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Cotton Market:
jq Mowing was ruling
} , here yesterday:
M- idling, 10 7-8 cts
mid. 11 cents
VOL. I. NO.
11 citizens of the Rural Districts Demand Good and Permanent Roads, and Their Cause Is Espoused By the
Ne ws Without Dictation or Rese rvation of Any Nature.===lt Is the First Local Paper to Take Up Standard.
LETTER from a
prominent citizen
In Response to Letter From News
Mr. Adams States His Position
On the Road Question.
Mansfield, Ga.. June 19, 1909
Editors Covington News,
Gentlemen:— Yours of the 16th, ask¬
ing for an expression of my opinion
as to the feasibility of our county
building better and more permanent
mads, a plan to accomplish it, and
whether I would favor a bond issue or
■ n ot for the purpose, received.
In answer will say that I know so
little about the cost of building per¬
manent roads that I hate to venture
an opinion. Until better informed I
would not favor a bond issue. The
plan suggested by Mr. Almand, a
member of the Board of County Com
jmissioners, strikes me as a good one.
I That is, have a squad or squads bo go
on [over ['The and keep holes and ruts filled.
present system does n’t give us
1 I good roads any time.
Almost anybody would rather travel
two roads not worked at all, than one
newly and well worked. In fact, un¬
der favorable circumstances some
would rather stay at home than travel
Ivor a well worked road. By the
lime these well worked roads become
packed firmly enough to get over
kith any degree of comfort, there are
loles cut in and washes across, so
Lit for no considerable stretch do we
Ind them as we would like. Let’s
ry lore working them less and putting it
to the spot. I have heard of
pme one undertaking to patch a rend
i his pants and missed the hole with
[>e patch. What I say is not intend-
1 to reflect on our Board of Commis
loners or road superintendent. No
junty has more efficient ones.
Respectfully,
D. J. Adams.
pie next young men’s prayer meet
> will be held at the Baptist church
it Sunday afternoon, led by Mr.
|R. Fowler. ,
“Speaking Of
The Weather”
HOT WEATHER
Does not effect interest on a time
deposit placed with us~we pay you
just as much interest when the ther¬
mometer stands at 100 degress as we
do when it is down to zero.
Let four Money Work For You
Money at home or in your pocket
does not draw interest and may be
1 burned or stolen. Let us issue
ou a time certificate of deposit then
ou have a sure thing with the in
erest a Jded to it. Come in and talk
t(nt us. Your account, large
r sril a i, is solicited by
list National Bank
Covington, Ga.
/ to
PRESENT FORCE CAN
NOT DO WORK.
President L. D. King, of Rural
Letter Carrier s Association,
Advocates Better Roads.
Editors op The News:
To any one who travels twenty
five miles every day, six days ini
every week, the subject of Good
Roads is of more than ordinary
interest.
In response to your request for.
an article on the subject, I trust that
I am prompted by more than a sel¬
fish interest and what criticisms I
shall make are made in a spirit of
helpfulness.
I have yet to meet any one who is
not in favor of good roads. How to
get them is a great problem.
I do not believe we will ever have
permanent roads under the present
system. Did you ever figure how
much acreage is involved in eight
hundred miles, twenty feet wide?
Add to this the bridges to be kept in
repair, and the numerous streams
and low places in the county that
need bridges, where there are none
now and you will realize that it is
a physical impoaibility for even the
present force employed to ever build
permanent roads over the territory
involved. This emphasizes the need'
of road building machinery, and that
means “Money.”
The work that is being done is not
properly graded. I traveled Satur¬
day over seventeen miles of freshly
worked roads, most of it in the rain.
Out of the seventeen bridges passed
the water was crossing the road at
seven of them before it ever got to
the bridge. In several places the
roadbed was so flat that the water
had covered the entire surface of the
road. Quite a lot of work had been
recently done on this road, it was in
the best condition it has ever been in,
but it was not properly graded and as
a result by the time the road force
gets back to this road much of the
work ihat had already been done will
have to be done over. This shows
the need of a civil engineer and that
COVINGTON, GEORGIA, JUNE 23, J909.
i ~f
AND WHY NOT?
Wouldn’t it be a very good thing for the people of Cov¬
ington and Newton County to pull off a big Good Roads
Convention and Barbecue at the Academy Spring park some¬
time during the latter part of July? We believe that now is
the time to hold a convention of this kind as the people are
realizing the absolute necessity of good roads and are agitating
the advisability of the county issuing bonds. It would be a
very interesting convention and good roads speakers from
other counties could be invited to address the crowd, which I
would be information the majority of the people of the county
want. At this meeting the cost of building good and per¬
manent roads would be given by the speakers and the bene¬
fits to be derived could be set forth in an intelligent manner.
We believe that there are enough public spirited men in
the city and county to pull off a big barbecue for the public,
say to feed five or six hundred people, and make the day a
pleasant as well as profitable one. Don t you believe that at
this time it would be a day well spent to have this convention
and get good roads so agitated as to make them a certainty?
1 hen, why not?
HON. T. J. SPEER
FAVORS ROND ISSUE.
He States the County is in Need
of More Money to Keep up
and Build Better Roads.
Newborn, Ga., June 19, 1909.
Editors Covington News:
In reply to your letter of June 16th,
wanting an expression from me as to
the feasibility of this county building
better and more permanent roads, I
am certainly in favor of better roads
in the county. As the county has re¬
ceived her share of the state convicts
which naturally calls for more ma¬
chinery, more mules, guards and other
expense which will necessarily come
up. It will be necessary to have
more money than the county has been
having. Rather than to be borrowing
money to meet this expense, I favor
a road bond issue as was recommend¬
ed by the last grand jury. The money
not to be expended on any one public
thoroughfare, but for the better im¬
proving of all the public roads in the
county. I am very truly yours,
T. J. Speer.
means “more money.”
In this connection let me say that
next to a civil engineer there is pos¬
sibly no one who knows more about
the defects of roads and road work
than the Rural Letter Carriers of
Newton, who have traveled over the
some twenty five miles of road prac¬
tically every working day for the
past seven years and-who have seen
it in all conditions of weather, and
they are ready and willing to help
improve the roads in any way they
can.
Again when we have rocks and can
get sewer piping and culverts of al¬
most any good material, it seems un¬
wise to put in wooden bridges, that
means a hole in the road on each
side of the bridge and will have to be
replaced in a few years. In the next
place, with proper grade and bridg¬
ing it is impossible to build good
roads out of red dirt without some
kind of surface covering.
Water is the greatest enemy of good
roads. The texture of our soil is
such that when it is wet it becomes
porus and whenever we have rain
and travel in order to have good
roads they must have a covering of
crushed rock, gravel, sand or oil, and
this means “still more money.”
In view of these facts, as I see it,
we cannot economically build perma¬
nent roads, without waste of money
and unnecessary delay until the bond
system is adopted.
It is a recognized principle in eco¬
nomies that permanent public im¬
prove ments of heavy cost should be
paid for through the issue of low
interest bearing bonds so that the
expenses may be shared by other
generations which are to enjoy them.
Individuals die and their affairs have
MR. L. W. JARMAN
ON GOOD ROADS
He Believes the Bond Issue is the
Solution of the Problem Now
Confronting the People.
Editor News: —Answering your re¬
quest for an expression of my position
on the present agitation of the public
mind on the question of Good Roads.
I will say: Personally, I am heartily
in favor of any legitimate effort in
this direction. Furthermore, I believe
that the citizens generally of Newton
county stand ready to endorse the
movement as soon as it is put in con¬
crete shape.
The News is to be congratulated
upon the stand it is taking for good
roads, and the educational campaign
it is carrying on in its columns along
this line. The people need to be
wakened on this matter.
Without going into any lengthy dis¬
cussion of the subject to establish the
position I take as to the issuance of
bonds for road building, I will only
say that to my mind, as a strictly busi¬
ness proposition, it is not a question
can Newton afford to do this, but
rather can she afford not to do it.
This is the proper step for the county
to take. Facts and figures easily prove
it.
The idea of a Good Roads Conven¬
tion in Newton county is a good one.
L. W. Jarman.
Porterdale, Ga., June21, 1909.
to be wound up, and sooner or later
their debts settled—not so with a
county’s—it To lives on.
my mind it means borrowing
money at four or five per cent, inter¬
est to invest in permanent improve¬
ments in roads that will yield a" divi¬
dend of twenty five per cent and
over. Again most of the money de¬
rived from the issuing bonds ought
to be kept in the county.
After buying needed machinery,
paying for the service of a civil en¬
gineer, and the necessary cnlverts,
the larger portion of the money
should be spent in putting gravel,
ir soil on the road, and under the
direction of a competent district
over seer, this could be done by the
citizens of the county, and there are
hundreds of them who would put in
their labor at such work during the
summer and w nter months, and we
should soon have a splendid system
of highways from which we should
derive much benefit and pleasure,
and instead of saddling a debt upon
the future generation we would give
them the legacy of modern and per¬
manent roads.
good I long roads, to see a complete system Mansfield of
connecting
with Almon; Kings with Briekstore;
Newton Factory with Oxford and
North Newton so that and our people can
transport themselves their pro¬
duce from any section of the county
to Covington without the wear and
worry incidentally attending travel at roads the present should
and if such
be used by automobilists to connect
New york and Atlanta there would
be no objection. citi¬
In conclusion, it is up to the
zens of Newton to say whether or not
we shall have GOOD ROADS.
Yours very truly,
LEMUEL D. KING.
CITIZENS OF NEWTON
DEMAND GOOD ROADS
Hon. A. D. Meador is Heartily in
Favor of Better Rural Roads.
Says Citizens Demand It
Editors of The News:
In response to your letter concern¬
ing the good roads movement, allow
me to say, of all public improvements,
the good roads movement is the most
important at the present time. There
is not a man, woman or child, but
appreciates a good road, and while we
have some fairly good roads in this
county, none are so good, but much
improvement can be made, and just
at this time Newton county* citizens
are thoroughly awake to the situation
and are demanding at the hands of
Our county authorities the b st possi¬
ble roads they are capable of build¬
ing. Let’s have such roads that the
farmer can load his team at his home
to its full capacity and not have to
load for a hill or a sand bed within
two miles of town. Mr. Editors, what
is the matter with calling a good
roads convention composed of all the
citizens of old Newton sometime dur¬
ing the summer to discuss the ways
and means, and if it takes a bond is¬
sue, as recommended by our last
grand jury to give us first class roads,
let’s have it by all means or if some
one can offer a better way we can
take that, but let the watch word be
good roads for old Newton for all her
citizens. A. D. Meador.
Will Write Later.
Mansfield, Ga., June 21, 1909.
Editors Covington News:— I have
just returned from Savannah and
found your letter here. I will write
you in a few days and give you my
idea of building better and more per¬
manent roads in Newton county. I am
for good roads and better roads.
Yours truly,
E. L. Almand.
Better see the Tax Receiver before
July 1st.
If Your
- ■ *
•
ing Stationery and Print¬
bears our imprint
it is backed by our
guarantee to give you
satisfaction. We are
here to please YOU.
$1. A Year In Advance.
MANY CITIZENS
FAVOR BOND ISSUE
A Number Have Stated to News
Representative That They are
In Favor of Good Roads
In accordance with the stand The
News has taken for the agitation of
the recommendation of the last grand
jury that this county issue bonds, the
proceeds of which is to be used in
building and keeping up the public
roads of the county, we have inter¬
viewed quite a number of the most
prominent citizens of the city and
county, and we have not encounter¬
ed a single man who is opposed to
the building of good and permanent
roads.
On this page will also be found a
number of letters from men all over
the county giving their ideas and
opinions about the good roads prob¬
lem. In all the cases save one the
writers are in favor of bonds, which
we believe is the thing to do. He
gives as his reason for not favoring
the issue as not being informed as to
the cost of road building and other
details of a bond issue.
In talking to Dr. J. T. Gibson, one of
the members of the board of commis¬
sioners, he stated that he was unal¬
terably in favor of building roads up
to the standard and that he thought
the most practical method would be
to issue bonds for that purpose. He
is very enthusiastic on the subject
and believes that within a short time
bond election would carry. He
says put him down good and strong
in the good roads column.
Mr. C. C. Brooks, member of the
city council and chairman of the
water board, states that he favors a
bond issue for good roads. He states
that the good results of modern roads
cannot be estimated; also that it will
be impossible with the funds in hand
for the county commissioners to keep
the felony convicts without the issuing
of bonds or raising money by direct
taxation. He is a strong good roads
advocate.
Mayor Smith states that good roads
(Continued on last page.)