The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-14
LETTERS TO THE .-DITOR.
Jefferson County Roads.


 To the Editor of The Age-Herald
 Permit me to praise you for your eff forts for better roads. We all believe in good roads, we all want good roads We are glad you are advocating them.
 A system of roads in a county might be compared to the veins and arteries or the human body. Let Birmingham rep resent the heart of our great county, it's avenues of approach and roads, the veins and arteries-when circulation is normal or perfect the body is usually in good condition; likewise, good roads make bet ter financial and moral conditions in the county and city. The producer and the consumer are placed closer together and all the commercial interests of our coun- ty and city experience greater activity Rome, for centuries the mistress of the world, was the worlds greatest road- builder Her roads were not built in a day. but proofs of their magnificence are still to be seen.
 It takes money, labor and skill to build good roads How are these to be obtained  ation? Economy has been said to be the highway to wealth. More money can be obtained by making every county office a salaried office, pay the county officers good salary. Cheap salaries won't ln- duce good men to assume the reins of county government, but please remove the present fee system. There are some offices in this county that pay in fees many thousands of dollars year more than the highest official in the state re- ceives as salary. Shall we continue to permit certain county offices to pay these untold thousands in fees to the county officers-far more than any state official receives? And that, too, when we need money to improve our roads? We tax payers are paying these fees; we are also using these roads.
 Making no pretensions towards being a Napoleon of finance, the writer believes that at least s50.OoO year can be thus saved to build roads. Why do we not put an end to the purchase of county scrip? Why pay interest upon our own discounted paper? Why should our proud county, the richest in this great state, sit silently by and see its own paper sold for a pittance to buyers of scrip? Why should not a man who is called from his work to attend criminal court as witness, be paid as juror Is paid? Is his time less valuable? Is his pres ence less necessary? A 4sA@
 Why should sa1aried deputy sheriff or police officer receive s1.5o per day in scrip in each case he attends in the criminal court? e4 They do not receive it or any other sum for similar attendance in the po- lice court of the city of Birmingham.
 The labor problem: If corporations can work county convicts at a profit to them- selves, why cannot the county work them upon it's roads and the county get the profit? The city works them upon its streets. Skill is plentiful. These are a few of the problems that are presented to us for solution; do they demand our attention? We think they do. The writer travels 15 miles per day every day in the year except Sunday upon Jefferson county roads. They are real good, not so bad as described by some, but they can be much improved, he thinks, by making some needed correc- tions in county affairs. This task IS before the general public.
 The writer is not a candidate for the coveted Board of Revenue, neither is he an active or prospective candidate for any political preferment; his wants don't run to politics; therefore, the foregoing is not political platform but the ex- pressions of his honest opinion, being a diminutive taxpayer and having the best interest of the whole people at heart. rgF As WHITE E. GIBSON. Birmingham, February IS, 1908.