REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 211 



ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF ROAD I3IPR0^^:MENT. 



Investigations are now under way to determine the economic bene- 

 fits resulting from road improvement and the particular relation of 

 such improvement to agriculture. It is evident that when $142,- 

 000,000 constitutes the annual expenditure for road purposes in this 

 country, improved business management in our road work is im- 

 perative. Much statistical work is therefore carried on, particularly 

 on the subjects of mileage, cost, and financing. The method of 

 financing road construction by bond issues is becoming very common 

 and is receiving considerable attention from the office, with the view 

 to giving appropriate information to those who contemplate such 

 methods of road financing. In order that the office may be kept in 

 close touch with road work, a collaborator is employed in each State 

 to act as representative and corresponds monthly with the office. 



MILEAGE OF ROADS. 



An investigation was begun in 1904 to ascertain the mileage of 

 improved and unimproved roads, rates of levy, and sources of rev- 

 enue in every county in the United States. This work was finished 

 in June, 1907, and shows that there were then over 2,150,000 miles 

 of roads in the United States, of which only 7.14 per cent were 

 improved. The expenditure in money and labor for that year 

 amounted to nearly $80,000,000. A similar investigation begun in 

 1909 shows that there were, in 1909, 2,199,645 miles of public roads in 

 the United States, of which 190,476 miles, or 8.6G per cent, were 

 improved. Information in regard to expenditures on all the public 

 roads in the United States was collected during the year 1911. This 

 investigation shows that the expenditures for that year amounted to 

 approximately $142,000,000. 



CLEARING HOUSE FOR ROAD QUESTIONS. 



The Office of Public Roads is alive to the present problems of 

 highway development, and its efforts are constantly and systemati- 

 cally directed toward their solution. The normal development of 

 the office during the past 16 years has placed it in such a position 

 that it may now be called a clearing house for all road questions. 



OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



EXTENSIONS OF WORK. 



During the last 16 years the Office of Experiment Stations, which 

 was established primarily to represent the department in its rela- 

 tions Avith the State agricultural colleges and experiment stations, 

 extended its field of work to include supervision of experiment sta- 



