The Road Ahead for West Virginia
WEST VIRGINIA STATE ROAD FEDERATION
L. E. Lantz Collection
"The legislature shall make provisions by law for a system of state roads and highways connecting at least the various county seats of the state, and to be under the control and supervision of such state officers and agencies as may be prescribed by law. The legislature shall also provide a state revenue to build, construct, and maintain, or assist in building, constructing and maintaining the same and for that purpose shall have power to authorize the issuing and selling of state bonds, the aggregate outstanding amount of which, at any one time, shall not exceed fifty million dollars.
"When a bond issue as aforesaid is authorized, the legislature shall at the same time provide for the collection of an annual state tax sufficient to pay annually the interest on such debt, and the principal thereof within, and not exceeding thirty years."
The West Virginia Good Roads Federation is a voluntary association of public-spirited citizens, interested primarily in the development of West Virginia through the extension of a State system of permanent highways that will traverse every county of the State.
It was organized at Parkersburg on June 18-19, 1919, by men who were present from every section of the State, for the direct purpose of advocating, by every legitimate method, the ratification of the good roads amendment to the State Constitution submitted by the legislature of 1919 to the people for ratification or rejection at the polls in November, 1920.
As President of the West Virginia Good Roads Federation, having been elected at the initial meeting of the organization, I desire to say to the people of West Virginia that I am a manufacturer, living in the city of Huntington, without any interest to serve in the construction of a permanent road system, except in the interest of all the people.
I am a good roads advocate and enthusiast. I have been interested, as a citizen and taxpayer, in the building of permanent roads in my own county of Cabell. I have had experience in the construction of 48 miles of paved roads in that county and I know the value of a hard road to the community, to the county, to the State, and last but not least, to the individual property owner. I believe that West Virginia can do nothing of greater value than begin at once on a system of State highways and continue the work with the greatest speed consistent with effective construction.
As a manufacturer and business man I appreciate to the fullest possible extent the benefits that will accrue to the business life of West Virginia from the construction of permanent roads. I know that it will mean much from a material viewpoint to the farmer, the miner and the laborer. Good roads mean better schools, more churches and the eradication, of illiteracy. They mean a more contented and more intelligent citizenry and give our boys and girls better opportunities than those which were enjoyed by the mature men and women of today.
For these reasons, at some personal sacrifice which I gladly make, I will give substantially of my time and substance to urge the people of West Virginia to ratify the good roads amendment to the constitution in order that we may build hard roads and build them without delay, so that those of us who now engage in this campaign for the larger development of West Virginia may enjoy some of the benefits to be derived therefrom.
It will take organization to secure the ratification of this amendment. In each county there must be men and women who will be devoted to the cause and every precinct must be organized effectively. There must be at the polls at least two workers who will not permit the voters to overlook the good roads amendment which is submitted at a general election with a political controversy being waged. This, however, is a non-partisan question and we ask for the support of every voter, regardless of his political faith.
You have assigned me as a subject the "Fifty Million Dollar Road Bond Amendment" and the subject is somewhat misleading, for the proposed amendment to the State constitution, submitted to the people for ratification or rejection at the next general election, does not require the issuance of bonds for any amount.
AS I UNDERSTAND IT, THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT IS MERELY A GRANT OF AUTHORITY BY THE PEOPLE TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE, WHICH THE PEOPLE ELECT, TO FORMULATE AND PROVIDE A PLAN FOR A STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHWAYS, TO PROVIDE REVENUE FOR THE SAME AND, IF NECESSARY, PERMITS THE LEGISLATURE TO ISSUE BONDS TO A MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $50,000,000 FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION.
It would be useless for me to stand here and talk to you men, coming from every section of West Virginia, and familiar with the needs of the State, of the necessity existing for the construction of permanent roads. Outside of the farmer, I know of no one more interested in the building of durable highways than the men who buy and sell real estate and who are interested in attracting outside capital to the State. Paved streets in the cities and towns and hard roads in the rural sections are necessary to make property attractive and desirable. Unless accessible, property, no matter what the value, is undesirable.
If the submitted amendment is ratified at the polls the Legislature will have authority to work out a comprehensive plan for a State system of highways. The Legislature will come direct from the people. I have no doubt that it would be responsive to public sentiment.
Congress is now engaged on a scheme proposing federal highway construction of certain trunk lines which would be interstate in character. West Virginia would be assured of at least two of these trunk lines and possibly four, to be constructed under the direction and supervision of the Federal Government.
To make the highway work of the federal government effective it is essential that the State be given authority for connecting the lateral roads or State trunk lines with these federal highways. So if the proposed amendment is ratified and the Legislature acts, there will be a tripartite control, federal, State and local, over the construction of highways. The Federal government would build the main trunk lines between the States, the State would construct the inter-county system connecting with the trunk lines and the counties and districts would be charged with the construction of secondary roads, or the feeders that would insure an adequate transportation system.
It cannot be disputed that West Virginia needs an inter-county system of permanent roads. To connect every county seat in the State we must build approximately 4,546 miles of the main roads. We have now constructed in excess of 900 miles. The proponents of the submitted amendment secured is submission to the people so that this system of county roads might be completed without interruption, such as is likely to arise by following the county and district plan.
Under the present system of road construction, vested by our constitution in the counties and districts, one small contrary magisterial district that might have a selfish interest involved could prevent the construction of any main road that would connect a county seat in one county with the county seat of another county. One small district could effectually block the construction of a road that was practically completed across this State from east to west or north to south and it would have the same effect as the washout of a bridge on a railroad line. Traffic would be stopped and business disrupted.
Certainly this is a condition that could be easily corrected under a State system. If the amendment is ratified and the Legislature correctly interprets public sentiment, then the State will have authority to say to any magisterial district that is retarding the construction of through roads that it will not permit arbitrary delay and through roads will be assured.
I most earnestly favor the ratification of the good roads amendment to the State constitution, submitted .to the vote of the people at the general election to be held in November, 1920, for the following reasons:
It will permit the creation of a comprehensive plan for a system of State highways.
It will permit the construction of a system of State highways without delay.
It will insure the speedy completion of the plans approved by the State Road Commission and the Federal Bureau of Good Roads for the construction of a system of Class A roads connecting every county seat in West Virginia.
It will place West Virginia in the front line along with the more progressive States of the Union which have realized the necessities that exist for permanent road construction.
It will give assurance that the day of experimentation with hard roads has passed and that we earnestly desire accelerated progress in building roads.
It will make each county seat in West Virginia accessible to every other county seat. And it will make West Virginia accessible to every other State of the Union.
It is needless for me to urge reasons for my advocacy of good roads and the lasting and permanent benefits derived therefrom. It is unnecessary for me to recite that a State highway system would be the biggest step in needed internal improvements undertaken in West Virginia since the admission of the State and that the advantages accruing from permanent roads benefit every citizen who desires material progress.
These matters are very generally known to everyone who has traveled. a score of miles from his abode. And the most potent and most ardent advocate of good roads is found in those counties where hard roads have been established. The people in these counties know the desirability of permanent roads and they want more.
If the people, in their wisdom, ratify the proposed amendment to the State constitution, I want to assure them that as long as I am a member of the State Road Commission, they will get 100 cents worth of road for every dollar the State expends.
The future of West Virginia depends upon good roads.
No other question before the people of this State today is comparable to that of "good roads."
The great railroads that traverse our State - East and West, North and South - have completed their programs. There is no further demand or warrant for other trunk lines, and it is doubtful if others will ever be built.
These railroads are now devoting their energy and means to the development of the vast mineral and manufacturing resources of the State, by building branch lines into the nearby undeveloped sections.
This has brought about a marvelous growth in our mining and manufacturing industries, and a largely increasing population.
Yet, until very recently, the question of "good roads," which is of such vital importance to our rural communities, has been almost forgotten - "a cause overlooked."
It is now before us. This people must be fed and clothed, and our farmers must do it. The present road law, which provides State and Federal aid for this purpose, is a good one, much better than any heretofore. It is placing our road building on a uniform basis, but it lacks one essential, it does not and cannot provide sufficient means to construct the roads we must have now in order to keep up with the progress along industrial lines. We have waited too long. It took a world war to make us realize how inaccessible vast areas of our State are.
This State has marvelous possibilities; untold wealth in coal, oil, gas, iron ore and timber; it is fast coming to the front in fruit growing; it has a larger area of the finest blue grass land than the State of Kentucky - but it has no roads!
Let us all join hands and help to pull West Virginia "out of the mud," and watch the State bloom like a garden.
There is but one way, one solution - Good Roads! Amend our State constitution so that our legislature may provide sufficient funds with which to build these roads, so that we, who are now living, may use and enjoy them and that our farmers, the real sub-structure of our prosperity, may drive out from "a land overlooked."
Citizens of West Virginia will have an opportunity at the general election in 1920, to provide for the construction of a state-wide system of modern highways, comprising approximately 4,500 miles and connecting every county in the state.
This opportunity to secure a greater range of markets through easier and more reliable lines of highway travel for the people of West Virginia, and to open and put in production virgin territory now practically inaccessible through lack of modern roads, is the result of a resolution passed at the 1919 session of the state legislature.
The resolution, introduced by .Senator E. R.Staats, of Wood county, and adopted without one dissenting vote, provides for the submission to the people for their approval a constitutional amendment which will permit the state legislature to obtain for the people a sum of capital not to exceed $50,000,000.00, and to invest that sum in the permanent improvement of a property which the people already own, the full use of which they cannot enjoy to their own financial and social betterment because it is in bad condition. The property is the public road.
The necessity for the adoption of this amendment and the great benefits that will come to every section in the state - hence to every citizen - will be more clearly understood by examining the situation in which West Virginia finds herself today.
Railway building has stopped. There is no denying this fact. It has stopped short of the full development of the state, but fortunately, at a time when the gasoline engine is taking the place of animal power on the highway. This new motive power by which larger loads are hauled with greater ease provides practical means of connecting every section of the state with the railway trunk lines already established so that the stoppage of railway building on a comprehensive scale, does not necessarily prevent the full development of the state, provided the highways are put in condition for larger use.
Never in the history of American business has the transportation problem assumed the proportions it has this year as the the result of freight tie-ups in important freight terminals throughout the country.
The average business man must admit that the situation is serious. It is a crisis. Unless there is some immediate relief business will be at a standstill. Never in history have the people realized so completely that railroad facilities are inadequate to take care of the country's transportation.
West Virginia today with a system of hard roads connecting all county seats would be virtually independent of the rest of the country. The state could feed and clothe herself. Feeder roads leading from the farming sections into the populated, centers would serve to meet the food problem. Clothing and other living essentials in the cities could be shipped to the rural sections.
This is truly a situation which every West Virginian should give his or her profound consideration.
Vast forests of West Virginia timber are untouched. Billions of dollars worth of coal and other minerals remain locked in our mountain ranges. Even the areas now in cultivation, our grazing lands, our orchards, and dairy pastures are not producing up to full capacity because the condition of our roads repel rather than stimulate greater enterprise in production. It is by no means too much to say that in. nature's storehouse .in West Virginia there is lying dormant today, through lack of roads, enough wealth to more than pay a thousand times over the cost of the modern highways which it is now proposed, by the adoption of this amendment, to build. Truly, as has been said before of West Virginia, "It is a land overlooked."
When the present constitution was framed the public highway was then a neighborhood road. As a means of freight and passenger transportation it was not taken into account. Owing to the impermanent nature of road construction, if indeed it could be called construction, and lack of a properly organized system of road maintenance and management, it was deemed wise at that time to say to our law-making body that it could not use the state's credit to obtain capital and put it into roads that were soon worn out, washed away and otherwise destroyed. It was a wise provision. But today the situation has changed. Two essential factors in making a railroad earn its own cost and pay a profit are now present on West Virginia highways. These factors are freight to haul and improved vehicles in which to haul it. On the one hand is a vastly increased agricultural, horticultural and mining tonnage, coupled with other production, and on the other hand is the automobile and motor truck, to say nothing of the greatly improved wagons and other horse drawn vehicles.
There is one certainty. The farmers of the state must have good roads at once or agriculture as a means of livelihood will become a forgotten occupation. This is a critical situation.
Increased production would be of little value unless there were good roads and motor transportation facilities to help relieve the situation. Then motor transportation could be relied upon chiefly in back sections of the country which are not touched by the railroad systems. Without good roads to enable the farmer to bring his products to market the benefit of a greater yield would be lost.
The farmers have at last realized that good roads are out of the experimental stage. The cry is "Good Roads" throughout the length and breadth of the state.
The factors named are pressing for an improvement of the road surface upon a basis that will reduce time in transit, permit greater tonnage to the load, and at the same time lessen both the cost of road maintenance and the operation of vehicles. Thus improved, and with truck lines established throughout the entire state along logical traffic routes, the highway transportation restrictions that now exist will be permanently removed with the result that West Virginia will proceed without hindrance to the full development of her great resources.
It should be clearly understood that the proposition on which we are going to vote is not a bond issue. It is a proposition to amend our constitution so that means may be provided for bringing our roads up-to-date by modern construction and logical state-wide connections.
With the proposed amendment ratified, members of the state legislature - elected by the people and always subject to their control - will be in a position to follow the mandates of the people in formulating a program of hard road construction, to issue bonds in limited amounts as capital is needed, and to provide revenue for the retirement of the bonds, if issued, within a period of 30 years. The proposed amendment limits the amount that may be issued to $50,000,000.
It will be said that the ratification of the amendment will mean the creation of an obligation for the state. That is true. There will be no attempt to overlook this fact. But there is a still more important fact, and that is that when an individual or state arrives at a point in development where it will cost more to do without some particular thing needed than it will to pay cash and get it, then the time has arrived when the getting it back into the other pocket in the use of roads that cost us far less to properly maintain; roads that will not tie up traffic during bad seasons. In fact, roads that will afford maximum use every day in the year, to say nothing of the added wealth to our state, in the opening of new and greater fields of production which permanent roads will stimulate.
To support the good. roads amendment and to urge its ratification by the voters at the general election in November, 1920, the West Virginia Good Roads Federation was organized at Parkersburg on June 18-19, 1919. It is a federation of several organizations which were created for the same purpose of furthering road construction.
At the meeting held in Parkersburg a complete organization was effected. The delegates assembled, coming from many counties of the state at their own expense, typifying public sentiment, elected Col. H. R. Wyllie, of Huntington, as president. Col. Wyllie is a successful business man, a manufacturer at the head of a large china manufacturing plant. He was former president of the Huntington Automobile Club and is now Chairman of the Good Roads Committees of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce and thte [sic] Rotary Club and has long been active in civic matters. He is intensely interested in the good roads movement in his county and state.
N. W. Yates, a Huntington newspaper man, has been elected secretary- treasurer of the Federation. Byron R. Cisco, former industrial director of the West Virginia War Loan Organization, has been named, as campaign manager, his duties being that of organizing counties in behalf of the proposed amendment to the state constitution.
A Board of Directors, two from each of the five road districts of the State, was elected by the convention. This board is headed by Major C. P. Fortney, Chairman of the State Road Commission, who has the confidence of the people of West Virginia in his efforts to advance road construction.
Numerous committees on finance, publicity, speakers, agriculture, labor, commercial organizations, etc., have been selected and the organization is being rapidly extended into the several counties, several of which have already perfected organizations. These committees in the counties are non-partisan in character and are comprised, of men who have the public confidence and who are willing to make personal sacrifices that West Virginia may be pulled out of the mud and be given a complete highway system that will mean incalculable benefit to the economic life of the State.
The State Good Roads Federation stands for equitable distribution of any bond issue among the counties of the State. At the Parkersburg meeting there was presented the matter of certain counties which have issued bonds for good roads being taxed to defray a State bond issue. A resolution was presented at the meeting which was unanimously adopted and which records it to be the sense of the Federation that:
"Whenever one of said State roads runs through or into a county over a paved road that has already been improved by the county and State jointly, or by the county alone and accepted, by the State, then in such case, if such paved road can be utilized in the State wide system, the money value of such paved road at such time shall be determined approximately and the county's share thereof shall be set apart and allotted to such county to be expended in the improvement of one or more of its secondary roads."
The State Legislature, of course, has the authority to formulate the State highway plan, but the State Federation has pledged itself to work for a fair and equitable distribution of the money provided for road improvement. It has confidence that the Legislature will consult the State Road Commission, the Federation, and road experts from the Federal Bureau. It believes the Legislature coming directly from the people can be trusted.
As a result of the activities in the several counties of the State the State Road Commission is now working on an annual program of approximately $6,000,000. Without increase of cost to the State this program could be enlarged to from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. On this basis the expenditure of $50,000,000 would be spread over a period of years, but it would also mean that the present generation would receive some of the benefits that accrue from hard roads. The payment of the bonds would be spread over a period of 30 years, from the date of issue.
In the event that road bonds are issued the question has been raised concerning the method to be used by the Legislature in raising revenue to retire the bonds and to meet the annual payments of interest.
While no one has authority to commit a Legislature to any particular method of taxation, one thing is deemed to be certain - the Legislature never would resort to the direct method of taxation to meet the bond obligation.
Those familiar with the road situation in other States believe that the income derived from the State from the sale of automobile licenses would be sufficient to retire the bonds and pay the interest.
Illinois, after voting $60,000,000 for bonds, provided for the retirement of these bonds by license fees, and long before the bonds are due the income from license fees in that State will leave a surplus in the treasury for other purposes.
The method adopted in Illinois is generally accepted as the most plausible method for West Virginia, and the State Legislature, with a natural repugnance for direct taxation existing in that body for many years, will give fair consideration to the popular method.
Here in West Virginia the revenue derived from the sale of automobile licenses exceeded $500,000 in 1919 and the annual increase will be more marked as road construction proceeds.
West Virginia must ratify the good roads amendment if she is to keep pace with the great progressive States of the Union, several having issued bonds in much larger amounts on several occasions for the building of permanent roads. Up in New York State it is unnecessary to conduct a campaign of education any more as the people ratify the issues as they are submitted. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois have also embarked on large road building programs.
As a business investment a State system of highways will be of material benefit to the people of the State for years to come.
"Why was the development of West Virginia, now scarcely begun, so long retarded?" is a question asked with frequency by visitors to West Virginia. The same question is asked of West Virginia visitors to other cities and States.
Every answer made to this inquiry could be summed up in three words - LACK OF TRANSPORTATION.
West Virginia's physical characteristics have been such that even railroad transportation, delayed for years, has been slow in touching great natural resources with which the Creator endowed the State. It is a familiar fact to many that one can travel from West Virginia capital to New York quicker than he can reach certain cities and towns within the State.
Permanent, hard-surfaced roads will bind together the people of the entire State of West Virginia into a compact mass. They will create and quicken the State spirit and bring into easy communication with each other the different peoples living between the mountain ranges who now live unto themselves and know but little of the activities of their neighbors who live "across the mountain."
Permanent roads will bring thousands of tourists into West Virginia to drink the health-restoring waters found here in abundance and to remain at our health resorts and summer places during the seasons of rest and recreation, for in this State, along the Cheat, on the tributaries to the Potomac, on the Greenbrier, in the New River canon [sic] and in many other sections, will be found the most picturesque, even if not the most stupendous, mountain scenery in the world.
Permanent roads will make West Virginia the gateway between the north and the south. Through West Virginia the northern traveler will drive to the southland, while the journeyman from the south would swing northward through the same gate. The same good roads would link the rich Ohio valley to the historic Shenandoah, west to east and east to west.
Permanent roads aid the farmer because they permit him to find a ready market for his products. Hundreds of thousands of bushels of produce of a perishable type, produced on the farms of West Virginia, are annually lost because the producer is unable to reach the markets, although he may be but a few miles away.
Permanent roads will enable the West Virginia farmer to feed West Virginia because he is given an outlet to the city and town and in turn the same hard roads mean that the farmer will secure the modern conveniences now enjoyed by the community dweller, the farmer's home life will be made more attractive, and the truck, the automobile and the labor saving machinery will have access to the farm.
Permanent roads will decrease the cost of living to the city and community dweller for the reasons that the avenues of transportation are opened between the producer and the consumer. With the aid of modern machinery and surrounded by modern conveniences, the farmer will increase his production and the cost of production will be lessened. The millions now spent each year by West Virginia outside the State for produce will be kept within the State.
Permanent roads will serve the miner living in the mining districts because it will give him access to other cities and communities. It will reduce his cost of living, give his children better opportunities for education and make him a more contented, citizen and a better miner.
Permanent roads will serve the people of the entire State because they will make better citizens and open wider the doors to opportunity. It will increase educational advantages and good roads and schools are the two elements most responsible for orderly progress in the march of civilization.
Permanent roads will mean a happy, contented people throughout the whole of West Virginia, a more intelligent public opinion, the elimination of provincialism and a better understanding of the problems of daily life. There is not a single form of labor or business that will not be helped by a State system of highways.
These are the reasons why the West Virginia Good Roads Federation requests your support for the ratification of the State's amendment to the State constitution.
This pamphlet is issued to inform the West Virginia citizen of the plans proposed for the ratification of the amendment and to solicit the help of the reader in organizing his or her county in support of the good roads amendment.
Progress in road building under improved conditions is shown by the annual report of the State Road Commission for the year ending June 30, 1919. It also records the increased interest in road construction in West Virginia, due, almost entirely, to the bald fact that the state's development has been retarded by the lack of good roads.
One illuminating fact set forth is the rapidly increasing number of automobiles licensed by the state. In the year of 1917 there were 25,089 cars licensed by the state. In 1918 this number increased to 36,386 and in 1919 to 45,019. On May 25, this year, there were 59,100 cars registered and it was estimated that at least 64,000 would be on the state road commission's books by January 1,1921.
The revenue from automobile licenses increased from $137,975.00 in 1917 to $1,200,000 this year.
Roadbuilding, the report discloses, was retarded in 1918 by the war, the government prohibiting work that was not essential in order to conserve the man power of the nation for essential industries. The present year, however, has witnessed a revival of road building with the result that many counties have voted favorably upon bond issues. The counties and districts have also been encouraged by the allotment of $1,700,000 to the State by the Federal Government as, federal aid, as well as providing equipment to the amount of many thousand dollars to be used by the counties under the direction of the State Road Commission.
Good roads have passed the experimentation stage in West Virginia. As a result of study and experience and the inauguration of improved engineering standards, the commission has adopted as a standard double track the 16-foot road pavement. While the commission says that experience has demonstrated that narrow roads are unjustifiable and the concensus [sic] of opinion favors 18 and 20 foot roads, the mountainous character of the State makes it impossible to obtain a greater width than 16 feet. For those roads which do not justify the double track the commission has adopted a standard width of 9 feet.
Under the organization adopted last March the commission has five division engineers who give their entire time to the work. They are the points of contact between the commission and the county engineers and county courts. The division engineer has given valuable aid in poorer counties unable to maintain an engineer, in providing plans. The importance of engineering in the making of uniform standards has become more fully realized as road construction has developed.
The figures from the 55 counties of West Virginia show 'a total of 4,546 miles of Class A road, while the reports to the commission show approximately 900 miles of hard-surfaced roads within the state. The state road commission has stated that there is sufficient money available to build an additional 300 miles of hard road this year. It takes approximately 2,200 miles to connect the county seats at least with hard-surfaced roads. With the roads already built and the roads to be built deducted there are still 1,000 miles to be built.
The greater portion of these permanent roads have been constructed during the past eight years, during which time bond issues to the amount of more than $20,000,000 have been ratified by the voters in these several counties. Before the end of the present year it is expected that additional bond issues will raise the total to approximately $30,000,000.
While these issues of bonds in the different counties show the increasing interest in the building of hard roads, the thousands of miles yet to be constructed show the necessity of a State system if the present generation is to receive any benefit from hard road construction.
The good roads amendment to be voted on in November, 1920, would remove the inhibition in the present constitution against the issuance of bonds for good roads. The amendment does not provide for the issuance of bonds, but leaves the matter to the Legislature to work out a State system of highway improvement. Unless this amendment is ratified there can be no comprehensive State plan for highway development, and the "piece" system of road building by counties and districts will continue and the State highways postponed.
The counties which have voted bonds for road construction since 1911 are: Barbour, $130,000; Boone, $200,000; Brooke, $800,000; Cabell, $1,900,000; Doddridge, $375,000; Fayette, $1,748,000; Greenbrier, $412,000; Hancock, $354,477; Harrison, $300,000; Kanawha, $1,915,000; Lincoln, $675,000; Logan, $1,200,000; Marion, $2,100,000; Marshall, $585,000; Mason, $344,000; Mercer, $850,000; Mineral, $412,000; Mingo, $1,000,000; Monongalia, $925,000; Monroe, $166,000; Morgan, $225,000; McDowell, $1,955,000; Preston, $444,000; Putnam, $320,000; Raleigh, $835,000; Randolph, $400,000; Ritchie, $240,000; Roane, $315,000; Summers, $300,000; Taylor, $1,000,000; Tucker, $210,000; Upshur, $180,000; Wayne, $1,000,000; Webster, $250,000; Wetzel, $495,000; Wyoming, $550,000. Total $25,110,477.
By Voting for the Good Roads Amendment to the State Constitution on Nov. 2, 1920