MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



THE KALAMAZOO IDEA: 



HOW IT WORKS OUT 



William M. Bryant, chairman of the Kala- 

 mazoo County Road Commission, was one of 

 the speakers at the National Good Roads 

 Congress, held at Niagara Falls, July 28-30 

 His address was en "The Kalamazoo Idea," 

 which is the development of recent experi- 

 ments in good road building in Kalamazoo 

 county, Michigan, and which, although tested 

 a comparatively short time, Mr. Bryant be- 

 lieves has already proved its worth. 



The Kalamazoo idea not 'only provides for 

 "the utilization of county jail prisoners in 

 building good roads, but also incorporates a 

 plan -looking toward reform of these men. 



Mr. Bryant said: 



After a two-year struggle Kalamazoo county 

 adopted what is known in Michigan as the 

 county road system. The farmers of our 

 county, as elsewhere, were blind to their own 

 interests and declared that it was rnly a move 

 in the interest of automobilists; that it would 

 greatly increase the taxes, and several other 

 reasons. Farmer Green, after I had con- 

 vinced him that the road tax would be very 

 light, did not wish to give up the argument 

 without one more objection, scratching his 

 head,, and finally "allowed that good roads 

 would be darned hard on the horses' feet." 



Michigan has been greatly favored by hav- 

 ing Horatio S. Earle to father the movement. 

 For twenty years, through storms of criticism 

 and persecution he has kept right on with the 

 cry for "Better roads for Michigan," until 

 today we have a road law second to none 

 and written largely by Earle, which will be 

 a monument to him for generations to come. 

 Our whole state officiary have joined hands 

 in pushing the gespel of "Good Roads," and 

 a more friendly feeling is noticeable every- 

 where. , 



It seems strange that it would require in 

 this enlightened age any argument for better 

 highways, but I know what bitter persecu- 

 tions may befall anyone who first advocates 

 this improvement in a community; abused and 

 villified today, he may be a herof tomorrow. 



Experimental Work. 



After the people of our county adopted the 

 county plan, the board of county commis- 

 sioners selected thirty-two miles of road to 

 be built during 1910 and presented their report 

 to the board of county supervisors. This re- 

 port was unanimously adopted. For years 

 1 have made a study of our criminal system, 

 and it seemed that something was entirely 

 wrong. 



During my boyhood, my father was sheriff 

 for some years in his home county, and I 

 came in contact with prisoners and saw some 

 things which impressed me greatly. I did 

 not find any horns growing on them, nor any 

 cloven feet. A few were vicious, but the great 

 majority were weak, who struck me as need- 

 ing a good strong man as guardian and 

 adviser. , 



In removing to a larger city, I found their 

 numbers greatly increased by that wandering 

 tribe kn'own as tramps. Here was a new spe- 

 cies, apparently belonging to the human fam- 

 ily, whose sole occupation was a strenuous 

 desire to keep away from work, roving from 

 place to place. Kalamazoo has long been 

 kn'own among these gentlemen of the road 

 as one of the best feeding grounds between 

 Maine and California. The famous east Yank 

 always held one or more work trains fitted 

 up with bunks, stoves, etc. What could be 

 nicer and a rich community to prey on? For 

 years groceries, milk and 'other eatables would 

 disappear from the back steps. Petty thiev- 

 ing seemed to be the rule everywhere. Sher- 

 iff's report for 1909 showed 3.546 tramps cared 

 for during the year at the county jail. 



The Same Elsewhere. 

 I do not know how many more are con- 



fined in the county jails of my state each 

 year, but it must run up into the thousands. 

 Add to these all the states, and you have a 

 vast army of unemployed, who are worse than 

 useless and literally rotting away, deteriorat- 

 ing mentally, morally and physically. Here 

 is a vast horde, a constant source of expense, 

 a constant menace to society, n>ct earning one 

 penny for their support, herded together, 

 young and old, little chance for improvement. 



At the October session, 1909, of the board 

 of supervisors, I requested an opportunity to 

 present my plan, which was granted, and this 

 has now become known as "The Kalamazoj 

 Idea." 



I asked for the privilege of working every 

 sentenced man in the county jail, who was 

 physically able, on the county roads. -I 

 pointed 'cut to them the great increase in 

 prisoners as shown by the sheriff's report, 

 and made the statement that of the 3,546 

 tramps housed the previous year, the first two 

 figures would be eliminated the succeeding 

 year if this report was adopted; also that 

 petty crime would materially decrease. After 

 some discussion my plan was unanimously 

 adopted. And, with n a few days, parties of 

 prisoners were sent out on the roads, cutting 

 the brush, removing stumps, trees and other 

 obstructions, and considerable ditching was 

 done. The first week we had more prisoners 

 than we could possibly use; the second week 

 a less number, and within seven weeks the 

 number had become so small that it did not 

 pay to have two deputy sheriffs to guard them 

 (a day and night man). 



Tile-Making Tried. 



We then purchased some tile moulds and 

 proceeded to make tile. Some weeks we had 

 only two men to work at this industry. The 

 sheriff complained of being lonesome. The 

 municipal judge had nothing to do, while the 

 "Nothing Doing" sign hung out at police head- 

 quarters. Shortly after this plan went into 

 effect two hobos applied for Icdging at the 

 jail. They were accommodated and the next 

 morning were arrested as vags and given 

 twenty days. "But," said one, "I have not 

 worked twenty days in twenty years." "Well," 

 the judge retorted, "this is your opportunity 

 to get acquainted -with work." In the next 

 five months there was a decrease of tramps 

 of over 2,300, so my theory worked well. We 

 are rid of tramps and the tramp nuisance. 



Kalamazoo is a wet oasis, surrounded by 

 dry counties, the spring election adding sev- 

 eral more counties to the dry collection. 



We have had a great influx >cf visitors with 

 an abnormal thirst. Many of these remain 

 with us for twenty to sixty days to iron out 

 the wrinkles in our roads. Our municipal 

 judge has served notice en all drunks from 

 other counties that a straight jail sentence 

 is what they may expect, and that is where 

 we are getting nearly all our labor to build 

 our county roads. We use them as shovelers, 

 teamsters, assistant cooks, etc. The majority 

 are splendid workers; a hard drinker is usu- 

 ally a hard worker he must burn up his 

 energy in some way. We have a camp estab- 

 lished, with a bunk wagcn for the prisoners 

 and tents for the rest to sleep and eat in. 

 A cook is furnished with a prisoner as assist- 

 ant. Both prisoners and paid labor eat to- 

 gether. The camp has a superintendent and 

 one guard. The guard works as a shoveler 

 in the gravel pit with the prisoners. At pres- 

 ent we are using thirty teams in our prison 

 camp to haul gravel, and have two or three 

 prisoners, two and one-half miles from camp, 

 who spread the gravel. No guard is used with 

 these. We have had several escapes, but an 

 extra thirty and sixty days' sentence from 

 the circuit judge, with a warning that next 

 time it would go harder with them, seems 

 to have stopped the desire to stray. , 



Two of our papers have generously con- 

 tributed their dailies, an appeal for magazines 





resulting in large numbers being offered. 

 Another Venture. 



After several months' study of this system, 

 I decided there was still a chance for improve- 

 ment. 



Many of the boys, at the expiration of their 

 sentence, felt they were down and out. In 

 a strange city, without any money or friends, 

 they usually came to me for some assistance. 

 Here was a new phase of the question: A 

 man without a dollar in his pocket has a 

 grouch agait..t the community. While we had 

 furnished him when necessary, a shirt or pair 

 of overalls, and perhaps a pair of shoes, still, 

 when he served his time, there was only, in 

 seme cases, two things to do beg or steal. 

 After consulting with the prosecuting attorney 

 and municipal judge, the county road commis- 

 sioner authorized the chairman and clerk to 

 pay the prisoners one full day's pay for every 

 six days' work, if the superintendent of the 

 camp gave him a clean bill of gocd behavior. 

 Under this plan a sixty-day man receives 

 $12.50 at the expiration of his sentence. When 

 I called the boys together in the pit and an- 

 nounced the new plan they all seemed greatly i 

 pleased, and an old Irish teamster said, "Ye 

 niver'll have any more trouble with this gang."] 



If the "Kalamazoo Idea" should be adopted] 

 by every county in this country hundreds 'ofl 

 miles of road would be built by what ; s now 

 waste material. The community wou'd be the i 

 gainer, while the results in the men would be 

 incalculable. Living out o f doors in God's 

 fresh air and sunshine take: away the oppor- 

 tunity fcr morbid thought: they come put with 

 hardened muscles, bright-eyed and healthy. 

 We find that with a day's work in the air, 

 after supper they will sit around for an hour 

 or two, smoke, talk, or read, and retire early. ! 

 Five o'clock sees the whole camp up, with 

 breakfast at six. They take considerable pride 

 in their work and a shirker does not shirk ' 

 long. The gang looks after that; he is quickly 

 informed that the rest of them will not do 

 his share of the work. 



If you like the Kalamazoo idea, try it; it 

 will rid your county of tramps. 



It will decrease crime. 



You will build more miles of road. 



Your prisoners will be in fit condition to 

 tackle a man's job. , 



DETROIT-TOLEDO BOULEVARD. 



Mayor Whitlock, of Toledo, has taken the 

 initiative in a movement to secure a good road 

 between Detroit and Tcledo. He has written 

 to Mayor Breitmeyer of Detroit urging that 

 steps be taken to secure a concerted move- 

 ment. The Toledo Chamber of Commerce 

 has had the matter presented to it and Mayor 

 Breitmeyer has taken it up with the Board of 

 Gcmmerce. 



The necessity for such a road has been rec- 

 ognized for several years, but there has been 

 a lack of impetus which may now be forth- 

 coming. In his letter, Mayor Whitlock, 

 among other things, says: "In these days 

 when automobiles are bringing city folk and 

 country folk more closely together, and unit- 

 ing the cities themselves in more intimate 

 bonds, a broad highway between us would 

 be of advantage, not alone to automobilists, 

 but to everyone in the two cities." 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



One and one-half miles of crushed stone 

 road have been finished in Sheridan township, 

 Newaygo county. 



J. F. Finnegan 'cf Ramsey, was awarded the 

 contract for the abutments for the bridges on 

 the new county road at Siemens, Powder Mill 

 creek and Black river by the Gogebic county 

 road commission, the bidder to whom the 

 work was awarded several weeks ago having 

 failed to file his bonds within the time speci- 

 fied. 



