246 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



Will you kindly advise me what you are doing along this line, and can you aid 

 us along your lines of work? 



An eminent correspondent from the State of Oregon writes : 



I am not opposed to a reasonable effort on the part of the Government in advanc- 

 ing scientific explorations of every kind, but this is one of more importance than 

 many others. It involves the question of cheap and rapid transportation of the 

 products of the farm to market. * * * 



I hope that your appropriation will be increased and that your Department will 

 urge the matter before Congress. This subject is of more importance than 

 improvements of rivers and harbors or armies and navies, however important they 

 may be. 



The following communication from the Tama, Iowa, Business Men's 

 Association, addressed to the Secretary of Agriculture, will be of 

 interest : 



We have noticed with a great deal of satisfaction the interest displayed by your 

 Department in the pressing question of improved public highways, and desire to 

 be permitted on behalf of the organization which we represent to convey by this our 

 appreciation of the efforts being put forth by you in the " good roads " movement. 



Right immediately south of our city lies the Iowa River bottom, one of the gar- 

 den spots of the State, but to cross which with a load of farm products during the 

 rainy seasons is nearly impossible. There were weeks during the early part of the 

 past winter when it was almost impossible for the farmers to get to or from the 

 city of Tama from the south even with empty vehicles. 



There is but one public highway leading south from this city, and about 3 miles 

 of this lies across the river bottom, with its " mucky " black soil, which for road 

 purposes is much like a thick composition of South Carolina pitch. 



A movement has just been started by the Tama Business Men's Association 

 looking to the proper draining, tiling, and graveling of this 3 miles of public high- 

 way. The work must needs be done by popular subscription, and your experience 

 will remind you that the task of raising funds for its prosecution is no small one. 



Knowing your interest in the movement for the betterment of our highways, 

 and understanding as we do that you have under the direction of your Department 

 competent and expert talent, we very respectfully and earnestly ask if you can not 

 see some way to send us some help. A practical road engineer who could make 

 the surveys, profiles, estimates, etc., working under your Department would be a 

 boon which would be held in grateful remembrance by a host of Tama County 

 citizens. p 



FROM THE PRESS. 



Hundreds of earnest editorials and articles have been written 

 during the past year setting forth the value and importance of the 

 work of this Office, many of these urging its extension and some of 

 them insisting upon a larger appropriation. It would be impossible, 

 in this report, to copy even the most important clippings, but on 

 account of the deep interest felt in the matter, a few extracts to illus- 

 trate the sentiment of the press generally are appended : 



[From the American, Baltimore, Md.] 



It is proposed to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars for a canal across 

 the isthmus to accommodate the commerce of the world. If Congress can be so 

 generous toward the world's commerce, it surely ought to be willing to make a 

 small appropriation for domestic commerce, all of which is between American 

 citizens. To build what is intended to be a great artery of commerce, and leave 

 the veins which are to feed it in a more or less congested condition, seems to be the 

 reverse of good statesmanship. Education is what the public needs in the matter 

 of good roads. It must be shown that it costs little more to build and maintain 

 them than bad ones, and that the good roads put vastly more money into the pock- 

 ets of the taxpayers than they take out of them. Congress, if it will, can teach 

 this lesson without seriously impairing the balance in the Treasury. 



[From the Journal, Boston, Mass.] 



The General Government can not embark upon the work of actual road con- 

 struction on a large scale, but it can promote and systematize this work when 



