The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-19
USE CONNECTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ON COUNTY ROADS LOvelady Says County Should Use Labor Which Corpora
 tienS Value So Highly THE SOONER THE BETTER" SAYS JAMES WEATHERLY EnsIey Man Says Present Condition of Roads Is Unanswerable Arau-
 ment Against the System
 Now in Use.

dih III IaVor or using the conviets on the county roads as soon as practical" said Representative R. F. Lovelady of Pratt City yesterday. ''There is no reason why we should not take advantage of the labor which the corporations favor so highly for the construction of our new highways.
 I would like to see the county divided into four, instead of eight sections. with member of the Board of Revenue as- signed to each, and held responsible for everything in that section The presi- dent of the board would not be assigned a section, as his other duties would oc- cupy him. Of course, all very important actions would require the action of the whole board, but each member would represent his section and ask for its needs as member of the City Council does for his ward.
 'He would first get all the macadam roads in the section in good repair, and then use the Ramsay plan for Keeping them that way. As each strip is rebuilt, ! the section man can be put in charge.
 Instead of eight overseers this would only require four, the overseer being di- rectly responsible to the commissioner He would supervise the convict work, as well as the section men. If 1t so hap pened that good road engineer was elected to the office of county supervisor he could look after the grade and quail ity of the work done, just as the board is now hiring MT. Miner to do, but if he was not man of experience, the outside man would have to be paid until the law is changed"
 The Sooner the Better. James Weatherly, citizen who is greatly interested in the improvement of the roads, said: "The county convicts are the best workmen that could pos sibly be found, and the sooner they are placed on the roads the better Of course, I know little about road building, but so long as the Tennessee company can make money with them, Jefferson county can.
 T favor anything that looks toward road improvement. It will be my pleas ure to vote for the state measure estab- fishing a commission, and assigning sums
 
 highways. We should all pull together for the good of the community"
 Get Down to Business.
 w. N. Malone said: 'The movement is a great one. Convicts have been tried In Jefferson county and we know they are worth two free laborers. The best way to accomplish anything is to get .,.- The Age-Herald's idea adopted"
 George Whatley is another citizen who declared that the convict system is the best remedy for the situation.
 Condition an UnansWerable Argument.
 In speaking of the deplorable condition of the county roads and the suggestion that the county convicts be taken from the mines and put to work on the roads, John Lyons, the well-known contractor of Ensley, said: T am much in favor Of putting the county convicts on the roads and I think the present disgraceful and almost impossible condition of some of them Is an unanswerable argument why this should be done. Those who were here when the county roads were built and kept up by the convicts will re- member 1t was our boast that we had the best roads in the state, which was true. Since we put the convicts in the mines and worked the roads with free labor we can now boast we have the worst roads in seventeen states which is also true.
 Considering the thousands of dollars expended by Jefferson county in the past few years on the roads and then review ing the results accomplished, I don't see how any one can, question which method is the best. Let us put the conviets were they belong, that is, on public improve ments and remove them from competition with free labor.
 Anyway give the plan a trial. Con- victs are worked on the roads elsewhere and the results are highly satisfactory. I feel sure 1t would be so here. Re-, garding the present condition of the county roads permit me to say that if the most consistent Christian in the state of Alabama should drive from Ensley to Mulga and not lose the last vestige of re- ligion in him he would deserve to be canonzed. In the words of my friend the rural route carrier the road is simply he'll"