MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



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AMJERICAN 



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This brand on 

 every sheet. 



None genuine 



without this 



brand 



To those 9O,OOO Taxpayers who want a 



Road Culvert Which Can Not Rust 



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H the Agricultural Dep't at Washington, you have made a demand 

 for a rust-resisting material, which you can use for roofing, road culverts, and 

 agricultural purposes. Engineers and Chemists the world over endorse American 

 Ingot Iron as the material you have asked for, and Ingot Iron Pipe as the culvert. 

 You owe it to yourself to investigate the product resulting from your own demand. 

 Write for information regarding Ingot Iron Pipe, the culvert which can not 

 rust, collapse, or be injured by the frost. Address, 



MICH. BRIDGE & PIPE CO., 



Dept. T. _ LANSING, MICHIGAN 



KALAMAZOO REDEEMS HERSELF. 



ECalamazoo county has redeemed herself, 

 writes A. J. Sager, of Climax, a prominent 

 worker j'or good r.> a ds and public road cor- 

 respondent fur Kalamazoo county. The honor 

 rests with the city of Kalamazoo. however. 

 which gave a splendid majority of l.:>'.'s in 

 favor oi the county road system. Th.s ma- 

 jority was sufficient to overcome the adverse 

 vote in the country districts and the result in 

 1'ie county at large was a majority of -177 in 

 lavor oi gond roads. A year ago Kalamazoo 

 city gave only .10(1 majority in favor of the 

 proposition and it was defeated. Last year 

 Richland was the only township outside of 

 Kabniazon city to declare in favor of good 

 roads. This township was a train in line this 

 year, and had for company Scho.ncraft. 

 Prairie Rondc and Cooper, which indicates 

 that the gospel of good roads is surely spread- 

 ing in the county outside of the city. 



Just now the farmer-- who want better road-. 

 are brought face to face with a most important 

 question: \Yill be accept the assistance of tin- 

 city allies? Will he welcome the aid of the 

 mad-machinery man. the capitalist, the bicy- 

 clist and the automobilist? Or will he treat 

 them as schemers who are trying to meddle 

 with his affairs? 



The answer to' these questions ought to de- 

 pend on \\h::t these city friends of good roads 

 are proposing to do. If they propose to have 

 the country roads improved in order to in- 

 crease their bnsine.-s ,-nd enhance their pleas- 

 ures, wholly at the expense of the farmer, then 

 he should spurn the proffered alliance. If. on 

 the contrary, they are proposing, through 

 state and nation;:! taxation, to lift a large part 

 of the burden off the farmer and place it on 

 the tax-payer-, of the city, lie ought to bid 

 them welcome and extend the glad hand. 



I have worked hard to bring about co-oper- 

 ation between tin- people of the country and 

 the city in order to initiate the work of the 

 permanent improvement of the main highways 

 by the county system. The township, with a 

 cash tax system, will have all they can do to 

 take care of the cross, tributary and less trav- 

 eled roads. The conntv tax should be ] rge 

 enough to provide sufficient funds to start 

 permanent highway work in every township in 

 the county. The roads should lie built so as 

 to get the state award and a national award 

 as well. For I believe most firmly that na- 

 tional aid for go,:<] roads must conic, and 

 when it does the burden of providing im- 

 proved main country roads and bridges will 

 be equalized and be borne by the whole peo- 

 ple, as it should be. 



The railroads and the steamship compani-es 

 apnrcc:atc the value of g:>od roads an! 

 willing to stand their share of the tax. Study 

 this question. It needs little thought to dem- 

 onstrate why railroads want good \vagmi 

 roads. Ask yourself the question, why does 

 the great Grank Trunk system contemplate 

 building its double tracks through the city of 

 Kalam-xoo? If there were not twenty-five 

 men. with a combined capital of over $10.(Hn 

 (ICO. who signed the wn'tcr's countv roa 1 peti- 

 tion last September, and scores of other mer- 

 chants and manufacturers, who expect to reap 

 the benefits derived from an even flow of 

 produce, and manufactured goods, which will 

 be transported over JCalamaxon county's sys- 



tem of improved roads, to her nearby village 

 markets, thence to the city, in car loads, on 

 tributary railroads, and improved wagon roads, 

 which will be w repair and condition for use, 

 radiating from the city, in the poor-road sea- 

 son as well as the good season, the Grand 

 Trunk would not be interested. But the road 

 is deeply interested, and will help with a state 

 and county tax, to improve main roads into 

 the villages and city of Kalamaxoo county 

 next year. 



If Calhoun county, a county that the writer 

 has worked for with might and main for the 

 adoption of the county roads system to lessen 

 the expense of hauling to its market place, 

 Battle Creek, will take up the proposition 

 again next spring and carry the same, the 

 Grand Trunk system will build its .double 

 tracks to Marshall, and Albion, for the sake of 

 the traffic that will come into these cities over 

 the improved roads. 



The above paragraphs are sufficient argu- 

 ments why the Whelan bill, and the repeal of 

 the cash township law. should not be allowed 

 to pass the legislature. The legislative suc- 

 cess that we are to attain for the promotion 

 of the state law, and the continuation of the 

 township cash tax, with an increased appro- 

 priation for state rewards, largely depended 

 on the way the county roads system carried 

 in Kalamazoo county and other leading coun- 

 ties of the state. Our state representative 

 assured the writer that if our county made a 

 good showing for the county road system, it 

 would help promote the laws for state and 

 township systems, and the writer will assure 

 the reader, with all due consideration, that the 

 Miccess in carrying the county of Kalamazoo 

 for good roads, was due to the stick-to-it-ive- 

 ness, and untiring efforts of W. M. Bryant, 

 chairman of the good roads committee of the 

 city of Ka-lamazoo. For the past two years 

 he has ever stood by the writer and conducted 

 a campaign that led to success. 



AUTOS RUIN ROADS. 



The increased use of automobiles in New 

 York State has so worn out the 1,800 miles of 

 good roads already- completed that the new 

 State Highway Commission will not award 

 this year any more contracts for good roads 

 construction. The commission has determined 

 to devote its efforts during the coming year 

 to the 500 miles additional of good roads work 

 now under contract and to repairing the 1,800 

 miles of road completed since the good roads 

 project was started in the state ten years ago. 



The commission has asked the legislature 

 for an appropriation of $1,500,000 to repair 

 these 1,800 miles of good roads. It developed 

 at a hearing before the Senate Internal Affairs 

 Committee on the automobile bill that the 

 stone macadam roads which have been built 

 : by the state will not stand the strain of the 

 automobiles, and the highway commission is 

 experimenting with an asphalt cement which 

 is to be utilized in covering all of the stone 

 macadam roads so far constructed. Mean- 

 while the commission is investigating the ques- 

 tion with a view of revolutionizing road con- 

 struction in the state so as to produce a road 

 which will successfully meet the wear and 

 tear of the automobile. 



The farmers up the state are aroused over 

 the bad condition the good roads are in be- 



c?.us.e of the destruction which follows their 

 use by the automobilists, and the situation has 

 become so acute that the highway commission 

 fears the good roads work will be checked 

 unless something is done to allay this feeling. 



F. N. Godfrey, the master of the State 

 Grange, and the members of the legislative 

 committee of the grange appeared before the 

 committee and insisted that the automobile 

 bill should be passed. The purpose of this bill 

 is to tax the automobiles sufficiently to raise 

 nearly enough money to repair the damage 

 they do to the good roads. It is estimated 

 that the bill would bring an annual revenue 

 into the state treasury of $600,000. It imposes 

 a tax of $5 on automobiles weighing 1,500 

 pounds or less, $10 on machines weighing from 

 1,500 to 2,500 pounds, and an additional $5 for 

 each 500 pounds of weight over 2,500 pounds. 

 The owners must register with the Secretary 

 of State. The chauffeurs must be licensed and 

 pay a fee of $1. 



Pro'bably the most important provision in 

 the bill is that all speed limits are abolished, 

 and it i provided that the automobilist must 

 operate his car with due regard for the safety 

 of the public at all times. His speed is left to 

 his own discretion, but the burden of respon- 

 sibility is placed on him, no matter at what 

 rate of speed his machine is being operated. 



On country roads where the highways are 

 clear the automobilists would have the speed 

 limit lifted and be permitted to run their 

 machines in their own discretion. They 

 would not be kept in fear of the country jus- 

 tice who gets the automobilists and their fines 

 by his speed tray system. 



Charles T. Terry of New York City, George 

 H. Stillwell of Syracuse and George C. Diehl 

 of Buffalo, representing the automobile asso- 

 ciations, insisted that if the automobiles were 

 to 'be taxed, other vehicles using the road 

 also should be taxed proportionately, pointing 

 out that otherwise the automobile tax would 

 'be unconstitutional. 



Senator Jothan P. Allds, chairman of the 

 Senate Finance Committee, said that if some 

 new scheme of taxation to meet the cost of 

 repairing the good roads was not devised, the 

 whole scheme of good roads construction was 

 likely to fall. He pointed out that it was 

 demonstrated in Massachusetts that automo- 

 biles cause 52 per cent of the destruction of 

 roads there and insisted that they should be 

 taxed accordingly to meet the expenses of re- 

 paid in New York State. 



ASPHALT ROADS. 



The state of Illinois is experimenting with 

 liquid asphalt, a commercial preparation, i 

 its road making. The asphalt is mixed with 

 the black loam of that state, known as 

 "gumbo," and the short mileage already built 

 is a very fine road, but it is not known how; 

 long it will last. The asphalt-gumbo road 1 

 is smooth and hard now, after rain and snow! 

 which made the dirt roads very muddy. This 

 kind of road has been built at about one-half I 

 the cost of macadam, and is said not to get 

 du-ty in summer. Whether or not the asphalt! 

 roads are cheaper and better than rock ro:id- 

 in Illinois will be proven only whe.i their 

 durability is tested. 



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