AGRICTLTURAI. APPROPRIATION BIIJ-., IfiW. 243 



amounts now to ahout $.')()(). 000 a year. Asi(lt> from lliut, wliich i.s a 

 currfnt itt-m and which is almost entirely 'obh^aliHl for the mainte- 

 nance of roads and trads formerly l>uilt, we had availahle at the lie- 

 ijinnin^ of this lis( id year a total sum t»f SIT.OOO.OOO for rojid and trail 

 et)nslruetion. That is made u|> of the unexpendiMJ Imlanees of 

 amounts for^nerly a|>j)ro|>rialed. 



There is the special act of Fehruary JN. I'.HK. the Kcih-ral forest 

 road <'onstruction act as it is called, who^e npi>r«)priations have 

 ti'rmmated. hut under which ar> unexpended halaine <if .S7«».').0(M) 

 remains. Then we had the appropriation of $l.i,000,0()0 carried hy 

 the Fedeitd hi^diway act of hist S'oviMnher. and the current appropria- 

 tion which hecame availahle under the post roads act of l'Jl«i. This 

 act appropriate*! SI. 000, 000 a year for a period of ten years. These 

 aj)pr(»priations ami balances ^ave us, actually availahle at tiie be^in- 

 run«; of the (iscal vein- P.fJ.'i. .•? 1 7.000.000, which iip[)lies against the 

 program 1 indicated. That inonev will he huj^'ely expended (hning 

 the next two fi.scal years. 



Our j)rofrram to date antl the pr(»<;ram of Mr. Ma<I)omdd s orp;an- 

 izati(»n. which handles the contracts on all of the hi^h-standard 

 roads. (H>ntemplate an expenditure of about $1 1 .71."i.000 durinj; this 

 current fiscal year out of the $17,000,000 available at its be«;inninfj. 



PLAN OK WORK. 



The whole point, as I see it. is this: Work of this cjiaracter. to be 

 done elliciently. requires a threat deal of [)lannin^. It rocjuires carry- 

 ing; on the examination of j)rojects, and their cooperative considera- 

 tion with the State authorities and other local ajjeneies interested in 

 road buildinj; for at least two years ahead of actual constru<'tion. 

 We need the resources to carry the forest road program ahead at a 

 reasonable pace, keepintr the examination of projects normally two 

 years ahea(l of construction and survevs normally one vear ahead of 

 construction. No construction shouh) bo ordered witbotit advance 

 cost estimates based uj)on surveys, so that all of us in the dej)ariment 

 who are re.sponsible for this work may be assured that the money is 

 beinfi: spent to the best advantage. 



For these reasons wo need to keep two years ahead on our appropria- 

 tions. That, in my judgment, is the most imp(jrtant feature of this 

 item. An appropriaticm of S.3. 000,000 for the next fiscal year is 

 less than half what Congress authorized for this purpose. It was 

 arrived at by the Director of the Budget from this standpoint, that 

 the road work must be continued with reasonable provision year 

 by year, so that it can be properly planned, but that m view of the 

 present situation of tlie Treasury an appropriation of $3,000,000 for 

 the next fiscal year is rea.sonable and sutlicient. 



I n<ler appropriations at tliis rate, it is going to take us a good many 

 veal's to complete even the most urgent construction necessary to 

 <levelop the national forests and facilitate their protection. The 

 building of these roads not only has a very important relationship to 

 the protection of the national forests but also to the development of 

 their income producing business. That was a factor which had a 

 great <leal of weight with the Committee on Koads. which originated 

 the ba.sic legislation dealing with this subject. 



