The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-03-06
MISSOURI GOOD ROADS.

tions Regarding a Road Law.
The fifth annual convention of the
Good Roads Association of Missouri
was held at jefferson City, continuing
two days.
Mayor Edwin Silver delivered an al
dress of welcome to the delegates, ten
dering them the freedom of the city
President T. O. Stanley of the assOcia-
ton responded, and then announced
the different committees
The house ofrepresentative adjourned
at Zoe and rendered the use of the
hall to the convention. 1t was az
cepted.
Nearly all of the afternoon was spent
in a discussion of the provisions OF
house bill Nc. $685.. which provides for
creating the Office of state road commits
sioner. The bill was finally referred
to the committee on resolutions.
Mr.. Settle, a delegate from Ferguson,
st. Louis county, offered the following
resolution, which was referred to the
committee on resolutions:
Resolred, That the committee on resolution.
be requested to report to this body the advisa.
| DllllS VI SUBMITTING 10 the vote OF Ine ptOplc VI
this state q constitutional amendment empOw-
ering the county court of any county, when at
special elections the majority Of the qualified
voters have voted afhrmatively, to levy a spe-
cial tax upon real and personal property for the
maintenance and construction of roads and
bridges.
A night session was held in the senate
chamber. The discussions were on the
constitution and amendments thereto
and on poll tax for road purposes VS..
property tax.
When the convention met on the
second day the first business was to
take a fall out of BILLY Riders beer in
spection bill. The measure came before
the association in the shape of n reso-
luton for its Endorsement. 1t was dis
cussed at considerable length, and was
defeated, the sense of the association
being that it is, impracticable to raise
money for road betterment in that
way.
The following resolution was offered
by Mr.. Walker, of Jackson county, and
adopted:
WHEREAS, Under the present state conStitu-
ton, legislation in the interest of good roads
and highways has been found insufficient and
Ineffective; and
WHEREAS, The interests of the whole people
would be conserved by an improved condition of
the public roads,; therefore, be it
Resolred, That we, the delegates to the State
Roads convention, now in session in JEFF
ferson City, are OF the opinion that a
constitutional convention should be called to
remodel our constitution to present needs, and
to that end we respectfully urge the honorable
members Of the house Of representatives to sup
port the pending senate measure, submitting to
the people of the state the proposition to call
such constitutional convention.
Officers for the ensuing year were
elected as follows: President, T. o.
Stanley; vice-president, r. W.. Dun
niphant, NeoSho; secretary and treas
urer, George w. Waters, Camden.
Sedalia was selected as the place for
holding the meeting next year, and the
convention adjourned sine die.
Before adjourning, the association
adopted a report of the committee o.
resolutions, ~embodying the features
which the association thinks should be
incorporated in a road law:
The county road commissioner shall have o
general supervision over all public roads in the
county. He shall furnish each district ~overseei
with detailed instruction of the work to be done
and the material to be used in his district, he
shall furnish plans and estimates of cost Of the
county court Of all road work, bridges, road i'm
PIGMENTS and material needed by the several
districts. He shall see that the funds for road
and bridge purposes have been judic1OuSly and
economically expended, and no county court or
township board shall pay for any work until re-
ported on, or any Of said acts until audited by
said commissioner.
The county court Of any county in the state
may. in their discretion, on or before the Feb
ruary term Of said court, divide their county
into suitable road districts, and require the
property tax, assessed for road purposes. to be
paid in money, and direct the road commission
er of said county to make contracts for working
the roads and highways in said dis
trscts, respectively, with the lowest
and best bidder, in accordance with
plans and specifications for the work re-
quired to be done, submitted by the commits
sioner and approved by the court; said bids to
be received at public cutlery. after the commits
sioner shall have given 20 days public notice Of
the time and place Of letting. The person whose
bid shall be approved by the court shall within
five days thereafter enter into a written contract
and bond, in such sum and with securities as
shall be acceptable to the county court, to per-
form such work in accordance with the plans
and specifications therefor, and keep the same
in repair such length of time as the court shall
by order designate.
1t shall be the duty of each contractor to re-
ceive the labor Of all persons subject to the pay
ment OF poll tax for work on roads and high
ways in the road district to which they belong,
and such persons shall work at least eight hours
per day, and shall each be entitled tc
a credit OF 81 for every day they shall
SO work, and the amount to be paid to
said contractor under his contract shall be re-
duced and credited by the amount OF labor SC
done, as aforesaid. In case any person subject
to work on roads and highways shall neg
lect and fail to present himself to said
contractor and offer to work out the
amount Of his p~oll-tax, or fail or refuse tc
pay the proper amount Of communication
money to said contractor in lieu Of said
work. or shall be discharged by said contractor
for failure to perform good and satisfactory
work, the amount Of said poll tax shall become
for every day he is subject to work on such road
by the road commissioner to the county collec-
tor for collection
1t shall be the duty OF the respective county
and township assessors OF these, the counties
adopting the provisions of this law, to make
county or township over the age of 81 and
under so years of age, and shall enter
their names on the personal tax book
made by the assessor, those having property
and those having no property. It shall be the
the duty Of the clerk Of the county court Of each
county availing itself Of the provisions Of this