OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROAD INQUIRIES. 247 



undertaken by States and smaller communities, and it can accumulate infor- 

 mation which will prevent the waste of money and effort. The Department of 

 Agriculture, already of great use to the agricultural interests, will extend the value 

 of its service by this new enterprise. 



[From the Herald, St. Joseph, Mo.] 



The good roads congress does not ask the Government to build good roads for the 

 country, but it does ask that the Department of Agriculture be given an appropri- 

 ation with which to build sample roads and spread information about them among 

 the people. It recognizes the fact that road building is the business of the people 

 themselves, and thinks that they will not put up with poor roads longer than it 

 takes them to learn the advantages of good ones. 



[From the Journal, Elizabeth, N. J.] 



The Government, through the Agricultural Department, with a small appropri- 

 ation, has already built a number of sample roads— very short ones — and the 

 instruction thus given has been of great value, and has proven an incentive to the 

 building of many miles of good roads. A larger appropriation would doubtless 

 prove proportionately beneficial. There are many sections of the country which 

 do not yet appreciate good roads, and do not know how to build them, and Govern- 

 ment instruction with object lessonsin those sectionscan hardly fail of good results. 

 Moreover, good roads help the Government in the way of establishing rural free 

 deliveries. 



[From the Chronicle, Marion, Ind.] 



Congress may pass a ship subsidy law; the rivers and harbors may receive appro- 

 priations; Federal buildings may appear in many small cities; but in all this, we, 

 of Indiana, are not directly interested. The prime thing with the people of this 

 State is good roads. The greater number of the citizens of the State are vitally 

 interested in local transportation facilities. 



It is suggested that Congress appropriate for the Department of Agriculture a 

 sum for the building in every State of one sample of good country road. It is 

 remembered that while $14,000 was set aside by Congress for the Road Inquiry 

 Bureau last year, $20,000,000 were appropriated two years ago for rivers and har- 

 bors: and this may be doubled soon. In these the people of the inland country 

 have no direct interests. The people of Indiana do not contend that there should 

 be no expenditure on rivers and harbors, but they have come to the conclusion 

 that the roads of the country, being close to the home, being the first thing of vital 

 importance in a community, should have a larger degree of consideration at the 

 hands of the promoters of public good. 



[From the Mercury, San Jose, Cal.] 



It is not proposed that the General Government shall begin the work of road 

 construction, but that it shall simply encourage it by making available the scientific 

 knowledge of the Department of Agriculture in a practical way. This is cer- 

 tainly a worthy purpose. The improvement of our highways means as much for 

 the welfare of the country, particularly of the producers, as does the improvement 

 of the waterways and railroads. It is an important work of education which the 

 Department of Agriculture is well fitted to undertake and carry on to the best 

 advantage. 



[From the Times-Star, Cincinnati, Ohio.] 



It was also decided to ask the United States Congress to keep up its support of 

 the Office of Public Roads, under the control of the Department of Agriculture. 

 Excellent results having already been achieved through this Office, which devotes 

 itself in the main to the diffusion of knowledge respecting the practical method 

 of constructing good roads and to answering such questions as may be asked 

 about road building generally. It is conceded that great good has resulted already 

 from the agitation of this matter, and that the roads of the United States as a 

 whole are to-day in vastly better condition than they were only a few years ago. 



[From the Capital, Sedalia Mo.] 



The Road Inquiry Bureau has been very helpful to the cause of better public 

 highways during the past few years. It has gathered useful statistics and experi- 

 mental information, and it has had a representation at nearly every conspicuous 

 good roads convention held since the Bureau was established. It has distributed a 

 great deal of good roads literature, and has been of real assistance to the move- 



