412 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



lie road system that will be a credit to Pennsylvania. You show 

 me a community where they have finely rounded up, good public 

 roads, and I will show you a community where they have lovely 

 homes, happy homes and a prosperous people, but you show me a 

 community where the water runs down the center of the road, be- 

 sides, grown up with bushes, and I will show you a community where 

 the people do not amount to the snap of your finger. 



The CHAIRMAN: I would like very much to hear from some of 

 the gentlemen who could give us in a very few words just what our 

 road law is that we are trying to get in practice. 



MR. HUTCHISON: Mr. Chairman, we have here the chief clerk 

 of the Highway Department, Mr. Roy D. Beman, and I have no doubt 

 but that he would give us that explanation; will you come forward 

 and say a word, Brother Beman? 



The CHAIRMAN: We would be very glad to have the chief clerk 

 of the Highway Department come forward and give us in a few words 

 the substance of what the new law is. 



MR. BEMAN: Mr. Chairman, I was deputized by Mr. Hunter, 

 absence on his part being unavoidable, to come here for the 

 purpose of giving you a very few figures and answering any ques- 

 tions that might be asked relative to our work. The two things, 

 agriculture and good roads, go so closely together that it seems fit- 

 ting that our Department should be represented. 



I want to refer,, in the first place, to Mr. Fenstermaker's very able 

 report and to one of his remarks in which he said that it was stated 

 or claimed by the Department, that there was less opposition to 

 the State aid measure, or the Sproul and Roberts law, as it is known, 

 than at first. That is true, and more than true, and that it has de- 

 creased to a great extent, I think can probably be best proved by 

 the presentation of some figures. We have received up to, and in- 

 cluding to-day, 574 applications asking for State aid in building roads. 

 Those applications cover 1,101 miles of road. They come from 61 

 of the 66 counties of the State with which we have anything to do; 

 as you can readily see, these applications, coming as they do from 61 

 counties, it is a mere matter of mathematics to ascertain that 92 per 

 cent, of the entire State is represented among these applications. 

 The applications come from 328 townships out of 1,548 in the State, 

 or in other words, about 21 per cent, of the townships have applied 

 for State aid, and 37 boroughs under the amended act, passed by 

 the last session of the Legislature, have also applied for State aid, a 

 provision of the law being that only sections of roads in boroughs 

 which form parts of and go with adjoining sections of roads in a 

 township, can be rebuilt through State aid. Furthermore, in 37 

 counties out of the 66 in the State, we have now on file as many or 

 more applications for roads as can be constructed by the State aid 

 apportioned to those counties up to the first of May next. I think 

 that these figures will answer conclusively the question whether or 

 not the people are waking up on this subject. 



I referred a moment ago to a provision of the law touching upon 

 roads in boroughs, and I want to say that it is the policy of the 

 Department, so far as it has any influence upon applications, to 



