ROAQS /AND FORESTS. 



ON THE COURSE OF SATURDAY'S CENTURY RACE. 



BETWEEN ROCHESTER AND PONTIAC, ON THE I/AST UBG OF THE ACTO RUN. 



COUNTY ROAD SYSTEM 



IS VERY POPULAR 



When the, ..leading roads were toll roads, 

 all who use|fe;myhad ,to pay. for : such _u,-e 

 says State iBfernyay Cummissiuner 11.- S. Earle 

 in the Grand' Rapids Herald. 



This toll 'money \vc,nt to reiriiburse the 

 Guilders; to $& for keeping the roads in repair 

 and to pay dividends to th^e stockholders. 



When thav-toll road charters run out, the 

 roads become "township roads. 



Then onlj^.those who live in the township 

 have to pay'for their use. that is, those roads. 

 after coming 1 into the hands of the township, 

 are kept infjiepair by the mad taxes spread 

 upon the pr^p&rty of the township. 



Then all who live in other townships or in 

 the. cities -can use the roads without paying a 

 cent. 



Notwithstanding this the farmer has been 

 the hardest to --convert to believe that the 

 county road system was the. best, and the only 

 equitable way of building and keeping in re- 

 pair the leading roads, ; and only then do all in 

 the county pay for using, the .roads. 



If the railroads should adopt the following 

 plan, it would be jus,t as equitable as for the 

 farmer to pay the whole cost pi keeping the 

 main roads in repair a.nd let ,th,e city man. use 

 it free. 



Each purchaser of a ticket would have to 

 tellhis business ajid where, he lived /before he 

 could get a ticket. , The, farmer goes to the 

 ticket window and asks for a ticket .to Grand 

 Rapids, also asks .how^ much it ,is, and the 

 ticket seller says, "that depends on wjiat your 

 business is and where you live." "Well," says 

 the man, "I am a farmer and live in the, coun- 

 try." "Well, then, your, .fare is four cents a 

 mile." .and while he is counting his change 

 another man asks for a ticket to Grand Rap- 

 ids, and he is told by the ticket agent that 

 he 'must tell' his' business and where he lives, 

 and- he says, "I am a manufacturer of plows 

 and I live, in the city," and the ticket seller 

 informs 1 him that he does not ' have to pay 

 anything for his ticket. They both stand 

 aghast and ask why this rule has been adopted, 

 and the ticket seller tells them that the State 

 Grange and the Association of State Farmers' 

 Clubs passed resolutions requiring the rail- 



roads to adopt this new method so that the 

 farmers would be consistent with their road 

 doctrine when they are against the county 

 road system, where all in the county would 

 have "to pay, and claim that- they 'should have 

 the sole right to pay all cost -of building and 

 keeping the road in repair and allow the city 

 raeai to use it freehand now under this new 

 rule you also have the privilege, for which you 

 should he very thankful, -of paying the whole 

 cost of running the passenger trails and let 

 the city people ride free. ' , 



"This is perfectly right," says the ticket sell- 

 er, "for don't you know the railroad tuns right 

 through your farm and the city ^does not 

 charge you anything for using their streets, 

 and so you should not charge a cityiman any- 

 thing for riding on the wagon roads or rail- 

 roads across your farm." 



I reckon if this plan was adopted that even 

 those '.who are against the county road system 

 would get their eyes open and say, "Not by a 

 g'ol derned 'sight, I ain't goin' to pay any more 

 for my ridin' than does those city chaps." 



But when they will get it through their 

 heads that fighting against the county road 

 system is fighting for four cents a mile for 

 themselves on a railroad and free passage for 

 the city man, is more than I know, but I do 

 know that in .twenty-six counties we have the 

 county roads and no more enthusiastic admir- 

 ers of the system can be found than the 

 farmers' in those counties working under it. 

 Lo.ts.,of them, voted against it when it was 

 adopted, but they have changed their minds 

 since. 



In a nutshell, the county road system is a 

 plan- whereby the 'leading public roads of a 

 county are. .improved and kept in repair by a 

 board of .county road commissioners at 

 the expense of every property owner in the 

 county. 



The road commissioners meet on or before 

 October a. each year, and determine what roads 

 ought to be built and how much tax ought to 

 be spread and hand such recommendation to 

 the Board of Supervisors at their annual 

 meeting in October. The Board of Super- 

 visors may amend, approve or reject the rec- 

 ommendations, This assur.es the several 

 townships that they will get a square deal. 



The tax for county roads cannot be more 

 than $2 on each $1,000 valuation. 

 'All roads not taken over by the county road 



commissioners are kept in repair in the usual 

 way by the township. 



All damages on county roads are collected 

 from the county. 



The township road taxes on the property 

 abutting the county roads goes to the town- 

 ship to be expended on roads in other parts of 

 the township. 



Costly bridges are thus built on the leading 

 roads, by the county instead of by the town- 

 ship. 



Property in the villages and cities contribute 

 the same amount toward the county road fund 

 as does the farm property. 



The applications for state reward road now 

 on file in the state highway department show 

 the following state of affairs: 



Miles. 



In 26 counties under county road system. . 103 

 In 57 counties not under county road 



system - 71 



In good roads districts 7 



Total . 181 



This shows better than a mile of good roads 

 preaching that if ever this state is going to 

 get the leading roads made good, it has got to 

 be clone under the county road system. 



It also shows that the 57 counties not under 

 the county road system are in the foreign mis- 

 sionary business instead of the home mission- 

 ary business; that is, they are paying in these 

 57 counties a state reward road tax of eight 

 cents on each thousand dollars of valuation 

 and the state highway commissioner is paying 

 52 per cent of it out to 26 c'ouiities and 58 per 

 cent of it to the 57 counties. 



The 26 counties under the county road sys- 

 tem will surely not complain as long as they 

 get more than half of the state reward that is 

 paid out to the whole 88 counties of the state, 

 but some day the other 57 will wake up and 

 go into, the home missionary business, for they 

 will certainly get sick of paying out their 

 money to build improved roads in other coun- 

 ties while traveling through mud and sand at 

 home. 



Moral Vote yes for county road system. 



The popularity of the county good roads 

 system is shown by the fact that only three 

 counties which voted on it at the last spring 

 election turned it down. They were Kala- 

 mazoo. Rerrien and Midland counties, and in 

 each case .there was some loeal reason. 



