50 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



prove. In this M^ay we give aid to the isolated road because it is 

 a part of the road system and all cannot be improved at one and 

 the same time. 



2nd. To have road laws which can and will be complied 

 with. Our present laws are good, but need to be made consistent 

 in a few inconsistent minor points. Because there has never, 

 until this year, been anyone whose business it was to see that the 

 road laws were enforced, the average citizen has not respected 

 them, but has felt at liberty to ignore them. 



3rd. To obtain uniformity in methods and a system of work, 

 and in keeping records. Records of contracts and of the roads 

 themselves have been kept in a very careless manner, if kept at 

 all. We find there is no record of at least one-half of our public 

 roads, and some of the records which are found could have but 

 little standing in the courts. One of the greatest disadvantages 

 our engineers have in the enforcement of the road work is the 

 lack of any record of the roads themselves. 



4th. To give attention to the maintenance of the earth roads. 

 Over 95 per cent of our roads are earth, and it will be some years 

 before as much as 10 per cent of them will be anything more. 

 Hard surfaced roads are too expensive to build and maintain to 

 plan a very rapid progress in their construction. The largest 

 mileage will, and should be, earth roads for a long time to come, 

 and in the meantime the best should be made of them that the 

 means and natural conditions permit. 



5th. With this care of the earth road, attention must be 

 given to the construction of good, substantial and permanent cul- 

 verts and bridges. The highway department should be given 

 more control over this feature of the work in order to prevent the 

 substitution of unsuitable, unsubstantial or unsightly structures. 

 Not so much to procure the structure at a less cost, but to obtain 

 a suitable one, worth the price paid for it. As the roads improve 

 the loads increase, and it is both safety and economy to build per- 

 manent bridges and culverts. Well maintained earth roads with 

 good bridges and culverts is the solution for the majority of our 

 road difficulties. 



6th. Where the travel converges upon our main roads, mak- 

 ing the traffic too heavy to maintain earth roads, they should be 

 hard surfaced as fast as possible. These roads are of enough im- 

 portance to justify the increased expenditure. This is another 

 feature of our road work over which the State department should 



