MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



Best Road Material 



OUR HOBBY. 



Crushed Granite and Gravel 



SCREENED TO SUIT. 

 WRITE US. 



THE HENRY MERDIAN CO., 



43-44 Peninsular Bank Building, 

 Phone Main 6251 DETROIT. 



LET CONVICTS HELP BUILD ROADS. 



State Highway Commissioner Earle may and 

 may not make a strong candidate for the Re- 

 publican nomination for governor, but there 

 is one feature of his platform that is particu- 

 larly good.. We refer to his proposal to put 

 convicts at work crushing stone for the build- 

 ing of improved roads in Michigan. Mr. Earle's 

 official position has made him a good roafls 

 student and he has become an authority upon 

 the subject in this state. In advocating the 

 use of convict labor to aid in bettering our 

 highways he takes a position which is in line 

 with the practice of some of the most pro- 

 gressive states, whose experience has fully 

 demonstrated its wisdom. 



If Michigan can get stone roads from its 

 penitentiaries, and at the same time keep 

 them on a self-sustaining basis, they will be 

 of more value to her than any possible use to 

 which their labor may be put. If this result 

 could be obtained it would be worth many 

 times the amount of profits that might be 

 turned into the state treasury from the manu- 

 facture of any commercial product. It would 

 also eliminate for good the objections that are 

 urged against convict labor being -placed in 

 competition with free labor. Michigan is bad- 

 ly lacking in improved roads. They are one of 

 her greatest public needs. Her resources, par- 

 ticularly, agrarian, have only been partially 

 developed. Macadam roads would give an 

 impetus to this development that could be ob- 

 tained in no other way. Moreover, they bring 

 added prosperity to every farmer, every com- 

 munity and every city which they benefit. Nat- 

 ural conditions in many portions of the state 

 make road building of this character expensive 

 so expensive, in fact, that it has retarded 

 the movement. In a great many counties there 

 are practically no macadam or gravel roads. 



It is within the power of the state to come 

 to the aid of these and all other counties 

 through the use of convict labor. Its assist- 

 ance as outlined by Mr. Earle would work 

 wonders in promoting good roads. It is not 

 necessary to take the convicts out of the pris- 

 ons and work them in public as is done in the 

 South. Rock-crushing machines would be in- 

 stalled in the penitentiaries and their output 

 sold at a low cost to the counties. In some 

 states this method is made to pay over half 

 the cost of building macadam roads. In Illi- 

 nois it pays all. In Michigan, it is claimed, 

 it would meet nearly half the expense and still 

 leave the state sufficient returns to make the 

 prisons self-sustaining. When we consider 

 what this would mean in stimulating the build- 

 ing of madacam roads, and the great need of 

 them that exists throughout the state, it makes 

 the method of conducting our penitentiaries 

 at 1 present appear aimless and resultless. By 

 all means let's use convict labor in crushing 

 rock, and with it tramps, workhouse boarders 

 and local prisoners. In ten years it would 

 make Gov. Warner's binder twine project look 

 like a toy pastime. Saginaw News. 



Benton Harbor, known as "the best paved 

 eity of its size in the west." is to mane a new 

 advance in good roads. The city council has 

 decided that new stretches of macadam will lie 

 laid in different parts of the city and the old 

 macadam placed in good condition. 



ROAD BUILDERS WANTED. 



Many different localities throughout Michi- 

 gan are writing the State Highway Depart- 

 ment, asking for names and addresses of con- 

 tractors and practical road builders who can 

 and will enter into a contract, or will take 

 charge of and superintend the building of 

 state roads. All persons who desire to make 

 contracts, or wish to be employed as super- 

 intendents, should send their names and ad- 

 dresses to the State Highway Department, 

 Lansing, Mich. 



EARLE FOR GOVERNOR. 



State Highway Commissioner Horatio S. 

 Knrle has formally announced his candidacy 

 for the Republican nomination for governor 

 of Michigan. His platform is as follows: 



Convict crushed rock for roads, the .state 

 to pay the freight. 



Ad valorem tax for all property. 



Deed state tax lands to counties and make 

 counties use money from their sale to build 

 roads. 



Better railroad equipment. 



State board of trade for "Better and Busier 

 Michigan." 



Abolish state game warden's department. 



Create forest reserve. 



Repeal of mortgage tax law. 



Everybody turn in and work. 



His candidacy has been favorably com- 

 mented on in many counties, and judging 

 from the editorial expressions good roads and 

 the employment of convicts in crushing stone 

 for them will be a leading question in the 

 next campaign. 



Mr. Earle says that convict crushed trap 

 rock should be sold to townships, counties, 

 villages and cities at 50 cents a ton, for sur- 

 facing roads, freight to be paid by the state. 

 The average road will require 1,000 tons per 

 mile to surface it, the average cost of freight 

 will be about 75 cents a ton, so that the 

 state would be donating about $1,750, counting 

 the state reward, toward the improvement of 

 the leading roads, or about 40 per cent of the 

 total cost. In New York and Connecticut 

 they pay from 50 to 57 5/2 per cent. The 50 

 cents per ton paid by the towns, etc., would 

 more than take care of the cost of quarrying 

 and crushing, so the prison would be self- 

 supporting. In Illinois they give the stone 

 away. 



TAR PITCH FOR ROADS. 



State Highway Commissioner Earle has re- 

 turned from a trip into several eastern states 

 investigating the construction and care of 

 good roads in that section. In an interview 

 Mr. Earle related his experience and trips 

 over some of the magnificent roads, especially 

 in Connecticut. 



"I wanted to know how they cared for their 

 roads and I found out," said the commissioner. 

 "Now our road to the college needs some at- 

 tention in the near future, and I have found 

 put just what to do. The road has been in- 

 jured somewhat by the travel of automobiles 

 over it. We can't object to automobiles. 

 They are too important a part of our life. 

 I suppose it will surprise some people to know 

 that autos injure a hard macadam road. The 

 machines do the injury in three ways. The 

 round tire cuts into the road. The motion 

 ot the rubber draws out the dust cover and 

 the pull of the wheels under the force of the 

 engines, which is far different from a buggy 

 or wagon pulled by a horse. 



There is another way in which the autos 

 have affected the roadway. The low body 

 of the machine traveling on the high speed 

 clutch suck the fine dust cushion off the hard 

 stone and the breeze distributes it over the 

 adjacent farms. I particularly wanted to 

 find a way to overcome this and I found it. 

 We will have to put a cushion of tar, macadam 



and pitch over the road, then it will be the 

 finest and best wearing road, as the pitch will 

 hold the covering in the summer and the 

 tar in the winter. I think the road repaired 

 in that manner won't need any attention in 

 years." 



INGHAM'S ROADS. 



The good roads commission of the Ingham 

 county district which comprises the cities of 

 Lansing and East Lansing and Lansing, Delhi, 

 Meridian and Alaiedon townships has organ- 

 ized by electing E. V. Chilson, secretary of 

 the Lansing Businessmen's Association, chair- 

 man. The other commissioners are: J. B. 

 Thornburn of Delhi, J. H. Crowley of East 

 Lansing. E. H. Hume of Lansing township, 

 H. H. Hammond of Meridian, and Herbert 

 Taylor of Alaiedon. 



The roads which the commissioners decided 

 upon for next year are as follows: 



One and one-half miles of macadam road 

 from east line of East Lansing to Grand Trunk 

 crossing. 



Two miles of gravel road on the so-called 

 North road, north and west of the city which 

 enters the city at the beet sugar factory. 



Three miles of gravel road on the Mason 

 road extending from the city limits to the 

 brick school house. 



One mile of gravel road beginning at Has- 

 lett park and extending north to the Lake 

 Shore drive. 



Two miles qf gravel road on what is termed 

 the North and South state road in Alaiedon. 



In addition the commission voted to coyer 

 the college macadam road with a preparation 

 of tar and crude oil, mixed, which will pre- 

 serve the road and make it dust proof. 



The tax voted was one mill and a quarter, 

 which will net about $20,000, and with the 

 state, reward fund will bring the amount up 

 to $26,000. The roads will be named here- 

 after. 



STATE REWARD ROAD. 



The Beadle Lake road leading out of Bat- 

 tle Creek has been opened to the traveling 

 public. It is a state reward gravel road and 

 cost, with bridges, something more than $4,- 

 200. The state will pay $800 of the cost and 

 the remainder was subscribed by business men 

 of Battle Creek. This is only the start in 

 Calhoun county on the good roads move- 

 ment. 



Iron county road commissioners decided to 

 build a lot of roads at an expense estimated at 

 about $80,000, the same to be paid for by tax 

 levied on the taxable lands of the county and 

 paid at the rate of about $25,000 per year. 

 Now the commissioners have changed their 

 minds and decided to petition the board of 

 supervisors to call an election for the purpose 

 of putting a proposition to the taxpayers to 

 raise the funds by issuing bonds. 



The city of Marshall and the townships of 

 Marshall, Eckford, Marengo and Eredonia, 

 Calhoun county, have petitioned the board of 

 supervisors to submit the question of forming 

 the city and townships into a good roads 

 district. The question of raising the neces- 

 sary funds for good roads will be submitted at 

 the same time. 



