420 ANISrUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGPJCULTUEE. 



and for other purposes," the Secretary of Agriculture is required, 

 through the AVar Department, to ascertain the number of days any 

 soldier, sailor, or marine has worked on public roads in the several 

 States (other than roads within the limits of cantonments or mili- 

 tary reservations in the several States) during the war, the location 

 of the work, and the names and rank of the men so employed. It 

 is further authorized that any officer or enlisted man who has so 

 worked shall have his pay ec|ualized to conform to the compensation 

 paid to civilian employees in the same or like emploj^ment, and the 

 amount found to be due shall be paid from the 1920 appropriation al- 

 lotted in section 8 of the same act to the States wherein the construc- 

 tion or repair work was performed. 



As all work done as described in section 9, above referred to, was 

 under the supervision of the War Department, and as the necessary 

 fiscal arrangements require the certification of some supervisory 

 official cognizant with the work, it was found desirable, to expedite 

 the preparation of the necessary pay vouchers, to ask the Secretary 

 of War to detail a representative of that department who should have 

 cognizance of the work to act as such certifying officer. In response 

 to this request the Secretary of War detailed a representative to act 

 conjointly with a representative assigned from the Bureau of Public 

 Roads of the Department of Argiculture, and the assembling of the 

 required records and claims and the preparation of the necessary 

 vouchers are now in progress. 



ROAD MATERIAL TESTS AND RESEARCH. 



During the first six months of the last fiscal year research work was 

 contiinied as during the previous yenv in a much curtailed form. In- 

 ability to obtain men to replace those entering the Army, cooperation 

 with other branches of the Government in war activities, and super- 

 vision of specifications and the materials used in Federal-aid road 

 construction account for this lull in investigation work. 



Up to Xovember assistance was given the Fuel Administration in 

 its work for the United States Highways Council. This consisted in 

 making recommendations relative to granting permits for securing 

 bituminous materials for road construction and maintenance. In 

 November a plan of research was outlined in order to continue this 

 class of work with renewed vigor, and from November to the end of 

 the fiscal year this phase of laboratory activities has been greatly in- 

 creased with a corresponding increase in personnel. 



ROUTINE CHEMICAL TESTING AND INSPECTION. 



Tavo hundred and sixty-three samples were examined in the chemi- 

 cal laboratory. This represents a decrease of 9 per cent as compared 

 with the preceding fiscal year. Of the samples examined, 206 were 

 bituminous materials, 46 metal, and 11 sand, rock, and Portland 

 cement. 



PHYSICAL TESTS OF ROAD BUILDING MATERIAL. 



In the physical laboratory, 1,804 samples were tested. This is an 

 increase of 7 per cent as compared with the preceding fiscal year, 

 and is well above the average of routine work. The samples may 



