The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, January 21, 1898, Image 1
I I MHimi'i Aov?M^eS~^~l rp f 1 TTA1T/*kt' TTlf FO muLiim IT
ilip:g I niii o. ^ B?siE|p-y^
AS TO GOOD ROADS.
A BRIEF SKETCH OF TIIE Ul-STOttV.
Shows The Excellence of Sonth Caro'
Una Roads Before the Establish.
msnt of Railroads.
Columbia. January 4.?Several
(lays ago it was stated that the Good
Road Association would give out n
series of articles on the question of
good roads, so as to arouse interest in
the work. The first of tho series has
been given to the press for publication.
It reads:
It is a trite remark that the roads
of a country are an index of its civilization
; that they aro tho physical
symbol by which to measure the pro
gress of any age or people. "If the
people are stagnant the condition of
the roads will indicate the fact; if
they have no roads they are savages."
Roads are not only the first product
of civilisation, but reacting they become
the chief factors in its advancement.
Look where we w ill in history
we find that road builing and prosperity
go together, that every great
people have made this ??no of the foremost
industrial questions.
"In I'cru, the Incus built greaf
roads, the remains of which attest
their magnificonce." Jlumbolnt in
his "Aspect of Nature," spoaVs of the
mountain road from Quito to Cu6co.
as "A marvelous work not inferior t?>
the most imposing Iloman roadways
It was from 1;500 to 2,000 miles in
length, 20 feet wide, paved with stones
10 feet square, and had a running
stream and road of shade trees on each
side. JL'rescott says' "It whs conducted
over sierras covered with snow;
galleries wcro cut^through living
rock; rivers were crossed by means
of bridges swung suspended in the
air; precipices wore scaled by stairways
hewn out of the native bed. and
ravines of hideous depths were filled
up with solid masonry."
TIIF. STREETS OE BABYLON
Wore paved, it is said, 2,000 years
B. C.. and the highway leading from
Babylon to Memphis was paved at an
early date, and along it arose the
cities of Ninevah, l'ulim ra, Damuscus.
Tyre, Antioch and other great
commercial towns.
The importance of the roads to the
| welfareol nations was unknown to the
Greeks. The Senate of Athens, the
Governments of Laeedaemon, Thebes
and other States of Greece bestowed
much care upon them.
The Carthaginians also were sys?
x ? _ l _ i i *
icinuuc mm scicnuuc roan maKcts.
and not a little of their commercial
and military importance is due to that
fact,
Till-: UK K AT It O.MAN ROADS.
The Romans learned the a.t of road
building from Carthago, and in their
hands it reached its highest development.
The earliest and greatest of
Roman roads, the Appian way, was
commenced in ol2 11. C. The city
of Rome was afterwards connected
with all the chief towns by paved roadways.
Later these lines of communication
were extended through Savoy,
Dauphine ami Provence; through
Germany, every part of Spain,
through Gaul and even to Constanti
nople; through Hungary, Macedonia
and to the mouth of the Danube.
Neither did the interposition of sea*
obstruct the laborer daunt the enter,
prise of this great people. The lines
of communication thus constructed to
the shores of the continent of Euro e
were continued at corresponding
points of thc'iieigMmring islands and
continents?Sicily. Corsica, Sardinia,
England, Africa and Asia were ac
cormngiy penetrated and inPr-Cited
bv mads forming the continuation of
. i: 'i*i
tilt; Vill l .Hi | twill 'illvo? I IIVM* '
gigun ic w< rks were tin* m< st so id
structures of their kiiid which have
been formed in any age. and many
of them still remain, often forming
the foundation of modern roads, and
in some in-tanees constituting the
rosd surface now used. A trench was
oxeivufed the entire length and width
ot" the roadway, and in this the road
materials wete placed in four layers,
having a total thickness of ahout three
I fe? t : (1) the statumen, consisting of
large flat stones laid in mottai; (2)
the indus, compi'sod of broken stone
it ml mortar well consolidated by ram.
tning; ( >) the nucleus, a mixture of
broken brick, tile gravid and lime;
(d) the slumma crusta, :? pavement of
stone, closely jointed, and fitted with
the utmost nicety. A1 though these
roads were cmiently durable, they
? Mere deficient iu the other qualities
requisite for a good road, and Horace <
states that they were 'Jess fatiguing j
to people who travel slowly." They ]
were remarkable chiefly for their
lavish disregard of every obstacle, sod
are monuments rather of military
despotism than of engineering skill.
During the reign of lawlessness
following the breaking up of the Em.
pire theso roads were infested with
robbets and cut.throats. and were
avoided and neglected by the people
and soon became impassable, and such
intercourse as was maintained was
conducted over rude paths. With the
reconstruction of society the roads
became passable for pack animals and
the rude vehicles of the time; but no
serious attempt was made anywhere
to replaco the public highways until
the middle of tne 17th century.
ROAD BUILDING IN FRANCK.
Road building was taken up in
Franco about 1660 by Louis AlV, a
who had several fine roads made in 2
the vicinity of Paris. Thoy were very 1
wide, but were paved only in the
centre. Tho people very soon began *
to appreciate tne advantages of good '
roads, bnt it was not until the advent ?
of Napoleon that the modern system y
of magnificent highways was inau.
guru,ted. "The material and financial t
t prosperity, thriltiness and content- j;
racnt of the French people has long j
excited the admiration of the worla; t
| neither internal revolutions nor defeat ^
from abroad appear to havo entailed v
upon ihem burdens too heavy for ^
them to bear. Students of economic Q
problems ascribe this marvelous con- ^
dition to the far reaching and splen. a
d idly maintained system of highways, f
on which the obstacles to economical
transportation have been reduced to t
the minimum. ^
England's 8ai> experience.
The almost incredibly bad state of p
the roads in England toward the lat- f
tcr part of tho seventeenth century }
appears frotn the accounts cited by c
Macaulay, (ilia., c. III.) The En- 1
cyclopedia Britannic*, says: "It was f
duo chlrfly t6 the skate of the law, }
I, * ii_.l i i. j.
Milieu cuiupcueu euctx purisu VU Ultuil- ^
tain its roads l>y sta ;ute labor." A |
hundred years later it does not seem f
to have been greatly improved. Mr.
Arthur Young, writing in 1770 of t
one of the principal Ihighways, says : ]
'I know not in the whole range of (
language terms sufficiently expressive
to describe this infernal road."
It was attempted to relieve this in- I
tolerable condition hv a system of c
toll roads, and about 30,000 miles 0
were built by the end of the century; *
but they were so badly built that they 1
w ere soon in as bad or worse condition.
They were managed," says c
the Encyclopedia Britannica, "by a
ignorant and incompetent umw, until c
Telford and Macadam brought scien- 1
tific principles and regular system to j
their construction and repa?r." The i
name of Telford is associated with a t
type of road which bad been used by t
Trcsagnet in France lifty years before; f
''and the name of Macadam often i
characterizes roads on which all his i
precepts arc disregarded." Contcm- r
poraries, and in some respectb rivals, o
to these two men England owes her a
present admirable system of roads, f
Dickens says: "Our shops, our c
horses logs, our boots, our hearts,
have all been benefitted by the introduction
of Macadam."
Most of the paragraphs above have
been condensed from "Highway Construction,"
by A. T. Byrne and the
Encyclopedia Britan n i c a. They
would have been quoted outright had
space permitted.
IN Till: UNITED STATES
the road question came into piominenee
at a very early date. At the
beginning of the present century
Congress set aside a certain part of
the pioceeds of the sale of public
lands for road building* The Oth
Congress passed an act providing for
the construction of the "Cumberland
llool," from Cumberland, Md., into
Ohio, and from 1810 to 1810 appro?
nidations were made for continuing -
this work amounting to $080,000
and 0f)0 niilos were built. <
Jn 1JS17 John C Calhoun intro- |
duced a measure in Congress providing
that the bonus and dividends
received by the United States from
its newly chartered national bank bo
set aside f<-r roads and canals,
amounting to about #6/>0,000 pet*
year. In support of this Mr. Cul
houn said in part: "The manner in
which facility and cheapness of intercourse
add to the wealth of a
nation has been so often and ably discussed
by writers on political ewfi
>my that I prciidrao the House to be
perfectly acquainted with the subject,
[t is sufficient to obserre that every
>ranch of national industry?agricufure,
manufacturing and commercial
?is stimulated and rendered by it
nore productive. The result is to
lifTuse universal opulence. It gives
o the interior the advantages possessed
by the ports moat eligibly sitlated
for trade. It makes the country
irice, whether in the sale of the raw
iroduct or in the purchase of the
articles for consumption, approximate
o that of the commercial towns. In
act if we look into the nature of
realth we find that nothing can be
nore favorable to its growth than
rood roads and canals. * * *
ivory portion of the community, the
armer, the mechanic, and the tner:hant,
will feel its good effect; and
vhat is of greatest importance, the
trength of the community will be
greatly augmented, and its political
tiwarvavi tw van /I tw a??a as/tu *>a ' '
r* vopvi vj a vrsavava *?va UfiVin ocvui v?
Henry Clay also spoke In fuvor of
bis measure, defending its constituionally,
but it was vetoed by Prcsilent
Monroe on the ground that it ]
ros uncDnstitutional.
SOUTH C.lKOLINA
ook up the road problem very early
n her nistory. On the 26th of May,
682, the Colonial Assembly passed
he first road law, entitled "An Act
or Highways." In 1737 an Act
[as passed directing a road to be
milt to Orangeburg from "the head
>f the path that leads from Dorchester
o Cupt. Izard's cow pen." In 1742
n Act was passed providing for a
brrv across Suntee river, and a road
aade in connection with it to "faciliate
the passage of travelers from
Charleston to Williamsburg and
titers, the northwestern parts of this
irovince." From 1758 to 1786 the
bllowing roads were provided for:
Vom Eutaw Springs through Manhester,
Cajaden and Lancaster C.
1.; from Fopt Mott to Fishing Creek;
irotu Society Hill to Bennetsville,
ilarion, Conwayboro and Georgeown,
and from the same point to
larlington, Kings tree and Fort Mott:
rom Orangeburg to Ninety Six, Ab>eville
and Pendleton; from Augusta
o Edgefield, Ninety Six and Fish
lam, and from Friday's ferry, on
Conenree river, to Aueusta.
U ' o
In 1788 a general road law was
mssed requiring twelve day's work,
>r a commutation tax of$2 per diem,
md in 1780 the funds derived from
avcm licenses were appropriated to
oad improvement.
These early reads were, as a geniral
thing, located with remarkable
kill, and well built, &9 the present
:ondition of many of them will prove.
Drayton's "View of South Carolina,"
mbliskcd in 1802, says: "The
oads in the State are well adapted
o traveling and transportation, even
0 the mountains, and hence wagons
ind no difficulty in coming from the
ippcr counties, with them the comnodities
of that distant region. Cross
oads to and from each Court House
ire made throughout the State, and
1 wagon road has lately been made
rora the north fork of Saluda river
>ver the mountains to Knoxville. in
he State of Tennessee, by which
vugons have passed, carrying loads
>f *2,500 pounds weight. * * * And
it this time a carriage and four may
>c driven from any part of this State
o the other, from the seashore to the
nountnins, without any other diffiiulty
than such as naturally arise in
ong journeys.
As a further proof of the high
legree of efficiency of these old State
oads the cost of transportation by
vagons between Columbia and Chareston
1821, as given by Mr. Kobcrt
ki:il_ IT .?.) 1AA .
?iii ip, ?un uii j i 1 w cents per
on per mile. Standard authorities
jive the cost at lb cents per ton per
nile on the very best earth roads,
vhile the average cost in this State
iow is variously estimnted at from
lb to 40 cents.
Since the beginning of the railway
>ra in the thirties the history of the
lublic roads in this State has been
entirely without interest, recording
inly a steady and unbroken decline.
\n effort was made about ten years
igo by the writer to awaken some
ntercst in the subject, but it was
<oon crowded out by other issues. It
0 to be hoped that the present movement
marks a turning point, and that
with the beginning of the twentieth
jentury an era of great activity in
roudhuilding will bo commenced.
Ciias. C. Secretary.
ARE MILLS
AN" APPBAMI|^Sh06l9LA.
A Claim That Factory Mf^IplrCanker
on the Vitala of
An appeal for lejri&i^pnj to prevent
any cotton employing
children under 1^ yea 1*0 f age.
An appeal forto.pre
vent any cotiou mm nw employing
any set of hands for a^bnger period
than 10 hours on any 9pe a ty.
In behalf of oppreqKi.- (umanity
I make my appeal; upwjpj its I base
From physiological,jHrjre iological,
social and hereditary ffets hat cannot
be denied, I base it$? f \
The State cannot afflfeqf?$<> treat
lightly a problem that a# gjertains to
her present and fu tutr^greatness?
When the sub-structure **??? institution
has been ninh i n
orstructure must fall.
State for if it ia not to lowj|ft!er'tbe
interests of her people Jj^Rnstitu
tions? An injury to wMRflbeso is
an injury to the State, IBjpbse they
ore as much a part of jaftState as
are the individual memfeSTof a human
body a part of the
It is true that the cottKmill is a
new thing in the sotrajra. It has
scarcely been in exietencMVg enough
to tell what will be the result of
so many country peopllflpcking to
these manufacturing tows Nor is
it neoessnry to await the Snl result,
tho tendencies aro enoughS
From a physiological jpuidpoint
she must consider the OMheouences
of immatare children frfflT 8 to 12
years left in a standing Jnition day
nftcr day for 11 houtfif[breathing
heated, impure and d?iaty$t*ir. It is
absolutely impossible for tibere to be
perfect physical develOMQent under
such conditions as these^To be kept
standing constantly wilh the blood
gravitating downward ^tinst neces-sarily
retard the development of vital
organs in the upper regions of the
body.
1 he impure air must militate
against the lungs and the purification
of the blood. While the number of
hours must tell upon the nervous systems
of adults, und much more so
upon die constitutions of children.
Already is a pallor known as the
factory cheek. Too often arc the
roses seen to fade from the cheek of
the country lad as lie enters a factory
town. Look at that listless eye!
that tremulous step!
From a phrenological standpoint
it is net necessary to make an inquiry
as to the results of small, undeveloped,
and uneducated children, entering a
cotton mill and spending a lifetime
as an appendage to a machine. Doing
work so mechanical that thorc is
no opportunity for developing reasoning
or logical faculties at all. Igno
rant of what is transpiring in the
world around them, each day they
grow more and more dwarfed. Living
an animal, sensual and mechanical
life, where is any intellectual or
moral development ? Examine the
shapes of the skull of those that have
known nothing but factory life. Fish
in the Mammoth Cave have no eyes,
why ? Because they ceased to use
the eyes they had. Then what shall
be the effect on South Carolina, of
50,000 or 75,000 factory population,
with minds, with imaginations, with
memories, with reasoning faculties
with all unused ?
As a social question the factory
element is the greatest that now confronts
the State. Thousand of people
living in tenement houses in c ose
proximity without sanitary arrangements
; hundreds of both sexes mingling
miscellaneously behind the looms,
to and from the mills; tendencies too
destructive in their final results to
mem ion. Can these things help to
bt ild up and purify the social life of
a State ?
See ll?-year-old youths marrying,
us though to tnarry were a holiday
: _ i. _ Uri x i? ii i -
jum.'. >? n;u smui i?e ine enect
of animal instinct turned loose without
moral or intellectual restraint?
From the standpoint of heredity if
nono other the State should assert
her power.
If the present system of operating
factories is militating agents to the
physical, the mental and the social
man what will be the result if handed
down unrestrained, increasing in destructive
results as it goes ?
If it is true that *'a bad environment
may develop a pernicious
t
I
heredity "theu^ mt% the Sia^'aa^'
ur W:
"xake aU these environments, destructive
in their tendencies, and let
them be handed down from generation
to generation, gathering momentum
as they go marrying and intermarrying,'
exaggerating tendencies as
they sweep and what do you have ?
a monstrosity!
A traveller in Africa says "We
saw children of 12 years of age who
appeared but 6 or 8, so puny and
undeveloped were they." What will
the traveler of the next century say
as he travels through our southland V
To those who so enthusiastically
laud jhe "New South" and speak
boaatitogly of her manufacturing industries,
wo WOuld ask to consider
what will hnvtmA nf nnr nitiAa ctnr
courts, oar conventions, our congresses
unless replenished by the
fresh yeomanry of*our country? But
hpw sh^l these bo replenislm^ froni
that the cotton mill business is not
the greatest curse that has ever happened
to South Carolina. *
Talk about her wealth! Yes, but
when she is drawing on the blood,
the brain, the heart, and the souls of
generations yet unborn, she is paying
a price too dear. Better do like
Marion's men??livo on acorns and
potatoes.
War destroyed many of liar in!
habitants, but it did not develop a
' pernicious heredity. Iler heroes mid
her past greatness may live within the
pages of history; they cannot be reproduced
from a debased heredity.
Let the State ward off threatening
evils by prompt legislation. Give at
least childhood for mental and physical
development. Give manhood
time for reading and recreation, at
i i r__ l__a.' ;??- 1 _
icubl wr uis oiispnng is shkc.
Let the State realize that tlio
physical is the foundation of the intellectual,
hence the foundation of a
nation.
Let her encourage recreation and
physical development; let her encourage
schools and libraries; and let
her use the limit of her power in
forcing companies to provide for the
welfare and best interests of their
toiling operatives and their families.
Let the State establish some system
for putting to work those brutish
characters who have prostitut<yl
fatherhood hv making slaves of thenchildren,
while they loiter around
factory towns and spend the earnings
of their offspring in gratifying their
heathenish propensities. Let the
State release the child and put to
work the trilling parent.
Unless the State takes active stops,
she has a leaven within her that will
permeate her every social institution,
and will vitally affect her morals and
her social life.
Let the State realize that no institution
can stand whose foundation
has within it the germs of death.
If "improvement in environment I
means the purification of heritage"
let the State wrench victory out of
defeat by legislating along these
linos. .Tonv (' llnnvn
Pastor of Union Mill Church,
C. Conference.
Union, S. C., Jan. It, 1808.
Wm. J. Bryan's Intentions if he Is
Nominated.
W. J. Bryan in concluding a speech
before the Byrari League at the Trcuiont
House during a banquet held
after the Auditorium meeting, early
this morning made some remarks
which arc interpreted as showing his
intentions if he is nominated for tin?
presidency in 1000. In speaking of
the next presidential election, Mr.
Bryan said:
til'?V 1 in U*n will Kn e 1 ?*An r?
enough to win without any outside
help. But, nevertheless, 1 prefer to
win with the Populists on one side and
the free silver Republicans on the
other. And we must not forgot when
the victory is won, that in the campaign
of last year it took more courage
on the part of the free silver Republicans
to desert their old party, and
inoro self sacrifice on the part of the
Populists to go outside of their or?
animation for a presidential candi
ate, because lie agreed with thein on
the paramount issue, than it did for
the Democrats to support the ticket
which was nominated by their own
national convention."?Chicago Dispitch.
| Wm. A. Nioholson & Son Bankers^
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cneiea
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1 OUR SHOES FILLS THE BILL, j
While in the city don't fail to visit the Big Shoe J
Store of the 2
s Union Shoe Company. | .
I I
There's a
Surprise in Store
j' For the man who lias been sadly j|
k r brushing liis lust year's hat and remarking
sternly to himsely that it
will have to do. It won't have to do.
' : There's no necessity of it "doing"
when we sell the Famous HOWARD
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to give perfect satisfaction. They are
I the equals to any $8.50 hat in America.
New shapes for spring 1898~in both
Soft and Stilt HOWARD HATS now
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Y.ours for a New Hat,
SMITH CLOTHING CO.,
GO TO BEATY'S FOR
CLOTHING.
iffnmn vnn dp wpti nDPccnno
IT UUJjU 1UU DJj H IiLL UntiOOLU
If so Rose & Company's Garments
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"They wear sj well and cost no more than Ready
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Don't forget Ibe mans full suit at $2.00, a good appetizer.
Good hoys' suits from 70c. up. Roys' ready male knee pants
25c. Cheap sugar wi I soon he in season. Be sure to call on
us for clothing. Yours very truly,
T. BEATY.^
?
-JJdr. h. k. smith,
^ dentist