134 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



to make progress in your township, if you want to make progress in 

 your district, go back and say to the court and the Boards of supervisors 

 in your township : "Exercise your prerogative which the constitutional 

 amendment gives you." — and also "Exercise your prerogative which the 

 law gives you, which was ajnended in 1901" — and not till 1901 did we get 

 that far along. But, we did, after importuning the committee, get them 

 to put in a clause providing that the county courts in the several counties 

 may require that all the poll tax shall be paid in cash, and that is the law 

 today ; but it has to be by the action of the county court. Now this is the 

 plan under the present road law and I speak for the counties not under 

 township organization. 



When we were endeavoring to unify the road laws we called the 

 representatives of the sixteen counties in the State under township or- 

 ganization together in the halls of the Legislative Committee room and the 

 value of the commissioner system was laid before them and we showed 

 them as best we could its principles, in which they agreed with us. IMr. 

 Ellis was one of these members and there was a bill drawn by Mr. Ellis 

 harmonizing the township organization road law and the general road law 

 of the State, which was accepted, so far as I know by every member from 

 the township organization counties and it was passed and became a law 

 of the State, but for some reason unknowti to myself it was repealed in 

 1901. 



THE GENERAL INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES GOV- 

 ERNMENT IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE 

 PUBLIC ROADS. 



(By Hon. W. R. Richardson, Commissioner of Highways, St. Louis, Mo.) 



It is quite a pleasure to me to come to you on this occasion and tell 

 vou something of the interest of the Federal Government on the subject 

 of Public Road Improvement. The story, I am very sure, will be of en- 

 couragement to those who are interested in this very necessary public im- 

 provement. Even with all the work that has been done, all the agitation, 

 all the earnest effort on behalf of a great many of our people wlio have 

 given so largely of their time in advancing the questions of bettering the 

 roads, we are still as a nation behind all the other countries of the world 

 — not only the civilized countries, but many of the semi-civilized countries 

 — in the condition of our roads, and really there is no other question that 

 is of such importance, such necessary interest and- usefulness to every- 

 body, as a thorough control of the road by the Gove'"nmcnt. The sulijc't 

 ramifies nearly everything with which you have to do. It is nearest to 



