REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 49 



especially in the formation of personal-credit unions, the conditions 

 will be more favorable. In the meantime special attention and 

 study should be given to the terms of tenan(3y, including the lease 

 contract, with a view to increase the interest both of the landlord and 

 of the tenant in soil improvement and to make sure that there is an 

 equitable division of the income. 



FURTHER HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT. 



Cooperative construction road work under the Federal aid act 

 will be resumed in full measure and be vigorously prosecuted at the 

 earliest possible moment. At the close of the fiscal year approxi- 

 mately $14,000,000 covered b}' project agreements were still avail- 

 able for expenditure from Federal and State funds, and immediately 

 thereafter the Federal appropriation of $15,000,000 for the fiscal year 

 1919 also became available. Project statements not yet reaching 

 the stage of agreements, involving $28,000,000 from all sources, have 

 been approved, making an aggregate, for projects either definitely 

 or tentatively agreed upon, of $42,000,000. The part of this sum 

 from Federal funds is approximately $16,000,000, leaving uncov- 

 ered approximately $14,000,000. If the State contributions for coop- 

 erative work continue in the same proportion, there will become 

 available from them approximately $20,000,000, or ^ total uncovered, 

 Federal and State, of $34,000,000. It seems clear, therefore, that 

 if the work proceeds without any undue restriction, its volume will 

 be represented by the cooperative expenditure of over $70,000,000 

 during this fiscal year. For the fiscal year 1920 there will be avail- 

 able $20,000,000 of Federal funds, which will doubtless be met by a 

 larger contribution from State sources. 



The activities should promptly be resumed because good roads are 

 essential not only for the promotion of better marketing, the fuller 

 utilization of farm labor, larger and more economical production 

 and orderly distribution, but also for the development of a richer 

 and more attractive rural life. Their importance to urban com- 

 munities and to industry and trade in general is obvious, but there 

 is also a consideration of an emergency nature which would prompt 

 vigorous action. In the transition from war to peace there will 

 doubtless be a period in which some laborers engaged in war indus- 

 tries and men released from the Army will be seeking new tasks 



