 He replaced the corvée system – wherein residents either paid a tax or donated labor to build and repair county roads – with private contracts.The widening and graveling of county roads provided rural residents access to Paducah's amenities but reduced funds for programs such as free textbooks for indigents and prevented Barkley from reducing the county's debt as planned.When he named his father as the county's juvenile court probation officer, opponents charged him with nepotism.