No. 7. DEPAPlTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 433 



The CHAIRMAN: Next we will listen to the report of the Commit- 

 tee on Roads and Road Laws, 



Mr. Kuppenbiirg, Chairman of this Committee, then read the fol- 

 lowing report: 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ROADS AND ROAD 



LAWS. 



BT Mr. D. a. KnuppenbuRG, Chairman. 



Of the many questions which confront the people of Pennsylvania 

 today, that of road building is of vital importance. The construc- 

 tion of roads is governed by law, hence the necessity of wise road 

 laws. Our present system of pathmaster and nonpaid supervisor 

 has not been in use long enough to warrant a just judgment of its 

 merits. It has been demonstrated, however, that supervisors enter 

 upon their duties with little enthusiasm and marked show of dis- 

 interest. 



It would seem to your Committee that the first requisite in mak- 

 ing and maintaining a good road, would be the location of the roads 

 with proper grades, given by a competent surveyor. Then a law 

 to insure the road being built to the grade given; it too often hap- 

 pens that where a road is properly graded by a surveyor, the road is 

 opened in the cheapest and most unsatisfactory manner, going over 

 steep knolls, or down steep grades, to avoid a little extra expense 

 in keeping the grade. Many country roads should be relaid; taken 

 from bleak hilltops and kept on an easy grade. This, in nearly 

 every case, is possible. If this v\^ere done, and the law directing 

 the moving of stone closely observed, our highways would be in 

 much better condition, and would well serve the pulDlic until better 

 roads come for our use and the use of the next generation. 



The government will look more carefully to the enforcement of 

 the laws regarding the roads over which the rural free delivery is 

 established. The present requirement is: ''Roads traversed by mail 

 carriers shall be kept in good condition and unobstructed. Bridges 

 must be kept over creeks and streams not fordable at any season 

 of the year." The government has decided that unless roads trav- 

 elled by the carriers are properly maintained, the service will be 

 withdrawn. The Postoffice Department now calls on the carriers 

 for reports on the roads where the highway in question is bad. 

 The 85,973 rural delivery carriers now employed cover 863,303 miles 

 daily, and it is unreasonable to expect them to contend with neglect- 

 ed roads. 



The inland country roads are primary factors in the commerce 

 of the nation. They are to the city man. the farmer, the lumberman, 

 what the railroad, the rivers and the high seas are to the manufac- 

 turer and the coal operator. The growth of the country has been 

 marvellous, and we are now approaching a new era. The time has 

 come when the country road should be made to compare with the 

 part it plays in the nation's progress. As a business proposition 

 we would regard it as advantageous to nearly every township to get 



28—7—1906. 



