316 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



work to all i)arts of the Union. The Office will be obliged, during the 

 current year, to refuse assistance to several places in the West and 

 Southwest where aid has been urgently requested, and where it is 

 greatly needed. In order that the work may be hastened so as to 

 reach the far West within a reasonable time, and that we may be able 

 to comply with a greater number of important demands that are being 

 made upon us, it is desirable that the appropriation for the Office be 

 so inci-eased that the work can be carried on in several States at the 

 same time. 



I therefore have the honor to recommend that the sum of 175,000 

 be appropriated for the use of this Office for the fiscal year 1903-1904. 



This work appears to be no longer of a tentative character. Year 

 after year it assumes increased importance and wider scope. That it 

 will be a permanent feature of the Department's work seems hardly 

 open to question. It appears fitting that it be given a more definite 

 legal status. I therefore respectfully recommend that the Office of 

 Public Road Inquiries be transformecl into a Division of Public Roads. 



