BOARD OF ROAD COMMISSIONERS. 279 



done for public travel, and the amount and cost of transporta- 

 tion on our highways per item, then we can tell how much 

 money should be expended in this way, and how to use it to the 

 best advantage. 



When we consider the great expenditure of the people for 

 public transportation, not only in road taxes, but in time, expense 

 of vehicles, wear, and animal strength, an amount far exceed- 

 ing railway expenditure, and one borne more directly by all, it 

 certainly seems to be a matter worthy of legislative investigation 

 and supervision, ranking in importance financially above any 

 other public interest in the State. 



To constitute an efficient superintendence of this whole inter- 

 est, making a complete system, operating uniformly throughout 

 the State, and founded upon the most enlightened science and 

 practice of the age, it is suggested that there should be a board 

 of highway commissioners for the State, who shall be appointed 

 simply for their fitness for such a charge, above any political 

 considerations, whose duty shall be, by the aid of a competent 

 corps of engineers, to take charge of the laying out, building, 

 and repairing, of all the public roads in the State ; to fix upon 

 the various plans and principles by which all this work shall be 

 done ; gather facts of traffic upon the different roads, and the 

 cost of the same upon those of different characteristics as to 

 grades and road-bed ; make re-surveys of old ways, with maps 

 and profiles, to show what they are, and how they may be im- 

 proved ; revise old fence bounds and place permanent land 

 marks ; perfect county records of all its highways, that every- 

 thing important may be shown there, both to the eye, and in ac- 

 curate description ; and make experiments upon different grades 

 and surfaces with faithfully recording dynamometers, to ascer- 

 tain with practical accuracy the draught due to grade and to road- 

 bed, at various speeds, and with vehicles of varied build, four- 

 wheeled and two-wheeled, single and double, with wheels of dif- 

 ferent diameters and breadth of tires, with and without springs, 

 and in short, under such a variety of conditions, both as to road 

 and to carriage, as to enable the public to advance towards per- 

 fection in the art of highway traffic. 



It is not suggested to modify materially the present mode of 

 raising and appropriating money for highway purposes, but 

 only to provide a faithful and competent supervision of the ex- 



