208 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



number of roads built each year by the office from 1897 to 1912, 

 inclusive, is as follows: 



1897. 

 1898. 

 1899- 

 1900- 

 1901- 

 1902. 

 1903. 

 1904. 

 1905. 



17 

 16 

 18 

 57 

 49 

 52 

 31 



Total 343 



The activities of the office reflect, in a measure, the progress and 

 present condition of the road movement in the United States. Six- 

 teen years ago only four States had passed State-aid laws and estab- 

 lished State highway departments to direct the work, viz, New 

 Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. At the present 

 time, however, the principle of State-aid has been adopted in 40 

 States. 



The Office of Public Eoads was originally the Office of Koad In- 

 quiry in the Department of Agriculture, and was established under 

 authority of an act of Congress of March 3, 1893, with an appropria- 

 tion of $10,000. It was provided by law that the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture should make inquiries in regard to systems of road manage- 

 ment throughout the United States, make investigations in regard to 

 the best methods of road making, prepare publications, and assist 

 agricultural colleges and experiment stations to disseminate informa- 

 tion concerning roads. 



EXPERIMENTS IN CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE. 



For the fiscal year 1912 Congress appropriated $10,000 to conduct 

 field experiments in various methods of road construction and main- 

 tenance and to investigate various road materials and preparations. 

 This appropriation has enabled the office to conduct a series of inde- 

 pendent experiments along comprehensive lines. 



TESTING ROAD MATERIALS. 



In December, 1900, a laboratory was established in the Bureau of 

 Chemistry for the testing of road materials. This laboratory was 

 transferred in 1905 to the Office of Public Roads, where its present 

 organization has been developed and perfected. From 1900 to June 

 1, 1912, 6,060 samples of road materials have been tested, including 

 rock, gravel, sand, slag, clay, brick, cement, iron, steel, asphalt, 

 oil, tar, rubber, and various other substances. 



