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1 w\ p s TRADE EDITION. HE ATITF-N" BANNER. THE MAGNIFICENT PROGRESS OF VERY ABLE WORK OF THE aARKE COUNTY TRADE EDITION. COUNTY; COMMISSION. The Road Improvement in This County Effected During the Past Few Years Has Given This County Fifty Two Miles of Splendid Roaduay. Next Year the Work of Macadamizing Leading Country Roads Will be Begun. The New Bridges Now Under Construction. The Improvements at the County Farm Have Been Many. Tax Rate Has Been Kept Down to Very Low Figures and a Neat Surplus is in the Treasury. The New County Jail. No county in the state hi* n more thorough or competent body of mm in charge of its business affairs than the county of Olarke. The actiye management of the busi ness affairs of the county formerly was in l lie hands of the ordinary, but by leg islative aot in 1SSI7. the Board of Com missioners of Koads and Hevenues was established, Bince whii h time they have been in charge of all these departments of county busiuess. The commission was organ'zed in April 1838 and the first board was as fol lows: Uessrs. W. W. Thomas, chair man, T. F. Vincent and W H. Morton, With G. H. Yanoey as clerk. Capt. Thomas served only a few monilis, resigning in July, 1868 and be lug succeeded by Mr. J. M. Hodgson Mr, Vincent was ohosen as chairman and has held that position since that date. The commission as it now stands, Messrs. Thomas P. Vincent, chairman, W. H. Morton and S. M. Herrington, with Mr. Howell 0. Erwin, clerk. “ At first there was some donbt ex pressed as to whether or not the ohange in the manner of conducting the bust ness of the connty would be successful. The passing years have demonstrated that this body ;has systematized the business of the county in a wonderful manner and that the affairs of the oonnty were never in a better condition ( than at present. Probably the best work done by the connty commissioners has been the lm provement of thooountry roadg through out the oonnty. A year or two Defore the organisation of the oonnty commis sion there was an investigation made on thissnbjeot and some effective work done, bnt practically all of the perma nent road Improvement has been done since the commission was organized. The commissioners have purchased road machinery, stook and other equipment r,t a cost of several thonsand dollars, and thus equipped they have had muob good work done upon the connty roads. The worst roads in the connty were se lected by the superintendent, Mr. Thom, as P. Stanley, and the moat scientific work was done upon these roads. They were first brought to the proper grade and[then put in a most serviceable con dition. In a number of Instances it was neo cssary to oonstTuct entirely new roads in order to ent oot the steep hills. In every lnstanoe the new roads have proved to be most satisfactory and the heavy grades that had a tendency to seriously retard trafflo were overcome The farmers have appreciated these changes and they have profiled very mnoh thereby. In 1800 the county commenced work ing oonviota upon the publio roads and the experiment has proved to be a suc cess. It has cheapened the oost of road construction materially and has been a very economical step on the part of the oonnty. In order to facilitate the working of I MR W. H MORION. the convictB on the public roiuls, u num ber of tents are provided und they an moved from section to section of tin county wherever the roads may need work upon them. From fifteen to thirty convicts are kept busy on this road im provement daring a largo portion of each year. The splendid road improvement work has been earned on so successfully that there are now fifty-two miles of Im proved roadway in this oonnty and of that there is n considerable portion in new roads. It has from the first been the inten tion of the commissioners to ultimately macadamize the roads throughout the oounty, especially those roads leading into the adjoining counties. The idea was to get the roads in perfect shape be fore the beginning of this work of mac adamizing. It i« believed now that such a con dition of affairs will be obtained by next year and that the work of macadamizing will begin at that time A strip of the roadway about sixteen feet wide will be macadamized, and that will afford ample passage room for teams going in an opposite direction. The commission has made thorough investigation of this work by visiting Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, whore the best work of this kind has been done. The details as to the mac adamizing will be workod out before the improvement is started. The work of the commission in this particular de partment of county work has been such as to win the hearty commendation of all tax payers. Daring the past few years under the direction of the commission a number of needed public improvements have beer made. A new jail has been con strue' -i at a cost of about #ll 000. It t« one of the model jails of the country, both from the standpoint of safety and he standpoint of sanitary arrangi non ts The entire interior is of steel and ce merit. It is well-ventilated and the plumbing ai.rl health arrangements are the best. On account of the fact that t ederal prisoners are now xincaicprat^ here, the commissioners w ll take steps at once to complete a portion of the second story in order to provide more room. The vault ill the ofli :e of the Olerk o» the Superior Court, fire proof in evert respect and equipped with in tal repos itories for the records, is one of tin splendid improvements made in reoeni years at a cost of about #1500. There is now no county in the state where the records are mou safely or more conven iently kept. \ The court home has been thoroughly repaired and an iron stairway has been placed In the rear of the building at a coat of SHveral huurin d dollars. The bridges of -he county have been kept In splendid condition and thr>e new bridges have been constructed The iron bridge over Cedar Creek was coustruoted at a cost of #700. Th Sandy Creek and Epps bridges over Sandy Creek and Middle River respect ively will oost when ootnpleted about #-1,000 When this work is fiuished the bridges of Olarke county will be in ex oellent condition. The improvement at the county farm has been marked and deserves special mention. A large new barn has been erected to take the place of the burn destroyed by fire, the convlot stockade has been built and other necessary build ings h tve been constructed. The farm has for several years been superintended by Mr. W. D. Kelly who has been romarkably suc cessful in the cultivation of vegetables and grain crops, whioh have been used in the support of the county paupers, the convicts and the stock at the county farm. In this way the oost of main taining the poor and the couviots, us well as the prosecution of the road im provement work has been greatlv re duced. At the farm there are now being raised a number of fine Herkshire pigs, the Idea being to tell them at reasonable figures to the people of Clarke county and thereby lnduoe them to raise more hogs in this county. At n later date a number of floe cows will be placed at at the county farm with a similar end in view. During the past few years $8,500 has been paid on the bouded indebtedness of t le county and the only d bt owed by the county now is $88,000 of 4 per cent bonds, which will be told in a few weeks to refund the old bonds to that aninuui which were bearing 6 per cent All this splendid work has been done without increasing the tux ra'e In fact, when the commiss'on fork charge of the sll'airs of the county th - r„x rate was #3 73 on the #1.000 and now it is only #3 80. List year it rmnh d the low figures of #3 0(1 In addnmii. the county has in its treasury a neat surplus, and it is also to be taken into considera tion that the p-rfits coming to the county from the dispensary now go to the rural schools and not into the general funds of the county The commission is made np of three of the most prominent rit<z-ns r f Ath ens. Chairman Thomas I* Vincent is a native Athenian and has riming his life achieved much success. He has fur years b.eu a -ucoesstni merchant, being a pirtner in the large mercu tde estab lishment nf ,1 icksnn & Vincent. He hss served as c i>y alderman w i ft splendid effect, has been president ,,t the Athene Savings Hank and is now pre-ideut o, the Athens Manufacturing Conipiny No better man onuld he found In Olarke connty for the position he holds. Mr William II Morton is a leading planter in this connty. a man who lias nude an eminent success at. farming. '-'"Util J IHI.U I1 during that time was the author of a number of valuable improvements in the methods of conducting the schools. To him un re than to any other one man is (lire the sple did school buildings now owned by the connty. He is also the ifriginator of the idea of using the die- peusai v prt fi s entiling to the connty for the development of the rural schools. Judges. M. Herrington has long been one of ilie leaiirs in this comity. For twelve years he was the efficient ordi nary of this county nod his thorough knowledge of the conduct of the comity’s business, gained while in that office, as well as his natural ability. serve to make him a most valuable mem ber of the board. Mr. Howell O. Erwin, clerk of the commission, is a prominent young at torney and is a most admirable and com petent officer in his position. Mr. Thomas 1*. Stanley, superinten dent of road construction and bridge work, is one of the best civil engineers io the state, having had a great dell of experience in all lines of his profession. The condition if sff.trs in Clarke connty is soch as to cause mnch con gratulation. Herd.lit is on It #33 000 and could be paid t ff in a few years with ease if such was desiri d She has the sixth lowest tux rate in the state and umong the counties doing perm met t road improvement her n x rate is the lowest. No county In Georgia has bet ter facilities in every department of publio work. Her school system, her roads, her bridges, her connty farm, her publio builtliugs are all up to the high est standard. It is a source of congratulation that the affairs of Clarke county are in suoh able bauds, and the furore welrare of the county it thoroughly assured AN IMPROVED COUNTRY ROAD. ROAD SOENE.IN OLARKE COUNTY.