The Prescott daily news., 1917-10-24
COUNTY JUDGES REPORT
 TO QUORUM COURT
To the several Justices of the Peace Composing the Quorum Court of Nevada County:

: N6NdUd 1OQuty
 In submitting my report to your
 honorable body, realizing the grave
 responsibilities that rests upon each
 and every member, and also realizing
 that the acts of this court, today, will
 shape the disbursements of our county
 for the next twelve months, l feel it
 my duty, in order that you may pro-
 ceed intelligently, to call your atten-
 ton to the financial condition of our
 county, as it really exists.
 When l took the oath of office De-
 cember 1, 1916, there was outstanding
 and unredeemed, warrants on the county general fund, approximately
 $S,00000. The expenses of our county are naturally greater than ever before.
 The people are expecting more, de-
 manding more from the county than
 they did few years ago, and in the
 face of these facts, our general reve- nue is not increasing commensurate with the expenses. With these facts
 before us, and the fact that the circuit court expenses for this year will equal ! if not exceed the general revenue, pre- sents very serious state of affairs. Having to set aside $5,000.00 of our taxes each year to meet our court house debt, we cannot hope for any ,,o+ +or;o1 ;rorooeo in tho ooup+1, ,ro,, eral fund for several years. There fore, the most rigid economy should be used in the administration of our county affairs, and it is my pleasure to assure you that this has been my policy as your county judge, and the records will bear out the statement.
 The question of bridge building pre- sents very serious problem. To get ready and good material is very diff cult, and even then at prices almost beyond our reach. The time will soon come when we will have to resort to something besides wooden structures. We have been experimenting this year with concrete culverts in Missouri township, and it is proving very satis- factory, and We hope to see the time in the near future, when we will be able to replace the wooden bridges with either steel or concrete The bridges over the county are in very good repair, with a few exceptions. and these would have been repaired. but for the want of material.
 The roads are in reasonably good condition, and we are of the opinion that the overseers have done the best they could with the means in hand. Unfortunately the road fund in most of the road districts is short, which greatly handicaps the overseers, and unless the overseers have the coopera- tion of the people, very little can be accomplished in the way of building permanent roads. People are awaken ing to this fact, and in some parts of the county the people are doing their bit. Especially is this true in Union township. They have organized Road Improvement Association, and are doing very commendablo work in the way of improving their roads. It is to be hoped that all parts of the county will follow the worthy ex- ample.
 We have under consideration the building of 62 miles of gravel road. 26 miles of which have already been surveyed, and plans, specification, and estimates are now on file in the county clerks office, and the money is ready and waiting to defray the expenses of the survey of the other 36 miles. The people along the proposed routes seem to be very much enthused over the project, and doubtless these roads will be built within the next twelve months
 The committees appointed by the last grand jury to inspect the county jail and poor farm made favorable reports. There are only two inmates at the poor farm, at present, and as the people over the county seem to be in prosperous condition, it is hoped that this number will not be increased for the next twelve months. It has been our policy to keep an empty jail, as far as possible, and we have sue ceeded to the extent that the cost of keeping prisoners the past year has been only about two-thirds of the cost