50 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mentioned, for "'State aid."' By State aid is meant the contributing by 

 the State to the country districts for road construction, of money which 

 was not received from taxes imposed upon country people, but from 

 revenues derived from money interests, from franchises of corporations, 

 from license fees, and the various other sources of income outside of 

 agriculture that contribute to the expense of the State government. 



In the earlier periods of our history almost all of the inhabitants 

 resided in the country. So long as this condition of society continued 

 it was entirely equitable that the roads should be maintained by country 

 people. In these later years population has largely drifted to the cities. 

 Great corporations have come into existence, and many other large 

 interests have become a part of our State and National systems. In- 

 stead of the roads through the country districts being, as formerly, 

 for the special and exclusive use and occupation of country people, 

 they are now an essential and integral part of our whole business 

 organization. They have become the feeders of the great transporta- 

 tion lines. The great industrial centers use them in the distribution of 

 their manufactured and imported products, so that cities, corporations, 

 and all of the important business interests outside of agriculture 

 are directly concerned in the improvement of the condition of the public 

 highways and equally interested with those who live in the country 

 districts in having easy, direct, and rapid communication with all 

 parts of the State. It is clear also tliat the kind of roads now needed 

 to properly accommodate the traffic of the country are too expen- 

 sive to be constructed by country people unassisted by the State. 

 A portion of the expense, as I have indicated, ought to be borne by 

 those in whose neighborhood the roads are located, but the amount 

 that agriculture can contribute for this purpose without injury to 

 this industry is not sufficient. The other business interests of the 

 country should share the expenses of providing proper transportation 

 facilities for the distribution of their products, and the State by taking 

 a portion of the money which these interests contributed for public 

 purposes and devoting it to road improvement in the country districts^ 

 is making proper expenditure of public funds and is recognizing a ne- 

 cessity in any road law that is to secure good roads within reasonable 

 time. 



The sixth feature in an ideal road system is a requirement that all 

 vehicles using public roads and carrying loads in excess of 2,000 pounds, 

 shall be provided with "tires at least four inches wide," and all ve- 

 hicles using public roads and carrying loads in excess of 4,000 pounds, 

 and not exceeding (>,000 pounds, shall be required to have tires at 

 least six inches wide. To construct an expensive highway and then 

 permit the users of the road to destroy it by the use of wheels whose 

 tires resemble the discs that are used for breaking up our fields, is 

 a criminal use of public property. It is the wanton destruction of that 

 which the public has gone to great expense to secure. An ideal road- 

 system should certainly protect the surface of the roads from being 

 broken up by overloaded wagons, and provide severe penalties for the 

 disregard of this requirement. The law should provide for "tvide tires." 



The seventh and last item that an ideal road system should contain 

 is one which will provide for the "proper classification" of country 

 roads upon the basis of their relative importance. Many roads, indeed 



