388 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Now, as to the personel of the average supervisor, we find in 

 many cases that there are nominated and elected to this office men 

 who are in need of something to do, regardless of qualification. 

 i!5uch supervisors usually employ a lot of people to loaf out a day's 

 wages on the roads as long as they can spare the time from their 

 farm work. They generally do the right thing at the wrong time. 

 There is a lack of good judgment in both making and repairing of 

 roads. Our present system of electing the entire board of super- 

 visors annually is very defective in that men thus elected for only 

 one year will not make their plans as thorough and far-reaching as 

 if they were certain of their position for a number of years. Their 

 plans and work will naturally be a make-shift, and besides, their suc- 

 cessors may have ideas radically different, so that there is no in- 

 centive for them to make plans for an extensive and thorough im- 

 provement of roads. We, therefore, heartily recommend the pro- 

 vision in what is known as the Hamilton Road Law — to elect at 

 least three supervisors in each township, this to be a continuing 

 board same as school boards, one being elected each year. Their 

 duties should be to supervise road-making, levy taxes and appoint 

 road masters who would work under their directions. In this way 

 a better class of men would be willing to serve and the fellow who 

 simply wanted a job would not find enough in the office to seek it. 

 Since the State is going into the road-making business, we may 

 obtain some object lessons in various Vv^ays, and also learn how to 

 exhaust a lot of red tape and public funds. 



Now while we are desirous of agreeing upon some plan for the 

 improvement of our roads, let us not loose sight of these two facts: 



1. That well-built roads are costly. 



2. That they will serve more than one generation. 



Is not real estate at present taxed heavily enough for township 

 and county purposes, while the meagre rate on personal and cor- 

 porate property remains the same from time to time? Telegraph, 

 telephone and pipe lines, electric and steam roads are almost 

 exempt from local taxation. Will it not be necessary to devise 

 some means similar to those applied in the State of New York in all 

 districts where these corporations pass through where they are 

 taxed for local purposes? 



And still further, the Legislature of that state, at its coming ses- 

 sions will be asked to make an appropriation of four million dol- 

 lars for immediate improvements of highways; and again to enact 

 a bill which will authorize a fifty million dollar bond issue for the 

 carrying out of an extensive plan of highway construction devised 

 by the State engineer. This program was outlined by the executive 

 committee of the Annual Good Roads Convention, of delegates repre- 

 senting the various boards of supervisors of the state. This execu- 

 tive committee represents 350 delegates from 57 counties of the 

 state, and its duties are to prepare recommendations for legislative 

 enactment. 



According to the last annual report of our State Highway Com- 

 missioner, there have been, under the act of 1903, one hundred and 

 seventy-four applications from forty-six counties, aggregating 372^ 

 miles. ' Nine and one quarter miles of road completed and accepted 

 by the Department; about thirty-two and one-half miles are in pro- 

 cess of construction, while twenty-six miles are under contract, but 



