COST OF GOVERNMENT IN MASS. 185 



before tlie recent increase in automobile travel. Tlie increase in county ex- 

 penses is due in part to the building of several important bridges. Highway 

 expenditures in towns have apparently increased much more rapidly than in 

 cities. 



Cities now pay approximately one-half of the total cost of highways, either 

 for streets or for highways within their limits. The State pays approximately 

 one-fifth, and the percentage has increased rapidly during the past few years. 

 The distribution of highway expenses for selected years is shown in Table 14. 

 The State, counties and small towns pay relatively more, while cities and large 

 towns together pay only 62 per cent of the total instead of three-fourths as in 

 1910. 



Table 14. — Distribution of Total Highway Expenditures for Selected Years. 



(Percentages) 



Central Towns Towns .,, 



Year State Counties Under Over Cities _ 



Groups 

 Gov't 5,000 5,000 



With the exception of 1924 a larger part of public funds is now devoted 

 to highway jDurposes than at any time since 1910. Table 1.5 illustrates the 

 change in the relation of highway expenditures to total expenditures. 



Table 1.5. — Relation of Highway Expenditures to Total Expenditures, 



by Jurisdictions,' 1910-1926. 



(Percentages) 



Central Towns Towns 



Year State Counties Under Over Citie.? 



Gov't 5.000 5.000 



All 



Groups 



Highway costs take a larger share of public expenditures than in 1910 for 

 each of the groups except cities, which remains about the same. In 1926, 16.7 

 cents out of every dollar spent was for highways compared with 12.9 cents in 

 1910. The change of 3.8 cents represents a 29 jjer cent increase in the relative 

 importance of highways. One-fourth of the State expenditures is now devoted 

 to highways, compared with only 10.5 per cent in 1910. The increase for coun- 

 ties has been about the same as for the State. While a larger share of municipal 

 expenditures is required for highway purposes than formerly, the increase has 

 not been as great in cities as in towns. More than 31 per cent of the budget of 

 small towns is for highways, while cities spend slightly over 12 per cent. The 

 importance of highways in the town budget tends to decrease as the town be- 

 comes larger. This is illustrated by Table 16. In the 83 towns of less than 1,000 

 population, highways take 49 per cent of the total expenditures and the per 



