THE STATE REVIE\V. 



13 



County Road System League Department. 



EDITED BY JOHN MacARTHUR. 



Leading Public Highways Should be Built 

 at the Expense of the State and County ; Then 

 the Cost and Benefits Will Be Impartially 

 Distributed. 



Equity Demands that Such Legislation 

 Shall Be Enacted as Will Give to Each 

 County not Now Under the County Road 

 System, the Privilege of Voting on the Ques- 

 tion. 



Referendum and Home Rule Pop- 



ular and Right. 



CONSTITUTION GIVES LEGISLATURE THE 



RIGHT TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS 



THE PRIVILEGE OF ADOPTING OR 



REFUSING TO ADOPT THE 



COUNTY ROAD SYSTEM. 



Extract from Article IV. Sec. 49, of the 

 itution: "The legislature may also pre- 

 scribe the powers and duties of the boards of 

 supervisors in relation to highways, bridges 

 ami culvert-. :ind may provide for one or more 

 county road commissioners, to be elected by 

 the people, or appointed, with such powers 

 and duties as may be prescribed by law. Pro- 

 . that any county road system provided 

 by law shall not go into operation in any 

 county until the electors of said county, by a 

 ity vote, have declared in favor of adopl- 

 ;he county road system." 

 The demand for good roads is simply over- 

 whelming in every state in the union, and 

 ially in Michigan, as recent majorities 

 on good roads questions proves beyond the 

 shadow of a doubt. 



At the spring election of 1905 a constitu- 



I amendment, permitting a state reward 



_ood roads, was carried in every county 



in the state, the total majority being 142/J42. 



At a special election held in Alger County 



early in l'M<> the county road system was 



adopted with practically no opposition. 



At a >pecial election in Wayne County, Sep- 

 tember iMh. the county road system was 

 i.-d by a vote of 39,979 for, to only 7,188 

 tist. 



In Gladwin County, which i- now under thn 



county road -y-tem, some political internal 



affair- led the board of supervisors to submit 



inestion of rescinding this system, and 



uestion wa- lost, and the county road 



plan retained by a vote of more than _two 



to one. All of which shows that from 



-outh and east to west the people are 



for the county road system. 



The proper thing to do is for the next legis- 

 lature to enact the necessary law to make it 

 ile for every county not now under the 

 y road plan to vote on its adoption, 

 certainly cannot do any legislator any 

 political harm, for it is both referendum and 

 rule, as it gives to the electors the 

 privilege of deciding for themselves whether 

 want their '-~umy to have better roads 

 or not. 



There are twenty counties under the coun 



-ystem, and sixty-three that ar 

 every one of these sixty-three should vote on 

 the question at the spring election in 1907, 

 and the legislature will be a*ked to do its part 

 toward making t Me. 



Under the present laws the counties that 



' adopt tht system could do nothing until 



iature should also enact a 



lUthorizing the State Highway Commis- 



r to appoint three men in each county 



ing the plan, making them a temporary 



i of county road commissioners, to hold 



VfHcc only until the next regular election, 



when the people shall be given the privilege 



of electing their own board. Further, the 

 counties adopting it should be given the right 

 to borrow a sum equal to one-half a mill on 

 the assessed valuation of the county, so that 

 these commissioners could go to work in 1907. 

 Then good roads will begin to be plentiful 

 instead of only occasionally one, as at pres- 

 ent in Michigan. 



Synopsis of County Road System. 



What is it. what does it accomplish, and are 

 the results beneficial to none, or beneficial to 

 a few and detrimental to others, or are they 

 beneficial to all? 



(1) It is a plan whereby the leading public 

 roads of a county are built and kept in repair 

 by a board of county road commissioners at 

 the expense of every property owner in the 

 county. Further, making these roads first- 

 class by the use of gravel or crushed stone 

 merits state reward of $500 per mile for gravel 

 and $1,000 per mile for stone road from the 

 state, so that every property owner in the 

 state helps. 



It not only improves the leading roads, but 

 all others in the county, for all the road taxes 

 levied on the property along the county roads 

 are collected and turned over to the township 

 board and are used by the township highway 

 commissioner in bettering the other roads. 



County road commissioners have nothing 

 to do with any other roads but- the leading 

 thoroughfares, which are set aside from the 

 township system of roads. So the township 

 has less roads to keep in repair and more 

 money to keep them in repair with, so, of 

 course, can improve them every year. 



(2) The greatest benefit is derived by the 

 farmer, for he can haul more and quicker, so 

 can afford to haul farther, and by this can 

 select his marketing point; but the village 

 and city resident is also benefitted. for the 

 more farmers who come to town with their 

 products, the better, and no man is more wel- 

 come at the door of the city resident than is 

 the man who has tilled the soil and now brings 

 the product which he has produced. 



There is no person who eats anything, wears 

 anything or lives in a home but who is bene- 

 fitted by good ro;. 



And 'to step aside from the mighty dollar 

 for a minute, the greatest benefit derived from 

 good roads is the social one. making it easy 

 to get to church, to school, to library, club, 

 grange, lodge, and last, but not least by any 

 means, to the friend's table and sitting-room. 



The idea that a farmer is one kind of a 

 human being and the city resident another is 

 fast departing. My father lived on a farm 

 for eightv-seven years, and I there for twenty- 

 one. That did not make him of one tribe and 

 me of another. Xo. for we were of one fam- 

 ily, one interest, and the easier the way for 

 him to get to my home and me to reach his 

 farm, the better, for we are living for health 

 and happiness more than for seclusion and 

 dolb 



The cash tax township system to care for 

 the less important roads, the county roa. 

 tem for the main thoroughfares, in connection 

 with the state reward road system, gives to 

 Michigan the ideal road system, and the best 

 system in any state in the union at the pres- 



ent time. Any county not under the county 

 road system is not getting good roads so fast 

 as they could if they were under it, so are 

 getting less state reward than it is possible 

 for them to get. 



TOLL ROAD ENJOINED. 



The Crapo Toll Road Company has been 

 enjoined from collecting toll in Green town- 

 ship, Mecosta county. The injunction covers 

 the company's entire road, with the exception 

 of one and a half miles. The case will be ap- 

 pealed. The court held that the law of 1897 

 is constitutional. The people of the state 

 created the defendant, the court says, and it 

 certainly should have the right to control its 

 action and should have the right to determine 

 whether it has complied with the conditions 

 imposed by the act which gave it life and ex- 

 istence. The defendant is protected by its 

 creator, the people, and certainly the creature 

 must expect the power creating it is great 

 enough to control and manage it and to de- 

 termine how and under what circumstances 

 it can be determined wtten it is in default. 



The highway commissioner of the township 

 made the complaint against the company. 



PROPOSE NEW TOLL ROAD. 



For some time a movement has been in pro- 

 cess of incubation having for its object the 

 construction of a boulevard between Bay City 

 and Saginaw on the east side of the river and 

 as nearly in a direct line as possible. The idea 

 is to have a thoroughly substantial macadam- 

 ized highway for automobiles, bicycles and ve- 

 hicles, with a road house midway, and toll sta- 

 tions on the line, since the cost of the boule- 

 vard and its maintenance would necessitate the 

 charging of toll. Saginaw has a very good 

 road running down to a point where the Sixth 

 street bridge crosses into Carrollton. and the 

 proposed line would strike that where it turns 

 west to cross the river. 



COUNTY ROAD BONUS. 

 The Dickinson county road commissioners 

 have received a check from the state road com- 

 missioner for the sum of S2.000. This is part 

 payment of the state bonus due on the Iron 

 Motmtain-Quinnesec section of the county 

 road. There is a balance due the couir 

 over SOOO. which will be paid as soon as the 

 legislature makes the necessary appropriation 

 to the fund. 



NEEDS GOOD ROADS. 



Ottawa county evidently needs the 



111. judging; trom the following from 

 the Grand Haven Tribune: 



"The roads in the county are in terrible 

 condition, and the farmers will find it hard 

 work to get into town for their Christmas 

 buying. Before the break-up the gr 



i into a good bottom 



iu>t enough snow to make the sledding i 

 The soft weather has put an end to it. The 

 mud is deep and the roads are too heavy for 

 travel." 



