62 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



tionships between federal and state agencies under the 

 Smith-Lever act have been harmonious. The only serious 

 disagreement of which the writer is aware, arose in Illinois 

 shortly after the act became effective. In this State very 

 large appropriations are made for the advancement of agri- 

 culture. It was the belief of some of those concerned with 

 the administration of this fund, including the Dean of the 

 Agriculture College, that the federal funds were not of 

 sufficient importance, relatively, to justify the State in sub- 

 mitting to the regulations imposed by the federal govern- 

 ment.-^ After considerable discussion, a somewhat tenta- 

 tive agreement was concluded, but not without the pressure 

 incident to the war and the necessity for speeding up all 

 agricultural processes. It is the opinion of the Director of 

 the States Relations Service, however, that the difficulties 

 can be amicably settled when more complete understanding 

 is reached. 



Another measure which contemplates less fortuitous and 

 more deliberate cooperative relations with state institutions 

 than the earlier and more general laws committed to the 

 Department of Agriculture is the Federal aid road act, 

 approved July ii, 1916.^* 



The enactment of this law marks a very considerable ad- 

 vance in federal policy concerning the improvement of the 

 public highways. For more than twenty years, prior to 

 this time, the efforts of the federal government had been 

 limited to research and education for the purpose of de- 

 veloping improved methods of road construction and main- 

 tenance and imparting such information to local road 

 Ijuilders. 



The wide-spread interest in improved highways, due 

 largely to the rapidly increasing use of motor vehicles, has 

 led to the introduction at each recent session of Congress 

 of many measures calling for federal aid to supplement the 

 efforts of the States and counties. In 1912 a joint com- 



23 A coj)v of these regulations is included in appendix ii. 

 2« 39 Stat. L. 355. 



