The Danbury Reporter
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WEDNESDAY. FEB. 20. 1913.
MR. OLIVER LOSES HIS BEARINGS.
Some of the writers on good roads have been uncharitable to Mr.
Oliver. They have been too personal. It is not in harmony with
the rules of debate to bring into a discussion extraneous and ir-|
relevant matter, but the question must be discussed strictly on its
merits. What connection could the facts that Mr. Oliver is one of.
the wealthiest men in the county, that he lives in sight of a rail
way station, and is exempt from duty on the public roads of the
county, have on this argument. The writers should have refrain
ed from mentioning the fact that Mr Oliver was silent when
Sauratown was voting for good roads a few years ago. but becomes
very active when Yadkin tries it. and should have informed the
readers of the Reporter that he is inspired in his efforts solely by
patriotism and his love for the downtrodden common people. One
writer was so irreverent as to hint that Mr. Oliver smiles com
placently when six per cent is coming his way. but frowns ter
ribly when its course is changed from his pockets to the public
roads.
It is true that Mr. Oliver himself set the pace for the personal
ities. In his first letter to the Reporter he cautioned everybody to
discuss the question with minds devoid of passion, like himself, in
"the even tenor of one's way," with only the commendable pur
pose in heart to strive to make the good old county the best place
in which we and those who come after us might live. It was only
by a lapse of memory that in the same paragraph he forgot him
self and pitched into the editors of the Reporter for 10, these years,
preaching only one side of the question, and in effect denying to
those who think differently any means of expressing themselves,
hinting that in the years to come they (the editors) might be held
personally responsible for the great body of death of good roads
hung to the necks of the people, and being blamed by the future
generations for the part they played in the crime of 1913. He did
not give the editors time to plead in defense their ignorance that
there was more than one side to bad roads—and that a mighty bad
side, and that they thought they had been treating bad roads fairly.!
Mr. Oliver proceeded to congratulate himself in gloomy platitudes
that his ecclesiastical skirts would be clear of the sin of fastening I
ti the necks of the people a system of roads which his figures indi
cate would cost nearly half as much as no roads at all, wjiile if the |
good roads cranks would only keep silent and allow us to go on in
our prese.it even tenor of mud. even Mr. Petree admits would not ;
cost much more than $2,900,000.
The good roads writers have also been unfair to Mr. Oliver in
double-teaming on him. Here he is, according to his own state
ment, pitted one against "five or more," and short on ammunition
by being "in a manner disarmed for a time," (referring to one
week when one of his lette'rs was omitted to make room for replies
to his first.) Pushed for time, with his space denied him, the sole
defender of bad roads battles heroically for his views, while no
succor comes. Of course, while this position argues badly for his
cause, it speaks eloquently for his valor. The good Lord knows
tnat it takes nerve to fight for bad roads, the greatest curse j
of tne twentieth century civilization. Few men, especially fewl
ministers of the iospel of Love and Light, have the fortitude to;
battle under such a unhallowed Hag. They can only justify them-1
s/ives by being "for good roads, but don't like the plan." What !
a cause for congratulation it is that only a few years ago the very 1
mention of a bond issue in Stokes county would have sent the!
victim to the insane asylum, while today the woods are full of
men who claim that bonds are the only sensible way to build great
public utilities, and who are able to PROVE their contentions by
the testimony of other counties, cities and towns, and by an over- j
whelming number of the leaders in thought in the nation. It
shows how the world is marching on and that the great battle of
right against wrong, of truth against error, of light against dark-'
ness is gaining the victory. A few years ago poor old women were,
burned at the stake for being witches. Men now living remember
when a hot, loathsome tea was given to cool the parched tongues
of fever sufferers. The last generation heard the cry of "down
with the steam cars, the agency of the devil." A short time
since men (and some of them are fighting good roads today) claim
ed that we should be ruined by the bridges built across our turbul
ent streams, and who madly argued that to build a decent court
house and a humane jail would be a "great business blunder," and
that our youngest children would not live to bury the body of death
which the debt would create. But the dark night is passing, and
the sunshine of progress is gilding the tree-tops.
But we divert from the shameful treatment of Mr. Oliver by the
the critics. By their personalities and their keen arguments they
have made him uncomfortable, and have even driven him from the
"even tenor of his way." So who can blame him that his last let
ter fairly smoked. We can see from reading it that he even thought
the Reporter was going to smother his views, and this week's
issue of the paper is required to show him that all of his letters
have been printed in full, and that his views have been laid com
plete before the people in good time, so that those readers who
may have noticed his letters will vouch for the fact that he has
certainly not been short on "space." We do not take much stock
in the intimation of some of the writers that Mr. Oliver's cry of
unfairness, and his bid for the sympathy of the public in his one
sided fight, were only a ruse to divert the attention of the readers
THE DANBURY KEPOk i ck
from the main issue—or an effort to muddy the waters so the big
fish might get away. We prefer to believe that he is only flound- j
ering about in the water in an effort to learn just where is he "at."
When Mr. Oliver wrote the letter in question he was not aware of
the presence in the field of another gallant defender of the faith, for
Mr. McGee comes bravely to the rescue. But with abortive efforts. |
His gun went off backwards, and his charge against macadam roads
was delivered to the empty air. Everybody agrees that the only
1 medicine Mr. Mc(iee needs is a more careful reading of the bill.
But to return again to -Mr. Oliver. He became so disconcerted
that he went to Iredell for figures, which however, Mr. Clark,
editor of the Statesvilie Landmark, was not willing to let him
| juggle, and Mr. Clark says: "If Mr. Oliver intends, AS IS AP
PARENT, to hold up Iredell's bond issue for road work as a fa.il
; ure, he is very much mistaken as to the facts. * * * With our
' bond money a system of excellent top-soil roads is penetrating |
I every section of the county. The people are well pleased. * * * j
Stokes county will make a great mistake if it fails to vote THE
| BOND ISSUE for roads."
Mr. Oliver then turned to Guilford for discouragement, but Mr. |
Douglas, Postmaster of (iroensboro, and the chairman of the (iuil-;
' ford county commissioners, declared that the people of Guilford j
were well satisfied with the BOND PLAN of building roads. Mr. j
Oliver then said, oh, but Guilford and Iredell and Mecklenburg and
Buncombe— they have so much more property than we, we are not
able to compete with them. But who said we wanted to COM
PETE with them, Mr. Oliver? Is building decent and safe roads
trying to compete with these rich counties who have issued mill
ions of dollars of bonds for waterworks, public roads, lighting
systems, sewerage systems, etc.
Mr. Oliver in despair left the State and went to Patrick county,
Va., to get evidence, but the only thing he could find there was a
railroad bond issue, which is totally different. The people have to
pay for all they get from a railroad corporation, and its benefits
cannot be compared with a public road, which is the common
property of everybody, and is used every day in the year by our
poorest and humblest citizens. And there is absolutely no question
but that before the people of Patrick county would do without
their railroad that they would vote to double the cost it was to
them.
So, in desperation, Mr. Oliver loses his equilibrium, and gets
totally off his base. He turned around so much, and was thrown
into such confusion, that he met himself coming back. To save
one's life it is hard to tell just what his position is. There is an
; old saying that whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
jSo Mr. Oliver has allowed his contentions to become reversed, and
is off his nut, as the machinists say. He showed in his first letter
| that he was against good roads because they cost too much, and ends
j by demonstrating that he is for bad roads because they cost more
than good roads. How can you argue with a debater whose posi-'
tions are so shifty. Those who read his first letter in the Reporter
I will remember that he started out by laying down the proposition
j that he was a good roads man, and felicitated the people on the
fact that the issue in the campaign was not "For or Against
Good Roads," but that it was "For or Against the Bond Issue."
Thus, Mr. Oliver was a good roads man, mind you, but not a bond
issue man, because building good roads by bonds costs too much
money. He then proceeded to show that the things which he is so
ostensibly for, but which he is really against because they cost too
much money, are after all bad things because they are such fa.il-
I ures in other counties. Good roads are really bad things, not what
i they are cracked up to be, he says, fit for drummers and other
people who travel a great deal, and that "their disadvantages real
ly outweigh their advantages." He constantly refers to the sad
people of Iredell, Guilford, Mecklenburg and Buncombe, and warns
1 Stokes people to shun good roads as they would the plague. Here
! Mr. Oliver, finding that his premises are out of plumb, goes back
to his original proposition that he is for good roads, provided there
exist such things as good roads, after claiming that they are bad
things by stating that their "disadvantages outweigh their advan
tages, fit for drummers," etc. But he still admits that he is for
! what he has never seen, does not believe in, and which his state
ments endeavor to prove to be bad things. Finally in a dazed way
and with an effort to recover his bearings, he frames a method by
which we may have the bad things provided we shall pay every
year for them DIRECT a sum of money which Mr. Petree shows
would be too expensive, and too much, and more th.;n needed to
pay the interest on the bond issue. As a last resort, and in utter
! confusion, Mr. Oliver takes the position of being for bad roads be
|
; cause they cost more than good roads, when at the start he was
against good roads because they cost more than bad roads.
We submit that if the election can be postponed another week
that Mr. Oliver—the sole defender of bad roads in Stokes county
will be for good roads because they are cheaper than bad roads.
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BENNETT AND MURRAY
WALNUT COVE, N. C.
FROM MR. HELSABECK
I .
Some Views On the Question
of a Bond Issue For Roads.
Mr. Editor :
There are manifold reasons
why in tn/ opinion the voters
of Stokes county in the
several townships should
vote the proposed bond
issue on themselves in the com
ing election. Many of these
reasons have been ablv discussed
heretofore in your paper by
those writing in favor of the
proposition. I do not even at
tempt to further the argument,
but as a young man and one
! who, according to the mortuary
tables, will be here to help take
care of the bonded indebtedness
: when it is due, and as I hope with
an equal opportunity with other
young men of acquiring some
, little property on which to pay a
j tax at that time, I wish to ap
peal to my contemporaries to
vote for the measure and plead
with the older men not to be
deceived into think'ing that they
are burdening us with a debt
without an equal benefit. As I
see it the man who wishes to
confer a blessing upon his
posterity will vote in favor of
instead of against the measure.
I am now a resident of Stokes
county. It was for 18 months
that I debated seriously whether
I should return to my native
county to locate. My greatest
reason for this hesitation was
the non-accessibility of so much
of our county for so long each
year. I dare say the county
would hold many more of its
young men if the roads were put
in a passable condition.
If Stokes county wishes to
progress with other counties it
I must have better roads and
| better schools. The two go
i hand in hand. To put off build
j ing the roads now according to
j the best method we know and
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BOYLES
Brothers
Winston-Salem and Reidsvilie, N. C.
have is like a man not buying a
horse and buggy because the
automobile is a faster way of
travel and then not getting an
automobile because the flying
machine has been invented.
Clearly enough that man will
always walk. Such a spirit
certainly is not progressive.
There is a grave doubt in my
mind as to the progressiveness
of any man not in favor of the
building of good roads, and the
bond issue as the means, in a
county like Stokes.
I wish every reader of the
Reporter would take notice and
when a man is against the bond
issue to see from what his rea
son emanates. In my opinion
and from my observation you
will find an unpatriotic principle
backing it. I would almost blush
with shame if I had to name the
two reasons almost all are trace
able too. There is very little
credit given the reason that it
is for the sake and benefit of the
coming generation that one is
against it, because if it is not
voted favorably now, I honestly
believe it will be by the coming
generation. Any man knowing
the history of the progress of
the good roads sentiment for
the last few years in Stokes
county and then say that it will
not be accomplished shortly
certainly has no prophetic eye.
Here s hoping that our good
citizens will vote for progress.
CHAS. R. HELSABECK.
Watch, Clock, Jew
elry Repairing.
All work guaranteed. 21 years
practical experience.
304 Liberty St., Winston-Salem.
Asbell Drug Store.
George L. Mack.