ROADS AND BRIDGES 28 1 



cated in road improvement and maintenance are the 

 public's advisers and they should be made responsible 

 for conservative leadership in inaugurating movements 

 for raising the funds and arranging for the construction 

 of improved roadways. 



Most encouraging progress is, however, being made. 

 A number of states have highway commissions or 

 bureaus, and the office of public roads of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture is devoted to the de- 

 velopment of the science of road work and to giving 

 advice and assistance to road bureaus, to road officers 

 and to private parties in the various states. A class of 

 men trained in road building is being developed, and 

 annually there is progress in laws relating to the im- 

 provement of roads. The amount of money being invested 

 in road construction and road maintenance is being in- 

 creased, though not so rapidly as would be profitable. 



Highway funds. The procuring of funds for the large 

 expense which must necessarily be incurred in the gen- 

 eral improvement of our highways is a serious matter. 

 Heretofore in most states the farmers have paid almost 

 the entire expense. This has become so nearly the cus- 

 tom that it has seemed revolutionary to talk of other 

 methods. It has been recognized that the county should 

 pay for large bridges and for special improvements, as 

 macadamizing the principal roadways. It is only re- 

 cently that public opinion has turned to the states and 

 even to the nation as sources of additional funds for con- 

 structing roads, and especially funds for studying out 

 the best plans for making highways, for finding the best 

 materials for road surfaces, for making the necessary 

 surveys preparatory to road building and for superin- 

 tending the work of constructing roads. 



If the state furnishes part of the means with which 

 to improve the roads, she gains the right to assist in 

 superintending the work. Farmers have been loath to 



