Charlevoix county herald., 1909-04-03
Making of Good Roads.

way Commissioner, HOratiO 5. Earle.
IF majority OF Those voting
thereon, vote Yes then the system is
adopted. The next move is for the
supervisors TO decide
ISL How many county road com
missioners there shall be, not to ex-
coed three.
2nd. What their compensation
shall be.
|. Bird. To appoint the commissioners.
1.-THE commissioners must meet on
or before October LIST each year and
decide which roads should be built
and bow much tax should be levied
for county roads, not 10 exceed TWO
dollars on each one thousand dollars
of assessed valuation. and hand their
determination TO the Board OF Super
visors.
The Board OF Supervisors has the
veto power, SO the road board have to
make such recommendation as will
suit the supervisor, or fail to get the
tax spread.
The tax is collected in December
Then county road commissioners
lay out their work and begin early the
next spring to build state reward road.
mo real work can be done in coun-
ties not now under the system until
1910
1--WE have the county road system
in 26 counties, and no more enthusiasts
tic admirers Of IL can be found than
thefarmers in those counties working
under it. Lots Of, them voted against
it when it was adopted, but have
changed their minds since.
"In nut shell, the county road
system is Il plan whereby the leading
public roads are improved and kept in
repair by board OF county road com
msSioners at the expense of every
property owner in the county"
1.-The tax for county roads cannot
be more than two dollars on each one
Thousand dollars valuation.
"All roads not taken over by the
in repair in the usual way by the
township"
"All damages on county roads are
collected from the county"
The township road taxes on the
property AUDITING the county road
goes to the township to be expended
on the reads in other parts Of the
township"
Costly bridges are thus built on
the leading roads by the county in
stead Of by the township. y.
Good county roads are like fish
poles with lines on both ends, making
it possible for the farmer In the cOun-
try TO fish in the city and village mar
ket any day Of the year, sd taking adj
vantage Of the high prices"
IT also gives the village and city
merchant chance TO fish in the
country for farm products when he Is
in need Of them; for with the tele-
phone he can call up a dozen or more
Of his farmer friends and in few
hours have on the way loads of pOta-
toes, corn. wheat or any other farm
product he may need"
"Further keep in mind always, that
county roads are built by money rails
ed on every dollars worth Of assessed
property in Michigan.
"A tax spread on all property in
the county, not TO exceed two dollars
Oh each one thousand dollars of assess
ed valuation. Then the road build
ing begins, and when it is completed,
if built OF gravel or stone according to
state speci ticatiOn, a reward is paid
| by the state of one thousand dollars
per mile for stone road and five hun
dred for gravel This money comes
back from tax levied on all the prop
erty in the state"
So the county becomes a fisherman
in the state pond, the township in the
county pond, the farmer in the mer
chants pond and the merchant In the
farmers pond, to the benefit OF every
body.
"Moral-Vote Yes for the county
road system.
would emphasize the fact that the
adoption of the county road system
would raise the standard of road con-
struction in our county for the reason
that the work accomplished under IL
would undoubtedly meet the speciti-
catious required by the state in order
TO secure the state reward"
Another important feature is the
provision that is made whereby anv
township In which no county road
building is being done may commence
the building of state reward road on
its own initiative aud receive not only
the state reward but also like
amount from the county fund pfovid-
ed they have paid in enough TO equal