The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
ID HAVE BETTER
 ROADS IN COUNTY
Board of Revenues Movement
 in That Direction
CONNECTS ON ROAD WORK
Plan That Board Is Considering Will, 1t Is Thought, Save Money and Result in Fine System of
 Public Roads.


 Jefferson county board of revenue which if put in operation. It is believed will save the county thousands of dollars an- nually and give it the best system of public roads in the south.
 Recent advertisements have appeared calling for bids on the hire of county con- viets, the contracsts to be awarded after December 15. The present contracts ex- pire on the last of this month. This means that the board is contemplating new system of leasing out convicts but the exact nature of the change has not been definitely determined.
 The plan the board has under consider alton is in brief that portion of the con vlcts be leased to coal mining companies or hired to dig coal on tonnage basis and on the county roads.
 Great Saving.
 It Is believed that by putting the con l Victs on the roads instead of letting out road work by contract will save the eoun- l ty large amount of money. Some mem- bers of the board say 1t would be difficult for the county to handle more than loo convicts on the road as the expense of guarding and caring for them would be too great They estimate, however, that the 100 convlcts could do really more work than is now being done under the con i tract system.
 l The board also has in contemplation 1 the leasing of eonvicts on the state sys- tenn. The state either leases mine or puts the conviets in other mines to dig coal on the tonnage basis. The state plan, inaugurated by Governor Jeks, has been very successful and the board of revenue believes that the county can de- | rive a large amount of revenue in the 1 same way.
 | Old and New Basis.
 During last month 1855 convicts working in the Flat Top mines of the Sloss-Shef- field company made for the state over and above all expense of their care $5S4O In l four months 300 convicts for the county. under the old basis, made for the county l only S54i4. In other words 1t Is figured that the state has made just about four i times as much as the county with little over half as many convicts.
 MT McGeever and MT. Going have been appointed a committee to investigate the matter of leasing convicts and report be- l fore the new contracts are issued l All members of the board expressed 1 themselves yesterday as being heartily in favor of putting convicts on the public road and the only hitch in the way Is 1 agreeing upon the details of plan by which the system can be put in force.
 Jefferson county has 2S5 convicts avail able for use in the mines. The others are composed of women. cripples and boys too small to work. It Is the idea of several members of the board that 100 or more of this number be placed on the roads and 4l. Taffa ~ ha road system in the country. At present the road work is let out by precinct eon- tracts. That Is, each precinct has been worked separately. All of the past con tracts have been unsuccessful according | to statements made yesterday. The mem- bers attribute the had condition of the roads not so much to the lac. of money for repairs but to the fact that % much money is expended for the cutting of new roads, It will be the policy of the present board to cut down this expense as much as possible and spend the money available for that purpose on repairs.
 Road Fund.
 The county derives about S33OOO a year from the macadam fund for road work in addition to $25,00O from the s road fund.
 MT. Going. Captain Crook and Mir. McGeever estimate that the cost of feed- ing, guarding, clothing ana medicines TOT the 100 convcts to be used on the roads will amount to $l5OO a month. In addition to this 1t would be necessary to purchase about $1O.000 worth of equipment includ- ing scrapers rollers, blows, and tools of various kinds. 1t would cost about ssO0 a month or $36OO a year to maintain this equipment.
 At present it costs the county $56,5Ot annually to maintain and build roads At $500 a month under the new system that would make $1S,00O a year. Now add to this sl000O for equipment and s36OO for maintaining the equipment and under the new system the total cost would be S31,0OO annually. Take this from S56.5OO and 1t would show a saving of S25 lOO The members of the board sug- gest that $6O0O be taken from this so as to give plenty of margin and then the county would save s19OO0 at least. This would include the purchase of materia which would not be necessary agair for ten years The members believe tha the conyicts will not only save them thu much money but will give the count! much better roads.
 The question will be definitely settled on December 15 and the present board according to persons interested In goo' roads, is likely to put itself on record a one of the most progressive boards of rev enue that Jefferson county has eYe honored with office.
 -----.s---~ E. T. Shaw & Son. undertakers Sl' North Twentieth street. Both phones ,.
 -s--