The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-19
MANY PEOPLE SAY ROADS NEED WORK People Who Travel Over the County Are interviewed COULD EASILY IMPROVE Would Not Take Much Money to Fill Ruts and Bad Places-Mount
 Pinson Road Is Espe-
 cially Bad.
COULD EASILY IMPROVE

"The people of Jefferson deserve better roads," is the opinion of a number of representative citizens who have given ex- pressions of the present bad conditions of the public highways. Only one of dozen men who were approached on the good roads" subject yesterday failed to draw his hammer and proceed in no mild tone to knock" the roads of Jef- ferson, the county which pays over s120.Ooo a year to keep the roads in good condition and which pays about one-sixtk of the total taxes of Alabama
 Prof. I. w McAdory, county supern- tendent of education who travels all over the county, stated that as whole he thought the roads were in better condi- ton than they ever have been. He ad- mitted, however, that there was still much room for improvement.
 "The roads of Jefferson county are in deplorable condition" said Alderman Ben F. Barbour Considering the amount of money we appropriate towards the main tenance of the public roads, the slag, the chert and other material that we have so near at hand, I think it is shame that the roads are in such a bad shape.
 Especially does this state of affairs exist on the several roads leading out of Birmingham. After you get out into the rural districts the roads are much better than they are in the immediate outskirts of Birmingham"
 Many Small Ruts.
 Dr. Cunningham Wilson said:
 ..It is the small ruts and holes that makes travel on the country roads of Jefferson county so disagreeable. With few hundred dollars expended judicious- ly this trouble could easily be remedied am of the opinion that a little slag and chert would place the roads in splendid condition. Until the proper care is given to small repairs travel on the country roads will continue to be very unpleas- ant"
 Dr. Frank Lupton said:
 "The roads of Jefferson county are in an awful shape. Take the road leading from Birmingham to North Birmingham. This has been neglected until traveling has become unpleasant on that particular highway I go over the North Birming- ham road every day and happen to know more about It's condition than any of the other roads. A small amount of slag and chert scattered in a few of the bad places would help matters considerably. ''The board of revenue would not nec- essarly have to go to any great expense to put the roads in a good fix. There is no occasion for large expenditures of money for building bridges, but the dump ing of a little slag and chert in the bad places. I think, would relieve the present bad condition of the North Birmingham road"
 George Griffin, one of the most enthusi- astic autosts said: 'I have been too busy this summer to travel much over the county, but the roads that l have been over are in very bad condition. The Mount Pinson road and the Bessemer road especially need considerable improve ment and repairing. It would not take any great amount of money or labor to place the roads in good shape"
 Like the Roads.
 Prof l. w McAdory said My duties carry me over the entire county of Jeff ferson and taking the roads as whole have never known them to be in bet ter condition than they are at present. If is true that there are few bad places but they are very small objection when you consider the large mileage of public roads that the county maintains.
 "The conditions are worse around Bir- mingham than they are out in the rural districts We must consider the fact that Jefferson has more roads than any coun- ty in the state and that it is also one of the largest counties in the state. l would like to see the Board of Revenue build a road to Taylor's ferry on the Warrior river. This would give the far mers of that section an opportunity to get into Bessemer and Birmingham"
 Dr. J. E. Dedm-n who has made many runs in his automobile to all parts of the county said: We have some of the best roads in the country and If there was a little work done on them they could not be exceled. One trouble with the roads, especially the Mount Pinson road and the Bessemer road, is that a few ruts and holes have been neglected and that