BUREAU OF PUBLIC KOADS. 



507 



Summary of miles and types of roads for ichich plans, specifications, and estimates have 

 been approved during the fiscal years 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1920. 



Type. 



Earth 



Sand-rlav 



Shell...." 



< iravel 



< iiavfl I surface treated ) 



■\VatPr-boiin(l macadam 



Water-bound macadam (surface-treated) 



Bittiminous macadam 



Rock asphalt 



lUtuminous concrete 



( 'oncrei e 



Brick 



Sheet asphalt 



Unclet ermine 1 



Total cost. 



$21,763,989 

 9,8.54,570 



296, 801 



47,151,795 

 4,136,-533 

 5,258,779 

 1,433,499 



16,669,782 

 1,978,293 



15,064,756 

 120,629,308 



15,725,494 

 1,572,472 



19,796,607 



Per cent of 

 total cost. 



1. 1 

 3.5 



0.1 

 16.8 

 1.5 

 1.9 

 0..> 

 .5.9 

 0.7 

 5.:j 

 42.9 

 5.fr 

 0.6 

 7.0 



SUGGESTIONS FOR FEDERAL ROAD LEGISLATION. 



The original Foderal-aid road act of 1916 embodied and represented 

 the best thought of both the State and Federal road departments 

 and presented the prhiciples which, Avithout the basis of practical 

 experience, seemed at that time would prove the most successful in 

 promoting the improvement of the public highways on a large scale. 

 Tlie plan of cooperation betw^een the Federal and State Governments- 

 written into this law was not new. The same principle has been used 

 most successfully by the Federal Government to promote w^orthy 

 undertakings, and had already manifested its possibilities through 

 several of the most important undertakings in w^hicli the Federal 

 Government has assisted. For example, in order to insure the 

 building of railroads, particularly in tne newer and less developed 

 regions of the country, grants of land were made to help finance the 

 cost of construction. 



Although the application of this principle of Federal aid was griev- 

 ously misapplied m certain instances, nevertheless it is very probable 

 that without this assistance the building of many of the lines would 

 have been postponed for an indefinite period. So intimately related 

 w^as the extension of transportation lines w^ith the betterment of the 

 countrv that it is difficult to estimate the full benefits that w-ere 

 secured from the public lands used as Federal aid to the railroads. 



Again , the development of many institutions for higher education oc- 

 curred only after grants of land had been made by the Federal Gov- 

 eniment to assist the States in establishing them. Followuig the 

 Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 a very large number of the leading 

 educational institutions of the country were founded and their iii- 

 lluence on agricultural and engineerhig advancement has been 

 profound. 



^fore recently, through the histrumentality of the same principle 

 of Federal aid to the States, the extension and practical application 

 of the most advanced agricultural science and practice have been 

 made available to a very large number of the individual farmei-s 

 through the county agents. 



It is apparent that i\w Federal-aid principle as a plan of action has 

 been highly successful in fields dilTering as widely as the 



)uiUling of 



