II
The highway scenario was upset by the times in 1929. The new boss was Grover C. Dillman, an excellent administrator who had worked his way up from clerk to commissioner in 20 years. The stock market crash of '29 and the Great Depression that followed uncoiled during his tenure. Roadbuilding became a public employment project in part, rescuing thousands of jobless men from poverty under the "New Deal" programs of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. More than 100,000 Michigan men were on the highway payroll, working out welfare checks.
The age of concrete sputtered before it got off to a galloping start in the mid-1930's. The property tax collapsed as a source of revenue for local roads so the Legislature in 1932 voted to return all license plate fees to the counties. Auto ownership declined by more than 20 percent in the first four years of the depression. Highway travel likewise fell, and with it the tax revenues that paid for road construction and upkeep. Dillman banned the use of prison labor, substituting "reliefers" by agreement with the federal government. Federal aid money was split between the highway department and the welfare department, with county welfare agencies supplying the workers. They were put on staggered shifts in order to spread the work around the state. Times were hard, but Dillman, by prudent management, kept the highway program going.
Other by-products of the depression were a rebellion against the weight tax and efforts of other public agencies to divert revenues for their own use. Dillman fought off both forays, although a year after he left
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