30 BULLETHsT 393, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



provision should soon be made or else some relatively heavy taxes 

 must be levied at no very distant date. If the necessary tax were 

 levied from the outset only 15 cents on the hundred dollars would 

 be required, but the longer this is delayed the greater the burden 

 ultimately. While this county may make adequate provision in good 

 time to care for its bonded indebtedness, the fact must not be over- 

 looked that the sinking-fund method offers a temptation to keep put- 

 ting off the day of reckoning, thus making necessary either the levy- 

 ing of heavy taxes at a time when the people have become accustomed 

 to improved roads and a low rate, or, if the heavy taxes are not levied, 

 the county must then face the necessity for refunding bonds. In this 

 particular county the tax rate for the bonds was 15 cents on the 

 hundred dollars in 1911, and the rate was reduced in 1912 to 10 cents 

 and has remained at that figure since. The rate was cut down in 

 order to provide revenue for a j ail and for a steel index file without 

 materially increasing the total rate for the county. 



In connection with funds provided from the bond issues aid has 

 been granted by the State m the form of convict labor, the State 

 paying for guarding, clothing, feedmg, and housing the convicts, 

 while the county pays for their medical attention. One reason for 

 the seemingly slow rate of expenditure of the bond issues by the 

 county is the fact that all of the construction work is performed by 

 the convict force, and the mileage completed each year is therefore 

 hmited by the constructive capacity of that force. From June, 1909, 

 to September 30, 1915, the State had furnished 67,736.5 convict- 

 labor days, which had cost the State an average of SO. 5468 per day, 

 or about $37,038.32. No money aid was granted by the State, as 

 the State does not grant both convict and money aid to the same 

 county during the same year. In measuring the results obtained for 

 the given outlay it must be borne in mind that these results were not 

 obtained by the bond issue alone, but that on the final showing the 

 State will have paid nearly one-third of the cost, and, considering 

 further that the convict labor is relatively cheaper than free labor, 

 much of the credit for low cost of construction must go to the convict- 

 labor plan rather than to other phases of the financing or manage- 

 ment of the work. 



HOW THE WORK WAS MANAGED. 



The roads were built accordmg to plans and specifications furnished 

 by the State highway department and under the immediate direction 

 of a superintendent selected by the State highway department and 

 paid by the county from the bond-issue funds. The superintendent 

 received a salary of from $75 to $100 per month, and reported both 

 to the county road board, which has charge of all road work in the 

 county, and to the State highway department. The rof.d board con- 



