SQUARE DEAL vs PORK BARREL
(By JOHN SPRUNT KILL)
Democratic Apportionment of State Highway Funds By Law to
All the People, Against Bureaucratic Apportionment, of
State Highway Funds <o a Few People.
That Governor Gardner's proposed
"scrapping" of the present highway
Commission, and his proposed new
central bureau to handle all these
funds, is to meet stern opposition in
the state is evidenced by the follow
ing. It is a communication written
by John Sprunt Hill, Durham, to
Fred N. Tate, of High Point. The
full letter is reproduced because it
gives in detail many facts connected
with the highway system that is not
generally known to the public.
The letter follows:
lion. Fred X. Tate,
High Point, N. C.
Dear Mr. Tate: ?
1 thank you very much for your
telegram expressing opposition to the
Governor's suggestion to "scrap" the
S:.-.; Road Law. I spent all day yes
terday in Raleigh looking over the
situation, and found very little sup
port for the proposed Centralized
Road Commission.
Apparently the information, up
on which the Governor acted, was
hf:' -baked, false or "green-eyed," and
h" as b .'ii misled into making a pre
1 ; i re and unfounded attack upon
! 3 tale Road Law and the State
i uyva.v Commission. The Governor
i personal friend of mine, hence I
a.v: very much embarrassed to oppose
ti. views, but, having spent most of
the year ! 1)20 working on a road bill,
as a member of the Commission ap
'oiiit.il by the Good Roads Associa
tion '. draft a bill for the Legisla
tui'e. ; I having spent ten years upon
the ii. ,h\vay Commission at great
personal sacrifice, and practically
without compensation, I feel that it
is ii)i to me now to stand squarely by
the democratic faith that is in me
a -id to uphold the fundamental princi
ples of the State Road Law as vig
orously as possible. The issue is clear
cut. It is.
S'lttdi e Deal vs Pork Biirrcll
The issue is democratic appor
fiouvt' '1 of Stale Highway funds by
/- :.r to nil the people, honestly nifd
fairly, against bureaucratic appor
tiwinifiit of State Highway funds by
political pidl and propaganda.
The bed rock, upon which the whole
structure of the StatcJlighway Com
mission stands, is the honest, fair
allotment of funds to the nine dis
tricts into which the State was divid
ed by the Legislature of 11)21. The
allotment of funds is decentralized by
the same method as Federal Aid is
allotted by the United States Con
gress, this is, one-third in proportion
to th> area of the district to the area
i f the whole State; one-third in pro
portion to the population of the dis-'
trict to the population of the whole
State, and one-third in proportion to
the miles of State Highways in the
di.-trict to the mileage of State High
ways in the whole State. As the dis
tricts are made up of counties, the
books of the Highway Commission
arc- kept oil a district basis, but, at
the same time, show the allotment of
State Highway funds to which each
of the counties composing the respec
tive districts is entitled by reason of
its area, population and State High
way mileage. These records of the
State Highway Commission are open
at all times to the public at Raleigh,
and the allotments of each District
are also on file in the office of the
District Commissioner, at all times
open to inspection to every man, wo
man and child in the counties con
stituting the District. It is the job
of the District Commissioner to so
handle these funds as to build a coun
ty scat to county seat State High
way System in co-operation with all
the other Commission -rs, keeping in
mind the funds and needs of each
county, and in the lon.tr run giving to
each county one hundi- 1 per cent, of
the funds to which it entitled. It
is clear, therefore, that :he allotment
of State Highway fun is in North
Carolina is not only don? on a demo
cratic basis, but on an honest, open
and certain basis.
The whole State Road Law was
built up around this democratic dis
tribution of State funds and a county
seat State Highway System. The Leg
islature of 1921, in its profound wis
dom, put its stamp upon this demo
cratic plan, and a great deal of the
success of the State Highway Com
mission, in building the splendid road
system of North Carolina, has been
due to its faithful adherence to these
principles. For ten years no serious
objection has been raised to this
method of allotment of State High
way funds, and it has become fixed in
the minds and hearts of the people of
[LOOK!
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DAY or NIGHT |
Phone 224 Phone 225 |
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North Carolina. Why break faith
with them at this late hour because a
public accountant of the Institution of
Government Research, at Washington
O. C., makes a hurried trip to North
Carolina, and, bodly sets up his opin
011 that "this division of the State
nto districts is inherently unsound in
ninciple?" This same Henry T.
Seidemann is probably _a very able
uiditor, but he admitted in Durham
hat he knew nothing about loads. I
think, therefore, that he should be
, told to mind his own business and tell
i us about budgets and finance and not
tack up his half-baked opinions about
? i-oad matters against a great body ol
North Carolina citizens who have
.ualified in the eyes of the whole
.v .rid as road experts. The building
the State Highway System under
l> present State Road Law has met
.vith such a degree of approval, both
.t home and abroad, that it seems to
me any thinking man would hesitate
.o advocate a radical change without
very serious and compelling reasons,
i'he facts should be clcarly placed
. fore the people of North Carolina,
and every one have ample opportunity
o judge for himself between the pres
ent democratic apportionment of
funds, and the proposed bureaucratic
and political apportionment of State
I-Iighway funds. If Mr. Seidemann
had made a thorough study of the
S'ate Highway Act, he would have
on 11 d that the present State High
way Commissioner, now vested with
executive authority, so as to give
ft'icient, centralized control of let
:ng contracts and handling money,
with nine District Commissioners
without any executive authority but
ictitig as a Board of Directors, each
?V' charged primarily with certain
1 1 iponsibilities in his respective dis
t vict. The Central Highway Commis
sioners, now Hon. R. A. Doughton, is
responsible for the expenditures of
road administration and road main
tenance, and the District Commis
' mer, generally speaking, recom
mends the projects in his District to
!i 1 constructed. The amount of money
liat each District Commissioner ha?
on his program for contruction of
cads in his District, in which his lo
cal people are vitally interested, is
'ependent upon the economy and ef
'ieiency with which the Chairman
nd his organization conduct the ad
ministration and maintenance pro
ams. The practical effect of this ar
M.ngenient is that the central or
rnnization at Raleigh is now being
wptched constantly by the nine Dis
trict Commissioners, who are intense
'v interested in seeing that every dol
lar possible is saved for the construc
tion of State Highways
Location of Rv.uU
The location of ronii to be con
truoted in each district is, under the
nresent State Road Law, largely in
rhy discretion of the District Com
missioner, but State Highway engi
neers are sent out from Raleigh to
make a survey of the road, working
ntirely from the central office at
Raleigh, and are entirely indepen
dent of domination by the District
Commissioner. After all the facts con
mrning the different locations have
been found by the State Highway en
gineers from the Raleigh office,
these facts are made public for the
general consideration of all interested
citizens in the particular locality in
volved, and after due consideration,
and as a rule after careful observa
tion and study on the ground, the
District Commissioner arrives at a
decision as to the location, and he
makes his recommendation as to a
particular location to the full meet
ing of the State Highway Commis
sion. Maps prepared by State High
way engineers from the central of
fice are then presented to the full
Commission showing the locations of
the competing roads, costs, distances,
geographic locations and estimates of
the engineers as to the number of peo
pie to be served by the competing
roads.
After a full discussion of the maps
showing the locations, and without
any political interference whatever
the location of the road is determined
by the full Highway Commission, and
resolution is passed authorizing the
Chairman to advertise the project
for construction. Generally speaking,
the report of the District Commis
sioner follows closely the report of
the. State Highway engineers from
the Raleigh office, but occasionally
the District Commissioner finds him
olf in opposition to the report of the
State Highway engineers, and then
the full State Highway Commission
has to determine the controversy. In
n number of well-known cases the
judgement of the District Commis
ioner has been overruled by the full
Commission.
There are no arbitrary practices
'-out the State' Highway Co;::mis
;;ion. It always ?works alorg demo
cratic lines. The State Road Law pro
vides for the right of appeal from
t-he report of the District Commis
sioner, and many times citizens have
vxercised this right of appeal. There
has never been any suggestion of
fraud or any charge of extravagance
against the individual Commissioner
lor against the State Highway Com
mission, and its work has been ap
proved by four Legislatures and by
: very political platform proclaimed
I . ring the past ten years. It is not
' : ue, there/ore, that we have no r>rop
riy co-ordinatod State Highway
Commission in North Carolina, and
h'i'e is no foundation for Mr. Peide*
'?'.nn's charge that the highway
pvorl: in North Carolina "is actually
controlled by nm? individual Com
missioners." No doubt it was this
same "mushroom" road <?*pe-t, Reide
:?>. nu, that told the Governor that
fch'" time has come to dlsennlir?ie the 1
building of State Highways in piece*
m al fashion." Anybody can Jook at
the present road map and sec for him
self that North Carolina has a great
coordinated State Highway System.
I submit that it is up to the Gover
nor to present his facts before we
make such haste to tear up the road
; law and throw the whole business in
to confusion, and create a Bureau
composed of a Chairman and four
Commissioners at large, and lump
the entire State Highway funds, un
der the power and discreation of the
Governor himself, on a political basis.
The people of outlying counties would
be forced to be continually running
down to Raleigh Bureau of State
Roads, at great expense to them
selves and endless confusion to the
Bureau, in order that they may secure
consideration of their road matters.
During the past ten years I have
personally held about six hundred
road hearings in the Fourth District,
and it may be safely said that almost
i" many hearings have been held in
each of the other Districts. Judging
by former experience, the Governor's
Centralized Bureau of Roads at Ral
eigh would average, for the wliok
State of North Carolina, about two
hearings per day, and even after the
hearings take place, members of the
Bureau would not be in a position to
act intelligently upon the merits of
the controversy without personal ob
servation of the roads themselves. The
whole conception, therefore of a Cen
tralized State Highway Bureau is un
democratic, impractical and runs in
direct opposition to the experience
and practice of the people of North
Carolina.
County seat to Coiivtn Sent and
Farm to Market Roads
A glance at the map of the State
Highway System shows that practical
ly all trunk lines in North Car
olina have been built by the State
Highway Commission. Here and there
a short stretch of some trunk line,
built years ago and treated with road
oil, is worn out under heavy traffic..
At the last meeting of the State High
way Commission steps were taken to
immediately replace most of these
worn-out links of road oil treatment
roads with modern concrete roads.
The present work of the State High
way Commission, therefore, is not
building trunk line roads and fan
tastic coordinated roads, but its job
is mainly to complete a county seat
to county seat "State Highway System
connecting various county seats by
the most direct and practical routes,
and the building of farm to market
roads, runniug into villages and small
towns and large settlements of peo
ple that have not yet been provided
with adequate road service by the
State Highway Commission. From
time to time during the past few
years the State Highway Commission
has been constantly adding to the
State Highway System these county
seat to county seat roads and these
farm to market roads until now about
2000 miles of these rosrds have been
added to the System, many of which
remain unbuilt. Records of the State
Highway Commission show that it
will require about five years for us
to build and properly surface all of
these county seat to county seat and
farm to market roads, at a cost of
something like $*0,000,000. All of
the District Commissioners are fami
liar with the problems arising from
the addition of this new mileage, and
they are making every effort to give
the people of North Carolina these
new county seat to county seat and
farm to market roads. Is it better to
trust this great work for the people
of North Carolina to road experts,
giving their time practically without
cost to the State, who are already
familiar with the work that is to be
done thorought the by-ways and
hedges of North Carolina, or, is it
better to trust it to a Centralized
Bureau at Raleigh, under the control
of the Governor subjected to political
influences, and follow the advice of
the distinguished Mr. Seidemann of
the Brookings Institute of Govern
ment Resarch? I am slow to follow
Mr. Seidemann's suggested Penn
sylvania plan, where the Governor
controls the Highway Bureau and the
personal of the Highway Bureau
I operates on a political basis and gen
lerally goes out of office with every
new Governor.
Economy
The North Carolina State High
way Commission and the District
Commissioners have always practiced
rigid economy in the construction and
maintenance of State Highways. Its
! overhead charges are strictly in pro
portion to the volume of road work
"to be done. Four years ago, when we
had a $12,000,000 annual State pro
gram, the Fourth District kept seven
engineering parties in the field. -To
day, with a $6,000,000 road fund,, we
have only two engineering parties ;n
the field. Indeed, it is not claimed by
the advocates of the Centralized
Bureau that it will cut down ex
penses. Their claim appears to rest
upon "coordinating State Highways"
so as to facilitate the building of
'trunk lines. The only serious criti
cism which I have heard of th" High
way Commission was that it oiukc <
number of contractors and cut seri
ously into the profits of the bonding
conpanies. The State Highway Com
mission has steadily cut down the cost
| of roads in North Carolina. It has
j budgeted its income and its road
! programs and has already shown a
isurnlus at the end of the yeui. U'hf
I State Highway Commission hat
? vh'cnitoitslji resisted a 11 efforts hy
'.other State Department ? to dh'crt
St'! tc Highway fr.tidi to other State
Deportments. It has at all times be -
,glad to give a full accounting of its
[ steward .-.hip. The State Highway
' Comirsiwion has r.t all times tri?d tr.
follow the legislate- will as expressed
in the State Road Law.
Let us turn on light, and let
all the people of North Carolina learn
the facti, and judge the merits of
this controversy. I believe in the de
mocracy of the State Road Law, and
with the help of God, I will stand by
the faith thot i'- ;n me.
Oakland News Item*
i __J
T. B. Reid was in the Toxaway
section on business the first of the i
week. i
1 Jim Galloway of Glenville, visited 1
friends here recently.
The many friends of R. J. Galloway '
will be sorry to learn that he is in
very poor health. 1
Mrs. Mary Burgess reports twin
calves at her house.
The marriage of Mr. Fred Revis
and Miss Rosa Bell Lee came as a
surprise to their many friends here.
Mrs. S. E. Alexander was on the
sick list last week.
Word has been received here that
Mr. and Mrs. Dan Reid made a safe
journey and are now enjoying the
sunshine of Florida.
Otto Alexander of Brevard called !
on Mr. and Mrs. I. S. Sanders Sun
day afternoon.
L. E. Cash and daughter, Myrtle,
visited the latters grandparents, Mr.
and Mrs. George Alexander, Sunday.
T. E. Rlid of Brevard, was the ;
dinner guest of Mr. and Mrs. Claud
Reid on Sunday.
Mrs. J. L. Sanders is quite ill at
her home at Toxaway.
I Born, to Mr. and Mrs. Hovie Chap
pell, a daughter, on Jan. 12.
Wade Nicholson was a Sunday vis
itor at the home of Bill Brisco.
Mrs. I. S. Sanders visited Mrs.
Claud Reid Monday.
Mrs. Lee Norton has returned from
Brevard and reported a very pleasant
visit.
Among the pleasant events of the
past week was a social given by Mr.
and Mrs. Norton. Those enjoying the
occasion were Miss Iva Sanders. L. C.
Sanders, Miss Inez Alexander, Miss
Blanch Arrowood, Cleon Williams and
J. C. McCall of Toxaway. Misses Lora
Bell and Louise Lyda of Porterdale,
Ga., Miss Evaund Sanders, Ray and
Robert Sanders and Miss Myrtle of
Oakland, and Dock and Guffie Whit
mire of Quebec.
The rain and mud has prevented
good attendance at Sunday school and
church, although there are those
"Faithfiif few" who had the courage
to brave the weather last Sunday, j
even though they had to walk. Let us .
all profit by their example.
CULLOWHEE ALU MM ASKED
TO REPORT TO THE SCHOOL |
I Cullowhec, Jan. 21. ? The annual I
statr at Western Carolina Teachers
College is requesting that all students
who were at the college in the fall or
who plan to attend the spring quar
ter be represented in the annual. If |
this is to be done, those students are
asked to communicate with Mrs.
Rowe Henry, Editor-in-Chief. This
should be done immediately as the
annual will go to press about March
first.
Want Ads Are Good Selling Agctlli.
Selica New* Notes
We are glad to see warmer
leather at this writing, as a little
?unshine and Kind would do wonders
for our side roads.
Miss Jewel Waldrop of Cherryfleld,
was a visitor in our section recently.
Mr. and Mrs. Copa Lee and chil
dren of Lake Toxaway, were Selica
visitors last week.
H. C. McKinna was a callar in
Fletcher, N. C. on Sunday.
Ward Breedlove went to Brevard
on Sunday afternoon to visit his sick
father, J. A, Breedlove, and reports
some improvement in his condition.
A birthday dinner was given at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. John Mc
Kinna in honor of their son, Robert,
and a good time reported by all.
Bill Dunnn of this place, is work
ing as automobile salesman this week.
Mrs. Mays Waldrop gave a parly
for her friends Saturday evening. A
good time was reported by all present.
Rev. N. H. Chapman preached a
wonderful sermon at Catheys Creek
Saturday evening, which was enjoyed
by a large congregation; also Sunday j
at eleven o'clock.
A number of our m<>n have mn<l<<
application for jobs on the Pisgah
road work, but very few have gone at
this writing.
Oates Bryson, who has been very
sick with pneumonia, is able to be out
again.
John Wood has moved to our sec
tion. We are glad that people think j
our burg is a nice place in }vhich to i
live after all.
The M & B Lime works started op
erations again last Monday after
noon. and team work was to begin on
Tuesday. They hope to have lime for
sale in a short time.
Our next Saturday evening prayer
service will be from 2 Tim. 4th verse,
conducted by Vernon Barton.
The midweek prayer service for
January 28, will be held at the home
of Mr. and Mrs. David Orr, conduct
ed by Fred Barton. Scripture will
be from Matt. 28.
THE RIGHT WAY TO TRAVE1
is by train. The safest. Jfost com
fortable. Most reliabU. "osts less
Inquire of Ticket Agents regarding
greatly reduced fares for short Vips.
SOUTHERN RAILWAY f.Y^TF.r.'
V new YORK'S r
HOMELIKE HOSTELRY
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SHERMAN
. SQUARE ?
ttOAOWAY >1 70* STREET
Whan You Will Find
LARGE ROOMS
CHARMINGLY FURNISHED
AMPLE PARKING SPACE
and BEST GARAGES
Finest Food at
MODERATE PRICES
DATCC. ?lNGlf *2J0
KAItO* DOUIlt from $4.00
G*org? J. M?y?r, Manager
pay your subscription
NEXT
We contribute to your ]
good looks. You can get
a Vitalis treatment here,
the vegetable oil tonic, |
also the Fitch products.
It Pays To Look Well
SMITH'S BARBER SHOP
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
My factory was moved from Brevard to Asheville,
N. C., for economic and business reasons and not be
cause of any mismanagement or misconduct on the part
of Miss Martha Cowan.
Because of certain fumors circulating in Brevard
1 make this statement at Miss Cowan's request.
F. E. PECKHAM.
PUSHELL'Sj
Record Breaking
Slashed Price
S-A-L-E
Continued Through the
Month of January
Rock Bottom Prices
On Everything In I
The Store