ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 195 



small minority who believe that this can never be accomplished without 

 adopting a plan that will provide for a county and state engineer sys- 

 tem so that the work of road construction can be carried on with some 

 semblance of uniformity and regularity. I am one of that still smaller 

 minority who believe farther that permanent roads can never be realized 

 or constructed without the expenditure of money. A few days ago I 

 clipped from an Alabama paper a very interesting item which reads 

 as follows: 'Road Bond Issue Carries in Mobile. The proposition of 

 bond issue for $500,000.00 for road improvement in Mobile County car- 

 ried." Think of it; a bond issue of one half million dollars for road 

 improvement voted by the people of a county in the state of Alabama, 

 and we people here in Iowa trying to build permanent roads by volunteer 

 labor. The King road drag is the most important and indispensable tool 

 for the working of roads ever conceived, but the people of Iowa, or of 

 any other state, can never build permanent roads with the King drag. 

 They can greatly improve their present condition, which they are doing 

 right along, and if every land owner or occupant would drag the road 

 running past his farm, not occasionally but systematically and when 

 they need it most, we could have very good roads all over the state by 

 the use of the King drag. But they will not do so; they may for a 

 time, as they have done along the River to River road the past season, 

 but let there be a lull in the energy put forth by the enthusiastic boosters 

 for this work, and note how systematically the dragging will be done. 

 What kind of streets would a city have which left their care and im- 

 provement to the individual property owners. You cannot expect better 

 results in your roads by volunteer labor. A permanent road, as I look 

 upn it, is not necessarily built of macadam or brick, but a piece of road 

 that has been constructed only after proper plans have been made by a 

 competent person, who necessarily must be an engineer. I know the per- 

 manent road advocate in this state receives but very little sympathy 

 at the present time, but I want to go on record as predicting that each 

 year will see many recruits for this plan and that before many years 

 the present small minority will be a large majority; then, and not 

 until then, can we hope to see much improvement of a lasting character 

 in the roads of Iowa. 



BUREAU OF PUBLICITY AND I1I1IIGRATI0X. 



In my reports of one and two years ago I discussed briefly the 

 need of a state bureau of publicity and immigration, believing then, as 

 I do now, that unless some action is taken to counteract the aggressive 

 campaign of publicity and advertising being carried on by other states, 

 transportation companies and associations of various kinds, which are 

 now and have been for years past, flooding our state with attractive 

 and interesting literature, setting forth in a most pleasing and descrip- 

 tive manner the advantages and opportunities offered to home-seekers 

 in their particular state or community, Iowa would in time pay for her 

 indifference. Therefore, I have no apologies to offer for agian discus- 

 sing a subject which, to my mind, is of far more importance to the 



