The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-26
Well Known Men Offer SuggeS- gestionS for Improvement
 of County Highways
FORMERLY BUT ONE MAN
 LOOKED AF TER PRICING I
This Plan Gave Him But 20 Miles of Roadway, For Which He Was Held Personally Re
 sponsible.

The contract system, a competent en-
 gineer and five thoroughly independent and capable members of the Board of
 Revenue is the remedy which Attorney Alex T. London finds for the roads of
 Jefferson. He has some original ideas on the proposition and finds some new faults with existing conditions.
 c. L. Dabbs, a well-known citizen of the county, residing near Bessemer, thinks
 the system of having eight road over
 seers Is wrong.
 The Public Roads of the County.
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Under the existing road law for Jeffer-
 son county there really should be no trou-
 ble about keeping the public roads in
 good condition, and the fault for not
 having them in good condition is directly
 traceable, not to the Board of Revenue,
 but to our political system, and 1 think
 this is demonstrable from the facts.
 The public taxes to maintain the roads
 are ample. The material for their con
 struction and maintenance is abundant The authority to let the construction and
 maintenance of the roads by contract is expressly conferred on the Board of Reve- nue.
 The chief supervisor, elected by the people, is under the direction and con- trol of the Board of Revenue. Now we expect, in spite of these powers, for the
 five honest men who constitute the Board of Revenue to be angels and to shut their eyes to the political power given by the act. which in common with all the
 other office-holders of this state they
 use to their own advantage.
 Under the road law the Board of Reve-
 nue is authorized to divide the county into
 road districts, making as many as they
 see fit, and to employ as many persons as they may deem proper to oversee the working of the roads, The gentlemen who constitute the Board of Revenue are hon.
 est men, against whose personal char
 acter l have never heard an aspersion; but Is it to be expected that these five
 men, having unlimited gift of patronage, are not going to use it? Herein lies the
 whole trouble about the public roads. The road fund is about s65,O0O My in- formation is that there Is one supervisor 1 at $500 and eight overseers at $500, and l the result is there is an expenditure of
 sS7oo and no supervision. l went to the trouble of inquiring at the Board of Reve- nue as to what reports the chief super l visor made, and found there was none. I went to the auditor to find out what
 proportion of the road fund went for
 salaries, and discovered that there was no division in the accounts, which would
 have necessitated my going through the
 much of the fund went to supervisors and
 overseers.
 Now, if the Board of Revenue were
 to let the public roads out to contract, to a substantial contractor, who should
 give bond, and if the people would elect
 competent supervisor, who should be an
 engineer, to overlook the work of this
 contractor, the trouble with the public
 roads ought to cease. But this involves
 another proposition.
 The Board of Revenue of Jefferson coun- ty has the control of the disbursement of about half million dollars year, and it behooves some of the gentlemen l who are complaining of the condition of | the public roads to make some sacrifice 1 and offer themselves as candidates for | the Board of Revenue, for so long as they are willing to evade and avoid their l public duties, 1t seems to me that com plaints from them come with very poor | grace
 | There are number of thoroughly com- petent, independent men who should
 serve the county. and who are inter- ested in the condition of the public roads, and I would like to know why gentlemen like Maj E. M Tutwiler and MT. R. S. Munger, just as samples, should not be offered by the people for the Board of Revenue and assume the responsibility which is undertaken to be put on other people. I only suggest these names be-
 cause the gentlemen suggested are known of all men qualified and competent, and perfectly independent so far as any pay Is concerned. l do not think that these gentlemen, or any other that may be selected for this purpose. should be required to volunteer as candidates. The burden is upon the people and taxpayers, and already some 40-odd persons have offered themselves as candidates for these important positions in this county. The people seem to shut their eyes to the supreme importance of first-class men on the Board of Revenue, and the result is that in a primary the really efficient. capable men are lost sight of in the mob of aspirants who are seeking the office simply for what it yields It Is not surprising that the public roads are