208 Kansas Academy of Science. 



county aid. The New York law empowers the state to pay fifty per cent, 

 the county thirty-five per cent, and the township fifteen per cent. In 

 Ohio the state pays twenty-five per cent, the county fifty per cent, and 

 the township twenty-five per cent, this last twenty-five per cent being 

 divided into fifteen per cent by the township as a whole, and ten per cent 

 by the owners of the abutting property. 



In New Jersey the state pays one-third, the county one-third, and 

 the owners of adjacent property one-third. Many other states have 

 similar laws, but as yet Kansas given no state aid. 



The Hodges law allows the township to pay twenty-five per cent and 

 the property owners seventy-five per cent. The seventy-five per cent is 

 generally levied on a zone not more than two miles on either side of the 

 road. In the main it has been fairly satisfactory, but before we shall 

 have an extensive system of roads we must institute the state-aid plan. 

 The plan proposed by several prominent men is for the state to issue 

 $25,000,000 of bonds to get the necessary funds for the improvement of 

 the roads. Many believe that the next legislature will take the initial 

 steps in getting this matter before the people of Kansas. This plan has 

 produced more mileage of good roads in Ohio than any other state of the 

 Union of approximately the same size. 



But we are probably reading and hearing more to-day about the long 

 transcontinental highways and the connecting roads between large cities, 

 chief among those which have already been marked out being the Lincoln 

 Highway from New York to San Francisco, and the "Old Trails Road" 

 from Washington to San Francisco. This follows Braddock's road from 

 Washington to Cumberland, Md. ; the Cumberland or Old National 

 Road from Cumberland to St. Louis; Boone's Lick Road from St. Louis 

 to Old Franklin; the Santa Fe Trail from Old Franklin to Santa Fe, 

 N. M., and the Grand Caiion route from Santa Fe to San Francisco. 

 All of these are noted trails, but the last one is best known here. It did 

 for the development of the great southwest what the Cumberland road 

 had done from the central states. 



These projects are being pushed vigorously by the automobile associa- 

 tions of the various states through which they pass, and also by local com- 

 mercial interests who derive benefit from the amount of travel which the 

 roads produce. Parts of these roads have been put into excellent condi- 

 tion, but the major portions are only marked, and much work needs to be 

 done upon them before it will be possible to really "See America" as it has 

 been possible to tour Europe before the outbreak of the present war. 

 The great barrier of mud has prevented our eastern population from 

 really coming into intimate contact with the western people. They come 

 on the trains, stay at hotels which cater to their trade, and leave for 

 their homes with little or no conception of the spirit which animates the 

 West. 



This condition must not continue, but the only solution is Federal aid. 

 In the case of the Lincoln Highway, there are several states through 

 which it passes where it is impossible to make the necessary improve- 

 ments. Nevada has 425 miles of the highway and only 80,000 people. 

 The same is true of Utah, and to a lesser extent of Nebraska. The high- 



