Brownsville herald. [volume], June 16, 1929, Page FIVE, Image 5

About Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current

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Dancy, Point Isabel
iReply to Carpenter
On Highway Plans
" To The Herald:
I read with great interest the
article appearing in Tuesday's Her
ald by my good friend, Mr. A. J.
Carpenter, the Will Rogers of the
Lower Rio Grande, and no one can
appreciate more than I do the no
things Mr. Carpenter says about
me. I appreciate it all the more
i because it is sincere: and I give
[ the right to other people to dis
agree with me on the road pro
gram, as well as on my other mat
ters of public policy.
I want also to testify to the
wonderfully unselfish spirit of Mr.
Carpenter and his. the R.o
| Hondo, community in the past on
road propositions. I cannot forget
that within th* first two weeks of
my taking offio? in 1920. wnen
the Rangerville community was
drowned out and the Rio Hondo
community was ‘in the mud. that
the Rio Hondo communitv went
unanimously on record as favoring
- tiking road money to build levees
to protect the Rangervillp section.
Conditions are now’ largely re
versed and Rio Hondo has three
first class concrete reads leading
into it. and Rangerville has only a
dirt road: and I hope that this un
selfish spirit will continue and
that Rio Hondo will continue to
lead the van to give th* balance
of the county its part of the s!X
million Just as rapidly as is con
sistent with good business and eng -
neering principles.
I am sure that if Mr Carpenter
was in the oosition of his neigh
bor in the other end of the water
district. Mr. Tom Cox. who tins
been here for 16 years and who
lost more than a thousand dol'ars
in the last three weeks simply be
cause he could not get his crops
to market—that he would be anx
’ ious to see th!s road proeram fin
j tshed Just as rarlv as possible. Many
farmers all over this countv could
not pet out on horseback for davs.
and these farmers voted for the
bond issue in good faith. beli®v ng
that the commissioners’ court wou'd
I have the intestinal fortitude to
give them what thev voted for.
Now. as stated bv Mr. Cement «v.
there was *om" talk about the uro
gram going for six years. As a
> matter of fact, there was all kinds
of talk: talk for two mdllon. three
I million, four million, five mill'on
and six milMon. and I believe a lit
tle talk went as high as ten mil
lion. Then there was talk about
rock, asphalt, gravel, concrete, oil
and other roads. Then T helieve 1
beard somn talk about putting ove*
the program as long rs eieht.
vears. Now. my memorv is not In
fallible. but I certainly ought to
know Just what was in the minds
of the people as reflected at the
different mass meetings and from
delegations coming in to see me
weekly and almost dailv. and 1
can say that the overwhelming—
In fart almost unanimous—burden
I o,L^?ntiment was not how long we
. cJ^d postpone the program, but
..Tw rmicklv we could get it
through efficiently, and when tpr*
votes were counted we found
about 21 against any program at all
At the request of these people.
Including requests made at the
mass meetings. I made an investi
gation through our engineers and
| found that about $2,000,000 a year
was as rapidly as the monev could
\ be spent efficiently: and that is
where we got the three year pro
gram. to be two million a year,
which, divided into six. gives three.
As the records show, we put on
two million the first year, but, on
account of matters beyond our con
trol. have only been able to put
on a million each year since, and
•• at the very best it is now a four
• year1 program and. with everything
4 out of the way. should the weather
be bad, it may be now a five year
program. This is very unfortunate
and is a great loss to the country.
. as it only costs about 50 per cent
more overhead to carry on a two
million dollar per year program
! than a one million dollar per year
program I .would say that the loss
heretofore caused by reason of de
lay is not less than $50,000 in cold
cash, and if this is delayed six
years as is being suggested. perJr.ps
1150.000 or $200,000 loss in cold hard
* cash, but that is not the biggest
loss. The biggest loss is on account
--—-.
I-1
of the farmers not being able to
market their crops, that is, loss oi
the use of the roads.
Every tax payer in this county
has a direct, selfish interest in
having this road program complet
ed just as rapidly as possible, con
sistent of ccurse with efficient
handling of the money. We could
go too fast and waste money, just
as we waste money every day by
going too slow.
What ought to be done is to give
the commissioners court leeway to
use their own good judgment, in
stead of having to bow to some
body else's judgment, and then hold
us to strict responsibility if we do
not. use good judgment.
Now. as to the Point Isabel road
Let's forget all about a port. When
we issued our first bonds and put
the road through the county, not
a cent of the first moneys was
spent in the Point Isabel precinct.
The building of this road increased
the values enormously. It gave the
balance of the county the jump on
the Point Isabel precinct so far as
getting ->alues to divide under this
six million dollars is concerned
and w'e ought all to have the moral
courage to do fair by minorities.
However, there is considerable dif
ference of opinion on that, but I
cannot conceive where there should
be any difference of opinion from
any citizen of the county on the
importance of closing the two gaps
on the military road. Our levees
are built of dirt. If we had had
sixty or seventy million dollars, we
could have perhaps dug down to
the base of the river and put in
reinforced concrete levees that
would stand till Gabriel blows his
horn, but these levees are of dirt,
therefore vary vulnerable The
most vulnerable section of all is in
th La Paloma country. I am cer
tain that no citizen of the county
would want to see the Los Fresnos
and La Paloma communities flood
ed out. It would injure every citi
zen of the county. Besides
R-I-G-H-T spells RIGHT, and it is
not right to let this be done.
The next most vulnerable spot is
from Los Indios to J31ue Town, and
in there we have a water district
pumping plant serving two water
districts and serving Mr. Carpen
ter's neighbors on the north side
of the Arrovo. that is without even
a good dirt road. Common every
day justice, as well as common bus
iness sense, demands that we get
a ribbon of concrete from the east
end of Water Improvement Dis
trict No. 5 below Brownsville to the
Hidalgo county line just as quicklv
as possible, in order that men and
material mav, when rises in the
river come, be rushed immediately
to protect our levees.
There is another very important
proposition, and that is. every time
we put down a million dollars of
concrete roads actual property \nl
ues increase around $9,000,000.
meaning $3 000.000 on the tax rolls
of actual values—not inflated val
ues. This three million dollars does
not simply pay road tax. but it
pays t&xes into the general fund,
the school fund, the drainage dis
trict funds, and every other fund
that we have in the countv; and
those who are holding back the road
program thinking that they are
keeping taxes down, are in rpality
keeping the tax rate up. If we
had the two million spent and six
million more to Hut on the tax
rolls this year, it would enable its
to cut the tax rate. Even the peo- :
p!e on the present concrete need
this read program completed just
as early as possible, so as to get i
these values to working to cut down !
the general county tax rate.
Respectively submitted.
OSCAR C DANCY.
County Judge.
Brownsville. Texas.
June 15. 1929.
To The Herald:
The interesting letter published j
in The Herald of June 11, in which
Secretary A. J. Carpenter of Rio!
Hondo Booster club expresses Ills
opinion relative to the highway
program proposed by County Judge
Oscar C. Dancy, doubtless met the
approval of the residents of Cam- j
eron county who have not visited 1
Point Isabel during recent months, j
Mr Carpenter himself is evidently 1
among (hat number, for he states
that *‘a burro trail will be nmnlv
sufficient to carry the Point Isabel 1
traffic over the remaining twelve
miles for the next fifty years and
the maintenance can be amply pro
vided for with the poll tax of a
half dozen prominent Point Isabel
boosters.”
Mr. Carnenter evidently is not
aware of the fact that Point Isa- j
bel is row a town of over 1.800 per
manent residents, that scores of
substantial and handsome dwellings |
have been erected here during the
past year, that one thriving indus
trial institution here, the shrimp
canning plant of the San Patricio
Fisheries company, gives employ- ;
mpnt to many people, frequently as
many as 150. and that State High
way No. 100, the only route by1
which this substantial community )
can be reached, is each dav travel- j
ed. when it is passable, by more 1
automobiles then any other dirt j
road in Cameron county. The daily
average Is from 300 to 350 cars.1
while for at least nine months in i
the year the number of autos pass
ing over this road each Saturday
and Sunday Is from 2 000 to 3 000 j
in each direction.
True, this traffic Is not that of
Point Isabel residents alone, for1
hundreds of visitors to the Rio
Grande Valley, people from all por
tions of the country, come here
each week for a trip to the salt
water and to enjoy the surf of
the Gulf of Mexico on the beauti
ful. clean beach of Padre Is «nd.
But the business of the people of
this community Itself, necessarily
carried by auto and truck over this
stretch of unpaved road, is greater
than that of many of the outlying
rural communities of the county
which have already been connect
ed with the principal highways by
paving.
In the 1929 school census, recent
ly completed. Point Isabel shows a
greater Increase In school popula
tion. in per capita and in percent
age. than any other school district
in the county, save only in the case
of its neighbor. Los Fresnos. No
other town in the Rio Grande Val
ley has made greater growth this
year than Point Isabel, and. nort
or no port, this growth Is destined
to continue.
The greatest area of c>rus grove
development in the Rio Grande
Valley, at the present time now
under way and soon to be commenc
ed. is in the Point Isabel territory
within a radius of ten miles of
this town, and the volume of traf
fic over the unpaved portion of
highway No. 100 is something more
than a ‘ burro trail.**
As for the Brazos Santiago har
bor. which Mr. Carpenter refers to
as “away over there,” it has al
ready been approved by the gov
ernmental authorities, and a staff
of engineers has for months been
located at Port Isabel, continually
at work upon the details of survey,
and the collection of data relative
to tide flow, etc., which must be
completed before actual work of
construction, interrupted eighteen
months ago, is resumed.
The rivers and harbors bill, pend
ing in congress, carries an aporo
priation for completing the Jetties
and the dredging of the channel
from the pass to Point Isabel, and
this bill will doubtless become a
law during the coming regular ses
sion of congress, making the funcs
available as soon as the engineer
ing work Ls completed.
Point Isabel, however, hopes that
it will not have to wait foi the
closing of this gap of twelve miles
of unpaved road until the rivers
and harbors bill Is passed. True,
the five miles of new paving, re
cently completed on Highway 100
east from Los Fresnos, eliminates
the long stretch of bumbo bog holes
which for weeks blocked travel last
fall, but there Is still considerable
of the road which Ls both diffi
cult and dangerous to negotVe
following a rain.
Until about eighteen months ago
the territory within the Point Isa
bel road district had been almost
entirely undeveloped land of low
valuation, and the allotment to this
district of its share of the proceeds
of Cameron county's $6 000.000 bond
issue has been upon the basis of
this meagre valuation. But the
year 1928 ond the first half of 1929
have witnessed a great transforma
tion within this district, and th
ready several thousand acres have
been planted to grapefruit and are
in a high state of cultivation, while
many thousand additional acres
will also be soon set out In citrus
orchards taking rank with the
highest valued lands in the county.
Thus, the Point Isabel road dis
trict will contribute In taxes a
greatly larger proportion ot the
interest and principal of the coun
ty's road bond Lssue than ls rep
resented by the allotmnet of the
bond money, based upon the old
assessed valuation.
Point Isabel asks that it be given
this remaining twelve miles of pav
ing to which it is clearly entitled,
in view of its new basis of valua
’ tion, at present and In the Imme
diate future.
As to Mr. Carpenter’s skepticism
regarding improvement of the port
at Point Isabel, where nature has
already provided a harbor, it is a
sad state of affairs when the peo
pie of the Valley do not realise the
value of the port, not to Point
Isabel alone, but to the Valley as
a whole.
The reduction in freight rates,
through water transportation, will
be sufficient, from the first, to
more than pay interest upon all the
bonds of the several navigation dis
■ tricts. and the saving in subsequent
years will be more than enough to
pay off the bonds, to say nothing
of the increased development and
i prosperity of the Valley through
! having been put in a position to
i deliver its products to the markets
' of the world in equal competition
; with other fruit and vegetable
growing sections.
One half of highway 100. from
highway 12 at Barreda to Ess-O
Ess Junction six miles east of Los
Fresnos, has already been p:<*ei.
and in justice to the thousands
who use this important thorough
fare each week. Point Isabel- asks
that the paving of the remaining
fifty per cent of this road -be com
pleted without delay, and not left
as a “burro trail,” as Mr. Carpen
I ter suggests.
H. C WOOD,
i Point Isabel. Texas,
1 June 15. 1929.
QUITS RUM POST
Associated Press Photo
Carey D. Ferguson resigned as
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Mich., one of the key posts in
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Major Emil E. Helburn was
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