10 BULLETIN 381, U. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
The courts of county commissioners, boards of revenue, or other 
like governing bodies, may, for the purpose of maintaining roads, 
bridges or ferries, impose upon the owners of vehicles used upon the 
public roads of the county such license taxes as they may deem advis- 
able. On vote of a majority of the qualified electors of a county 
voting at an election held for that purpose, bonds may be issued for 
public improvements or to pay debts created for such improvements, 
including the bunding of roads and bridges, but the aggregate amount 
of indebtedness that may thus be created shall not exceed 3 per cent 
of the assessed value of the property in such county. Said courts, 
or boards, may levy and collect such special taxes as they may deem 
necessary, not to exceed one-fourth of 1 per cent of the assessed value 
of property in the county, for the purpose of paying any debt or lia- 
bility created, or that may be created, for erecting public buildings or 
constructing roads and bridges. 
Convicts of a county may be worked on its roads, bridges or ferries, 
or in the preparation of road materials, or said convicts may be hired 
to or from another county or from the State. 
REVENUES APPLIED TO ROADS AND BRIDGES EN T 1914. 
It was impossible to secure complete information on taxation and 
revenues from every county in the State, but from the reports 
received it appears that 82,488,805.51 was received from taxation 
and applied to roads in 1914. Of this amount 8612,095.02 was 
obtained from the regular levy. 8103,822 from statute labor tax 
paid in cash, 891,237.59 from general funds and applied to interest 
and principal on road bonds, and 81,681,650.90 from general and 
special funds. 
Fifteen out of the 67 counties in the State report that they are 
still making use of the statute labor tax. A total of 47,600 men is 
reported as having worked the roads from 3^ to 10 days each. The 
cash value of this labor at the prevailing rate of wages amounted to 
8302,025. 
By adding 8302,025. the cash value of the labor tax, and 81,013,210, 
the amount obtained from bond issues and expended on roads in 
1914, and 8144,978, the State-aid appropriation for 1914, to the totals 
above, it appears that the aggregate expenditure for roads hi 
1914 amounted to 83,949,019. This includes 891,237.59 paid out by 
comities for interest and principal on road bonds. It was impracti- 
cable to separate this item from the total. In 1904 the total prop- 
erty and labor tax amounted to 81,576,434.27, thus showing that 
during the past 10 years the road revenues increased 82,372,584.73, 
or 150.5 per cent. 
The use of the statute labor tax appears to have declined steadily 
since 1904, for during that year 153,419 men were reported as having 
