388.109773 . - U67p PULL ILLINOIS OUT OF THE MUD ~ AN APPEAL ... By 100 Organiza¬ tions to the 48th General Assembly i o l* a M o d e r n (i ood Roads Law “Our highways themselves are the unanswerable argument that Illinois must abandon a road sys- tem that is complex, wasteful and inefficient." ISSUED BY THE ILLINOIS HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION May 1, 1913 Office: Lexington Hotel CHICAGO, ILL. FOREWORD To the Forty-Eighth General Assembly of Illinois T HE ILLINOIS HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION and one hundred other organi¬ zations representing the diversified interests of the citizens of Illinois present for your consideration a platform containing an outline for a modern good roads law. The principles of this platform represent the public sentiment of the state on this important question. The basic principle is that of state aid to the counties in the construction of the main highways, some 15 to 20 per cent of the 94,000 miles of public roads in the state, which carry from 80 to 90 per cent of all the traffic. The platform was formulated at a state convention which was held at Peoria on September 27th, 1912, and which was called in the following manner: Each member of the Forty-seventh General Assembly was asked to nominate two delegates from his district; the various agricultural, commercial, labor, banking, real estate, automobile, good roads, medical, rural letter carriers and other organizations interested in the subject were invited to appoint delegates, as were organizations representing highway commissioners, women’s clubs, teachers, etc. Three hundred delegates attended. Since the convention was held the platform has been indorsed by organizations from which the delegates were named, and by other bodies. The convention was called for the purpose of harmonizing all movements for the improvement of the roads of the state to the end that a modern law for their construction, maintenance and administration should be adopted. WILLIAM G. EDENS, President Illinois Highway Improvement Association. 241 PLATFORM Illinois, foremost among the states in her natural resources, finds her general welfare retarded by a system of wretched public highways, constructed, maintained and administered under a method in vogue centuries ago, which is unadapted to the prob¬ lems presented by modern traffic and out of harmony with the ad¬ vancement of the state in other directions. Illinois has only to look around her and see what neighboring- states have accomplished in road improvement to realize that her highways are far behind the times. A great network of 95,000 miles of country wagon roads is left to the haphazard efforts of 4,800 highway commissioners, work¬ ing independently of each other, poorly paid, largely inexperi¬ enced, who are provided with inadequate funds. TAXPAYERS’ MONEY WASTED Careful investigation has shown that of the $7,000,000 expended annually on our highways, approximately 37^ per cent is wasted, and in some townships a much greater percentage is spent without permanent benefit. Our highways themselves are the unanswer¬ able argument that Illinois must abandon a road system that is complex, wasteful and inefficient. OF INTEREST TO WHOLE STATE Farmer, workingman and business man suffer from the condi¬ tions due to bad roads. Highway improvement is no longer a purely local matter, but one in which our citizens are interested to such an extent that the state should assist in solving the problems which our bad roads present to the people. We recommend state legislation which will provide for: 1. State and county co-operation in the construction and main¬ tenance of main highways and bridges. 2. A non-political state highway commission of at least three competent members, who shall devote their entire time to their duties. 3. Improvement (in such counties as elect to come under the provisions of the law) of main, continuous, inter-county highways connecting county seats and other important cities, principally at the expense of the state and county; such roads to be selected and improved by county authorities, subject to the approval of the state highway commission, and after improvement to be turned over to the state for perpetual maintenance. 4. Improvement, maintenance and control of remaining roads (about 80 per cent of the whole) under supervision of county and township authorities. 5. Effective measures to guarantee maintenance after roads are once constructed. 6. Use of the state automobile tax, together with such other funds as the legislature may appropriate, in the improvement of highways. 7. Extension of the employment of prisoners in state institu¬ tions in the preparation of material for road building, and the use of state prisoners—under state direction—on an honor system, in actual road work when practicable. 8. Payment of all road taxes in cash. 9. Compulsory dragging of all dirt roads. 10. Safety of road users, such as “Rules of the Road,” and the proper construction and guarding of crossings at railroads and intersection of streets and highways. 4 FEDERAL AID We favor federal aid in the construction and maintenance of post roads and national highways, and we request representatives of Illinois in Congress to work towards this end. GOOD ROADS DAY We recommend the designation by the governor, or by the leg¬ islature, of an annual Good Roads Day, on which the attention of the whole people, especially teachers and pupils in the public and normal schools and the state university, will be directed toward the importance of improved highways. SOME GOOD ROAD BENEFITS Improved roads mean better schools and larger attendance; better health and quicker medical attention; better farms and more cultivated land; better crops and cheaper transportation; better economic conditions and more producers; better social con¬ ditions and less isolation; better church attendance and better citi¬ zens ; better postal service and closer friends; better business and more consumers; better industries and more employment; a better state and a better nation. “The association zvhich formulated this declaration of high¬ way principles is without question one of the most disinter¬ ested and unselfish bodies of men that have ever banded together in the furtherance of a public enterprise in Illinois. Every semblance of special interest has been rigidly excluded from active participation in the organization. It has no ax to grind, no one interest to further, and is under obligations to no one.”—The Orange-Judd Farmer, October 12 , 1912 . 5 INDORSEMENTS The following organizations have indorsed the foregoing platform and recommend the enactment of its principles into law: Adams County Medical Association Alexander County Medical Society Alton Automobile Club Alton Board of Trade Anna Union Club Belleville Commercial Club Bloomington Commercial Club Buena Vista Commercial Club Cairo Automobile Club Cairo Board of Trade Cairo Commercial Club Cairo Retail Merchants Associa¬ tion Cairo Women’s Club Carlinville Commercial Club Carmi Business Men’s Association Centralia Commercial Club Champaign Chamber of Commerce Chicago Association of Commerce (good roads committee) Chicago Automobile Trade Associ¬ ation Chicago Heights Industrial Club Chicago Medical Society Chicago Motor Club Chicago Real Estate Board Cook County Real Estate Board Cook County Truck Gardeners and Farmers Association Danville Industrial Club DeKalb Commercial Club East St. Louis Commercial Club Elgin Commercial Club Elgin Mayor and City Commis¬ sioners Elgin Merchants Association Elgin Motor Club Fox River Valley Manufacturers Association (Aurora) Galena Commercial Club Galesburg Club Greenfield Commercial Club Harrisburg Commercial Club Hoopeston Business Men’s Associ¬ ation Illinois Bankers Association (good roads committee) Illinois Commercial Federation Illinois Corn Growers Association Illinois Farmers Institute Illinois Grain Dealers Association Illinois Live Stock Breeders Asso¬ ciation Illinois Manufacturers Association Illinois Mine Workers of America (7th Sub-Dist. of District 12) Illinois Retail Hardware Associa¬ tion Illinois Retail Implement and Ve¬ hicle Dealers Association Illinois Retail Merchants Associa¬ tion Illinois Rural Letter Carriers Asso¬ ciation Illinois State Automobile Associa¬ tion Illinois State Horticultural Society Illinois State Medical Society Illinois State Teachers Association Jacksonville Business Men’s Asso¬ ciation Jerseyville Commercial Club 6 Kankakee Commercial Association Kendall County Automobile Club La Salle Commercial Association Lewistown Commercial Club Liberty Commercial and Agricul¬ tural Association Litchfield Merchants Protective Association Madison County Medical Society Maywood Commercial Association McLean County Automobile Club Moline Club Moline Retail Merchants Associa¬ tion Mt. Sterling Business Men’s Asso¬ ciation National Cumberland Roads Asso¬ ciation (Effingham) New Athens Commercial Club Oak Park Business Men’s Associa¬ tion H Ogle County Board of Supervisors Ottawa Business Men’s Association Pana Commercial Club Pana Woman’s Club Paris Chamber of Commerce Pekin Commercial Club Pekin Woman’s Club Peoria Association of Commerce Peoria Automobile Club Peru Business Men’s Association Pittsfield Business Men’s Associa¬ tion Pontiac Commercial Club Portland Commercial Association (Oglesby) Princeton Commercial Club Quincy Automobile Club Quincy Chamber of Commerce Quincy City Council Rock Island Club Smithton Township Good Roads Co-operative League (Smithton) Springfield Commercial Associa¬ tion Springfield Retail Grocers Associa¬ tion Thornton Township Good Roads Association (Harvey) Trenton Business Men’s League Tri-City Manufacturers Associa¬ tion Vermilion County Automobile Club Wabash County Country School Officers Association Woodstock Business Men’s Asso¬ ciation Zion City Business Men’s Associa¬ tion 7 OFFICERS of the Illinois Highway Improvement Association PRESIDENT WILLIAM G. EDENS 125 W. Monroe St., Chicago; Chairman Good Roads Committee, Chicago Association of Commerce; Secretary Agricultural Committee, Illinois Bankers Association. VICE PRESIDENTS S. E. BRADT, DeKalb Chairman Good Roads Committee Illinois Bankers Association. C. A. KILER, Champaign Chairman Good Roads Committee Illinois Commercial Federation. C. G. MILLER, Cairo Cairo Commercial Club; President Cairo Automobile Club. F. A. GARNER, Quincy Mayor of Quincy. GEORGE WOODRUFF, Joliet. JOHN B. LEE, Harrisburg. TREASURER THOMAS SUDDUTH, Springfield Farmers National Bank; Springfield Commercial Association. DIRECTORS W. E. HULL, Peoria, Chairman Commissioner Peoria Association of Commerce. EMERY ANDREWS, Mattoon. L. H. BISSELL, Effingham President National Good Roads Association of Illinois. GEORGE P. BLOW, La Salle President La Salle Commercial Association. COLLIE CLAVIN, Mt. Olive. . PHILIP FREILER, Elgin Treasurer Elgin Commercial Club. 8 EUGENE FUNK, Bloomington Bloomington Commercial Club; National Corn Growers Association. CHARLES GEORGE, Cordova Rock Island Farmers Association. H. G. HERGET, Pekin Vice President Illinois Manufacturers Association. E. W. HILKER, Granite City President Granite City Commercial Club. O. W. HOIT, Geneseo. E. D. LANDWEHR, Shermerville President Illinois Rural Letter Carriers Association J. B. MAGUIRE, East St. Louis East St. Louis Commercial Club. J. W. PARKINSON, Mt. Carmel. HENRY PAULMAN, Chicago Chicago Motor Club; Chicago Automobile Trade Association. EDWIN R. WRIGHT, Chicago President Illinois State Federation of Labor. ADVISORY BOARD MRS. F. W. BLOCKI, Chicago Chairman of Conservation Department, Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs. W. E. BRADEN, Sparta Director Illinois Farmers Institute. C. B. COLE, Chester President Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad. H. A. DU BOIS, Cobden. MRS. H. M. DUNLAP, Savoy President Household Science Department, Illinois Farmers Institute. ROBERT EATON, Joliet President Illinois State Grange. ARTHUR FRENCH, Jacksonville. AUGUST GEWEKE, Desplaines President Cook County Truck Gardeners and Farmers Association. A. P. GROUT, Winchester Former President Illinois Farmers Institute. JOHN H. HARDIN, Winnetka Vice President Sheridan Road Improvement Association. 9 JOHN M. HERBERT, Murphysboro. D. M. MARLIN, Norris City Director Illinois Farmers Institute. C. E. MORGAN, Litchfield. GEORGE PASFIELD, JR., Springfield Springfield Commercial Association. WARREN PENWELL, Pana President Pana Commercial Club. THOMAS REES, Springfield President Illinois Daily Newspaper Association. HARVEY G. RIGGS, Quincy. JOHN D. SHOOP, Chicago Former President Illinois Teachers Federation. W. D. SNOW, Bloomington Bloomington Commercial Club; President Illinois State Automobile Association. FRED E. STERLING, Rockford. C. W. TERRY, Edwardsville. W. H. VAN VALKENBERG, Danville. HON. W. A. WALL, Mound City. DR. CHARLES J. WHALEN, Chicago President Illinois Medical Association. A. J. WILLIFORD, Nokomis. SECRETARY RICHARD J. FINNEGAN, Chicago Office—Lexington Hotel Telephone, Calumet 4296. 10 ILLINOIS ROAD SYSTEM OBSOLETE By GOV. EDWARD F. DUNNE In His Inaugural Message to the Forty-Eighth General Assembly Provision should be made for the employment of the inmates of our penitentiaries in road work. Primarily, convicts should be used for the preparation of material, either at the penitentiaries, or at camps, established near natural deposits of stone, gravel or other material. In the actual construction of highways, when it becomes necessary, short term prisoners should be employed on an honor system, such as prevails in Colorado. Humanitarian reasons underlie the employment of convicts in the open air work of this sort. The problem of what is going to become of the paroled or discharged convict is largely solved if he is released, healthy in body and in mind, and not debased by associations formed in the debilitating environments of cells and prison work¬ shops. Psychological and physiological considerations enter into the employment of men, on an honor system in the fresh air and sun¬ shine, wherein and whereby they are restored to society with their manhood quickened, instead of deadened, or destroyed. A matter touching vitally the agricultural, commercial, educa¬ tional, social, religious and economic welfare of Illinois, and in¬ volving the conservation of natural resources, is the question of good roads. In the improvement of public highways, Illinois has been backward. Reports of the federal department of agriculture show that about 10 per cent of the 95,000 miles of Illinois roads are improved in a permanent manner, as against 38 per cent in the neighboring state of Indiana, 20 per cent in Wisconsin, 20 per cent in Ken¬ tucky, 28 per cent in Ohio and 50 per cent in Massachusetts. Con- 11 sidered from the standpoint of improved roads, Illinois is the twenty-fourth in the list of states. The loss to farmers, because of inaccessible primary markets, and the abnormal expense of transportation due to bad roads, must be considered as a contributing cause of the high cost of living. In some Illinois counties, highways are impassable to ordinary loads for a full third part of the year. Bad roads not only hinder crop production and marketing, but they keep the rural consumer away from the store of the merchant for weeks at a time. They keep pupils from the schools, and voters from political gatherings, and from participation in elections. They impair the efficiency of churches, and social, fraternal and other organizations, which depend largely on public gatherings for the efficacy of their work. Bad roads contribute to the unattractiveness, the isolation and the monotony of country life that are responsible for the deser¬ tion of rural pursuits, especially by the young. Experts in men¬ tal ailments agree that women in remote sections are the chief sufferers from the restriction of communication and social inter¬ course, which bad roads impose. Highway conditions in Illinois are due to the fact that progress in methods of transportation and travel has not been met with corresponding changes in our system of road building and main¬ tenance. Illinois clings to the obsolete practice of placing the burden of highway improvement on the townships. Other states, in their laws, have appreciated that highway travel is no longer entirely local and that the main arteries carry a great amount of intercounty and interstate traffic. Permanent improvement of the main arteries, which carry the great bulk of traffic, is a prob¬ lem which affects the general welfare, and these states have es¬ tablished, successfully, systems of state aid on such highways. I recommend for your consideration legislation which will pro¬ mote the efficiency and economy of the administration of the road system of the state. This legislation, I believe, should incorpo¬ rate provisions for state cooperation with counties and townships in the construction of main highways and bridges; and the proper 12 maintenance of all roads after they are built; for the compulsory dragging of all dirt roads, and for the use of the state automobile tax as a nucleus of a fund for such state aid. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A LAW By PAUL D. SARGENT Assistant Director United States Office of Pnblic Roads Summarized, my recommendations to Illinois, are as follows: That you provide the three-headed commission, to be as free from politics as possible; That the commission be empowered to select its chief engineer and other engineering and clerical assistants, all of the latter preferably to be under civil service; That your expenditures be confined to some definite system of roads, to be initiated by the local authorities and subject to the approval of the state commission; That you provide for such division of the cost of the work as will induce the localities to apply for state aid; That you give your engineering department complete super¬ vision over construction work, and above all, that you provide for thorough and constant maintenance of roads after their comple¬ tion. This can best be done by having the maintenance work under state control. These leading features may be surrounded with such others as may be necessary to meet local conditions, but be sure that none of the points I have outlined are overlooked. The most satis¬ factory returns for your expenditures can only be realized by carrying out your work under a law which contains these several provisions. 13 BAD ROADS MEAN DRUDGERY TO FARMER By AUGUST GEWEKE President of the Cook Gonnty Farmers and Truck Gardeners Association When we talk about roads we cannot help thinking of the cost of living. Notwithstanding the advanced prices of labor and of tools and of everything that we use to carry on our business, due to the improvement in the varieties of vegetables, the specializa¬ tion in crops and the improved methods of cultivation, we are able today to grow vegetables cheaper than we were thirty years ago. And there is no work that is more healthy and more enjoy¬ able. But this joy changes to misfortune and discouragement when those crops are ready for market and the farmer starts out in the evening to travel fourteen or eighteen miles through mud and slush to get to the city, and arrives there tired and ex¬ hausted to offer his produce on an overcrowded and grossly mis¬ managed market. Then he must go back home, traveling the same distance through mud and slush, and arrives the next after¬ noon or night, having been twenty to twenty-four hours without rest or sleep. It is a drudgery that is too great for man or beast; something that will discourage industry and make farm life mis¬ erable. The produce of the farms could be hauled to the city for less than half the present cost if the roads in Cook county were what they should be. Now somebody must pay for all this. The farmer has the drudgery and the consumer will foot the biggest part of the bill. That toil and that discouragement of this indus¬ try and the loss which is brought about by poor roads means a higher price for the produce, and that higher price must be paid by the consumer. Another disadvantage that we have is in our schools. The biggest crop that we have on the farm in Cook county is our boys 14 and girls. It is impossible to have the centralized school under the present conditions of our roads. Thirty years ago the county paid 40 per cent for building and improving roads. It has gone backwards ever since. The traffic of the roads has increased ten to twenty times in quantity, but for the last five years the county paid less than 10 per cent for the money expended on roads in Cook county. It is 7,000 farmers building roads for about 200,000' road users. We have not kept pace with the times in building roads. The county commission¬ ers for the last twenty years probably thought they were saving money when they cut the road aid from 40 per cent down to 10 per cent, but for every dollar that was saved from the road aid, three dollars to five dollars were lost by the consumer. There isn’t a county in Illinois that has done as little for the farming community as Cook county has done. In two-thirds of the counties in Illinois there are appropriations made by farmers’ institutes, and in about one-third of the towns money is raised by the town boards for such purposes. Cook county has never raised one dollar. As it is today, most of the money that is spent goes into the main roads, and every four years these roads have to be re-surfaced and in that way there is little if anything left for the improvement of the other roads. Farmers of Illinois look to the legislature to correct the road evils of the state. Let the state aid the counties in the building and maintaining of the main roads. They are the roads that lead into the market cities; they connect the most of the farmers with the railroad and selling points. Let the state see that there is a business system in the way we spend our millions for roads, millions that are largely wasted because inefficiently spent. Let us make use of our convicts. The main roads are owned and used by all the people of the state and all the people should be respon¬ sible for their building and upkeep. Let us not be deceived by calamity howlers who oppose good roads by trying to stir up the farmers against them. Good roads mean economy to the farmer and they mean also better living for him. 15 MILLIONS SPENT; ROADS THE SAME By A. P. GROUT President of the Illinois Farmers Institute, 1911-13 There is no question about the necessity of good roads. I think the workers in the Illinois Farmers Institute have cause for realizing this and do realize it fully, but the trouble is that it requires money to make good roads and when we go to the legis¬ lature or to the farmer with any proposition that requires the out¬ lay of money, he hesitates, and sometimes a long time. I find that the farmers of Illinois are mistaken about the ex¬ penditure of money. My impression is that they are expending a great deal more money today than they would expend if different methods were employed; if we had different laws upon the sub¬ ject. In Scott county my experience in the last thirty years has been this: That in going out into the country over the same roads year after year I find that the same places in these roads re¬ quire repairs year after year, and for the same cause, and they are no better today than they were thirty years ago, maybe longer; that is as long as I have known about them. Money has been spent upon these same places in these roads every year and, as I stated, for the same purpose with the expenditure of a little more money than that which has been expended each year for thirty years. It seems to me that this is not business and our farmers ought to realize this fact that it is not business to spend money year after year, when the same amount of money expended for permanent improvement one year’s expense would do perhaps for all time or for a long time. We should impress upon the farmers the necessity of doing things permanently. We have gotten far enough along so that we do not erect buildings on a temporary foundation, and why should we build temporary roads when we 16 know we must have them to pay for when, if the right methods were adopted, we could build for all time, possibly. In the course of a few years if the same amount is expended properly and rightly, our expenditure for roads would be largely reduced. It is simply a business proposition, and it seems to me if it could be put up to the farmers in the right way they would be interested. We of the Farmers Institute realize these things and we have put upon all the county institutes speakers on good roads, and I am sure they have accomplished some good. GOOD ROADS AND MAIL SERVICE By E. D. LANDWEHR President of the Illinois Rural Letter Carriers Association If you have been over the country roads at any time recently you are in a position to realize why we are intensely interested in good roads both as a relief from personal hardships and for a more efficient mail service. The particular subject of better transportation of mails to coun¬ try districts is what we, as rural mail carriers, are bound to con¬ sider above personal hardship, in relation to the road problem. Our duty first of all is to serve the public efficiently, and in that we are classed as a faithful body of servants although handicapped with the wretched conditions of the roads. While rural free de¬ livery has come to be recognized as indispensable to the country even under present conditions, good roads will increase the ad¬ vantages of this service in many ways and tend towards making this branch of the postoffice department self-sustaining quickly. Despite the high value that is put on this service it cannot be said that rural delivery at present is a complete service for all the country population. You have perhaps noticed as you come to 17 crossroads corners a great number of boxes are erected by the patrons residing at variable distances on the crossroads and off the route, who are compelled to receive and dispatch their mail from these corners. These can be said to receive only a partial service and this arrangement puts a premium on locations directly on a mail route and has caused much complaint. With good roads we eventually expect that all patrons will be served alike. With good roads carriers could easily make the added mileage neces¬ sary to deliver all patrons’ mail at their doors and eliminate the corner box. There is further the feature of regularity and prompt¬ ness dependent altogether on the roads. The variation in time of arrival of the carrier caused by bad roads is sometimes hours, especially for those living far out. With good roads the rural patron could depend on arrival and departure of his mail as reg¬ ularly as the business man in Chicago receives his mail. Ordi¬ narily the farmer appreciates quick service as well as the city people. During the summer months a great many carriers use auto¬ mobiles and motorcycles, which gives the rural patron ideal serv¬ ice, but at present it is dependent entirely on road conditions and for a portion of the year only. This form of service brings a com¬ munication from the farmer to nearby cities the same day he mails it, and he gets the reply the next morning, where otherwise it takes a day longer. As further evidence of the popular demand for better mail serv¬ ice, we have the recently inaugurated parcel post, and which as yet is generally recognized as only a beginning of a general express service, and is to be a solution of the high cost of living problem. Under present road conditions in Illinois, many carriers are compelled to serve their routes on horseback for weeks or months at a time, and it hardly seems possible that an extensive parcel post system can be established with that form of locomotion, and again the road problem becomes the obstacle. We hope the day is not far distant when road management in Illinois will be put on a business basis, under competent author¬ ity, so that good roads will keep pace with the growing demand for increased postal facilities. 18 CONVICTS SHOULD WORK ON ROADS By EDWIN R. WRIGHT President of the Illinois State Federation of Labor Organized labor has repeatedly demanded the complete aboli¬ tion of shop work in the penal institutions of the state and nation, and the substitution of open-air employment for the erring wards of society. We have gone on record time and again as favoring the preparation of stone ballast and other material for use in country districts, and for the actual building of the roads if it could be done without degrading the unfortunate convict as to deprive him of what shreds of manhood and self-respect as remain in him following his incarceration in the county jail, his trial and sentence, and the months which society may exact of him within prison walls before he may be trusted again in the open air. We all rejoice in the progress science has made in the care and treatment of the insane. The day of the torture chamber has gone from our mad houses, the shackles and bars are things of the past. Pleasant surroundings and healthful conditions have re¬ stored the mental balance of hundreds of these patients. Why not take a single step forward in an effort to return the morally sick man to society as a useful citizen? True, he must be punished; he must realize that he has offended against the wel¬ fare of the people. He must work, but let him work in the open air. It is not necessary to poison him as well as punish him. Few convicts ever return to society physically or mentally cured. While society justly punishes the criminal is it fair to punish the man and the woman who have led upright lives by forcing upon them the competition of the prison worker? In certain lines of industry the prison contractor has either wiped out the free 19 shop entirely or has retained it merely as an annex the better to confuse the purchasing public. We have partially solved the prison problem in Illinois, but only partially. Organized labor favors the honor system in em¬ ploying convicts in road making, and will do all in its power to further such a reform. The slogan of the business man to ‘‘Pull Illinois Out of the Mud!” by the extension of the employment of prisoners in state institutions in the preparation of material for road building, and the use of state prisoners—under state direc¬ tion, on an honor system—in actual road work when practicable, has a cheering sound. “Good roads spell prosperity.” Yes, and the closing of the prison shops spell happier homes in the work-a-day wards of our industrial centers. It may be suggested that the free workers will suffer. Nonsense. We have 94,141 miles of roads in the state, and only 8,914 miles have been improved. Twenty years of convict road building need not displace one free worker. In¬ diana has about 37 per cent of improved roads, Ohio 27 per cent, Wisconsin 16 per cent, while Massachusetts has 49 per cent. Give the convict a chance, make him work hard, but keep his body and mind as clean as possible. Give the free worker a chance to live under honest competition. Pull us all “out of the mud.” CITIES SHOULD BEAR ROAD EXPENSE By S. E. BRADT Chairman of Good Roads Committee of the Illinois Rankers Association Without question, in accordance with the principles of good taxation, the money for good roads should come from the source that derives the benefit, and, as nearly as possible, in proportion to the benefit received. 20 The majority of our townships are of the same size and have an average of about sixty miles of country roads. Under our pres¬ ent law each township, regardless of its population or taxable property, is responsible for the improvement and maintenance of its roads. Every county has at least one comparatively large city with a large assessed valuation. This city is surrounded by rural townships with a very much smaller assessed valuation. The residents of the city use the roads of the surrounding townships more than do the farmers living in these townships. The fact, is, that the cities are being maintained and built up largely by the trade of the surrounding townships, and yet the city taxpayers pay no part of the construction and maintenance of the country roads. Approximately 50’ per cent of the townships of Illinois have an assessed valuation of $600,000 or less and raise $2,500 per year or less for roads and bridges. It is, therefore, apparent that these rural townships are not financially able to assume un¬ assisted the burden of road improvement, and, furthermore, it is manifestly unfair that they should be expected to do so. The city of Chicago, paying one-third of our state taxes, bears no part of the tax burden of the country roads. The state of Illi¬ nois is Chicago's largest users of the country roads and, if by rea¬ son of better roads, the farmer is able to make a saving in deliv¬ ering his farm produce to the shipping point, Chicago residents will surely get their share of the benefit. Chicago can properly assist the country town in this road improvement only through a state tax. The marketing of farm products, which formerly was the chief use of the roads, and although now of increasing magnitude, has come to be the smaller part of highway traffic. The distances traveled are not only from the farm to town, but are from town to town, from state to state and from coast to coast. It would appear that the responsibility for improving and main¬ taining our main roads (from 15 to 20 per cent of the whole) should rest with the federal government, the state and the county. Without doubt, the federal government will soon inagurate a policy of either assisting in the construction of postroads or under¬ taking on its own responsibility the construction of national high¬ ways. But for the present it rests with the state to construct and 21 maintain the system of state highways at the expense of the state and the county. This will leave the construction and maintain¬ ing of the connecting roads to the county and the township. STATE NEEDS GOOD ROADS By President WOODROW WILSON A nation is bound together by its means of communication; and its means of communication create its thought. We must more and more engage the government in providing the general facilities of the common life. There is no breach in that of any of our older understandings of the functions of gov¬ ernment. We have never doubted that the government had the right to supply these facilities which private endeavor has never been expected to supply. Therefore we are not upon a new ground of theory; we are merely upon a new ground of tactics. The question of highways is one of the few great instrumen¬ talities of our public and our communal life with which the gov¬ ernment is of necessity connected. I see that we must do what we have been backward in doing as compared with other nations. I tell you frankly my interest in good roads is not merely an interest in the pleasure of riding in automobiles. It is not merely an interest in the much more important matter of affording farm¬ ers of this country and residents in villages means of ready access to such neighboring markets as they need for economic benefit, but it is also the interest in weaving as complicated and elaborate a net of neighborhood and state and national opinion together as it is possible to weave. It is of the most fundamental importance that the United States should think in big pieces, should think together, should think ultimately as a whole, and I feel in my en¬ thusiasm for good roads something of the old opposition that there always has been in me to any kind of sectional feeling. 22 I believe that it is the proper function of the government to see to it that the extension of all the varied modern knowledge, about characteristics of different soils, ought to be so extended, so car¬ ried everywhere to the farmer as to build up by the aid of the gov¬ ernment this thing that feeds us, and ought to continue to feed the world, and whenever you speak of that, whenever you increase what the United States is doing, you must immediately increase the facilities of the United States for handling what it has made after it has made it. You cannot rationally increase the pros¬ perity of this country, without increasing the road facilities of this country. 23 REGULATIONS of the Illinois Highway Improvement Associa¬ tion, adopted at Peoria Convention, Sept. 27, 1912 ARTICLE I Name Section 1. The name of this organization shall be The Illinois Highway Improvement Association. ARTICLE II Object Section 1. The object is to harmonize and correlate all efforts for the improvement of the public wagon roads of Illinois, to the end that an adequate and efficient system of road construction, ad¬ ministration and maintenance will be adopted. ARTICLE III Headquarters Section 1. The official headquarters of this association shall be located and maintained in the City of Chicago, Illinois. ARTICLE IV Membership Section 1. Membership in this association shall consist of four classes: Active, Sustaining, Contributing and Associate mem¬ bership. Annual dues shall be paid by each class as provided in this article. Sec. 2. Active Members. The active membership of this asso¬ ciation shall be composed of all persons who are members of rec¬ ord, September 27, 1912, and those who shall make written appli¬ cation to the secretary and pay annual dues for one year in advance. The dues of this class shall be $2.00 per year. Mem¬ bership in this class shall begin with written acceptance by the secretary. Sec. 3. Contributing Members. The contributing member¬ ship shall consist of all persons, corporations or organizations who deem it their duty to promote the common welfare by volun- tary contributions to the work of the association. The contribu¬ tion of this class may be any amount in excess of $5.00. Sec. 4. Sustaining Members. The sustaining membership shall consist of all persons or organizations who make written application to the secretary and pay dues for sustaining member¬ ship one year in advance. The annual dues of this class shall be $100 or more. Sec. 5. Associate Members. The associate membership shall be composed of ministers of the gospel, teachers in public schools, instructors in colleges and universities, who shall make written application to the secretary and pay annual dues for one year in advance. The annual dues of this class to be $1.00. Sec. 6. All dues shall be paid annually in advance. Members three months in arrears shall not be allowed to resign without payment of dues for the current year. Members in arrears may be dropped from the membership list by order of the Board of Directors. Sec. 7. Members shall not be liable for any dues or assess¬ ments other than the payment of annual dues as herein provided. The officers of this association shall not have power to contract any debts or liabilities of any kind, which in the aggregate are in excess of funds available for the use of the association, for which the association or its membership individually or collectively can be held responsible. ARTICLE V Voting Privileges Section 1. Active, Contributing and Sustaining members of the association shall be entitled to participate in its pro¬ ceedings and vote upon all questions that may come before the association. Associate members shall be entitled to partici¬ pate in discussing all questions before the association, but shall not be entitled to vote thereon. Voting by proxy shall not be allowed. ARTICLE VI Annual and Special Meeting. Section 1 . The annual meeting of this association shall be held during the month of March in each year, at such time and place as may be determined by its Board of Directors. 25 Sec. 2. Special meetings of this association may be held at any time and place when called by its Board of Directors, of which at least ten days’ notice shall be given to all members of the time and place wherein a special meeting shall be held. Sec. 3. Every notice calling a special meeting shall state the question proposed to be considered at such meeting. No ques¬ tion of which due notice has not been given shall be considered at any special meeting unless approved by a unanimous vote of all the members of the Board of Directors present at the meeting. Sec. 4. A majority of all members registered as being in attend¬ ance at any annual or special meeting of this association shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. ARTICLE VII Officers Section 1. The officers of this association shall consist of a President, six Vice Presidents, a Treasurer, a Secretary and a Board of Directors, consisting of the President, the six Vice Presidents, the Treasurer, the Secretary and sixteen additional members, to be elected at the regular annual meeting, five of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and an Advisory Board of not fewer than twenty-one members to be appointed by the President. Sec. 2. The officers of the association and the members of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board shall be active, con¬ tributing, or sustaining members of the association. ARTICLE VIII Duties of Officers Section 1. The President shall be the executive head of this association. He shall preside at all meetings of the association. Sec. 2. In the absence of the President, the Vice Presidents shall act in his place and stead. Sec. 3. The Secretary shall keep the records, shall receive and receipt for all moneys paid to the association, a correct list of all 26 members and minutes of the association, and send all notices re¬ quired by the officers. He shall draw all orders upon the Treas¬ urer for the payment of money, which orders shall be approved by the President. He shall receive and record all applications for membership, dues and other receipts of the association. He shall serve all notices and perform all duties necessary to the proper conduct of the business affairs of the association, and shall per¬ form such additional duties as may be assigned to him by the Board of Directors. He shall make written report annually of the work of the association, accounting for all funds received and disbursed. Sec. 4. The Treasurer shall receive and receipt for all moneys from the Secretary belonging to the association, and deposit same in a bank or trust company approved by the Board of Directors, and disburse same upon proper voucher signed by the Secretary and approved by the President. He shall keep an accurate ac¬ count of the finances of the association subject at all times to the inspection of the officers of the association, and furnish corporate surety bond at the expense of the association. Sec. 5. The Board of Directors shall have custody of all prop¬ erty of the association, supervision of all its expenses, appoint all committees and all officers, not otherwise provided for, and have general supervision and control over all work carried on by the association and its officers, and shall fill all vacancies occurring in offices of the association between the annual meetings. The Board of Directors may cause a call to be made upon the general public for voluntary subscriptions to a fund in aid of the general work of the association, or for any specific purpose it may at any time be engaged in promoting. Sec. 6. The duties of the Advisory Board shall be to advise and support the officers and Board of Directors in conducting the work of the association, and shall meet at the call of the President of the association. ARTICLE IX Amendments Section 1. These regulations may be altered or amended at any regular meeting of the association by a majority vote of the mem¬ bers present. 27 ARTICLE X Order of Business The following shall be the order of business for regular meetings: 1. Roll call. 2 . Reading of Minutes. 3. Propositions for membership. 4. Reports of officers. 5. Reports of committees. 6. Unfinished business. 7 . New business. 8. General discussion. 9. Adjournment. ■ - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOI9-URBANA 0112 047222259 4