REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. CXYII 



I'ecently prepared some statistics to show the status, so far as products 

 of agriculture are concerned, of our commerce during the past fiscal 

 year with Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. From the statis- 

 tics in question it appeared that, while our agricultural trade with 

 Hawaii suffered a rather marked decline in 1902, there was a consider- 

 able increase in the amount of such business carried on with Porto 

 Rico and with the Philippine Islands. 



OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROAD INaUIRIES. 



The work of this office has been prosecuted along the same general 

 lines as heretofore, but its practical features have been enlarged. 

 Object lesson and experimental road work have received more atten- 

 tion than ever before, and efforts along this line appear to be doing 

 much to stimulate the building of better highways in many sections. 

 Practical work in the testing of road materials has also been continued 

 and enlarged. The field work of the Director, his assistant, and sev- 

 eral road experts and special agents who attend and address conven- 

 tions, consult with and advise road officials, and come in personal 

 contact with the people of many communities, is another important 

 feature of the practical workof the office which is producing excellent 

 results. 



Cooperation in Object-Lesson Road Work. 



The building of object-lesson and experimental roads has during the 

 past year assumed a position of higher importance than ever before 

 in the work of the office. Most of this work during- the past 3'ear has 

 been done in cooperation with several forces, each having a special 

 interest in the improvement of the public highwaj^s. The first of 

 these cooperating forces, the National Good Roads Association, was 

 organized by public-spirited citizens to promote, b}^ agitation and 

 organization, the improvement of the public roads. Its work is edu- 

 cational in character, and one of its aims is to organize State and dis- 

 trict associations. The second of these forces, the manufacturers of 

 road-building machinery, contributes to the cooperative work the use 

 of machines for building sample roads as well as experts to operate 

 and explain this machiner3\ The third, one or another of the great 

 railroad corporations, contributes the use of a train, popularly known 

 as a ''good- roads train," to carry from place to place along its lines 

 the machinery and the representatives of all the cooperating forces. 

 In this work the railroad corporations are actuated by a desire to 

 develop the country tributary to their lines, particularly to secure 

 the improvement of the roads over which commodities must be hauled 

 to and from their stations. The Office of Public Road Inquiries of the 

 Department constitutes the fourth cooperator. Its work is advisoiy, 

 supervisory, and educational. The people of the various communities 



