continue 70
lead the van to give the balance
Of the county its part Of the SIX
million Just as rapidly as is con-
sistent with good business and eng
neering principles.
I am sure that If Mr.. Carpenter
vas in the position Of his neigh
Dor in the other end Of the water
district. Mr.. Tom Cox. who mas
been here for Is years and who
lost more than a thousand dol'avs
in the last three weeks simply be-
cause he could not get his crops
to market-that he would be anx-
ious TO see this road program fin
tshed Just as early as possible. Many
farmers all ove this county could
not get out on horseback for DAYS.
and these farmers voted for the
bond issue in good faith. believ ne
that the commissioners court would
have the intestinal fortitude to
give them what thew voted for.
Now. as stated bv Mr.. Csrpenfy y.
there was some talk about the 'So-
gram going for six years. As q
matter OF fact. there was all kinds
Of talk; talk for two million. three
million. four million. five milton
and six million. and I believe a lit
tie talk went as high as ten mil
lion. Then there was talk about
rock, asphalt. gravel. concrete. OIL
and other roads. Then I believe ]
heard some talk about putting over
the PROGRAM as long as eight
wears. Now. my memory Is not in
fallible. but I certainly ought to
know Just what was In the minds
Of the people rs reflected al the
different mass meetings and from
DELEGATIONS coming in TO see me
weekly and almost daily, and ]
can say that the overwhelming
IN fact almost unanimous-burden
of-Sentiment was not how long we
cdAlld POSTPONE the program. but
h3w quickly we could get II
through efficiently. and when the
votes were counted we found
about q against any program at all.
At the request Of these people,
Including requests made at the
mass meetings. ! made an investi-
CATION through u engineers and
found that about $1,000. 900 a year
was as rapidly as the money could
be spent efficiently: and that Is
where We got the three year pro-
gram. 10 be two million a year,
which, divided into six, gives three.
AS the records show, we put on
two million the first year, but, on
account of matters beyond our con-
troll, have only been able to put
on a million each year since. and
at the very best ii is now a four
year program and. with everything
out OF the way. should the weather
be bad. 1t may be now a five year
program. This is very unfortunate
and Is a great loss to the country.
as IL only costs about so per cent
more overhead to carry on a two
million dollar per year program
than a n million dollar per year
program / would say that the loss
heretofore caused by reason Of de-
lay Is not less than $4,000 in cold
cash, and If this is delayed six
years as is being suggested. per%aps
s150.0O0 or 5000. 900 loss in cold hard
cash, but that IS not the biggest
loss. The biggest loss is on account