Mat 21, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



771 



be not properly filled, the watering and rolling 

 shall be resumed with the application of only as 

 much additional fine material as may be necessary. 

 Any depressions or unevennesses appearing during 

 the above operations shall be remedied by the con- 

 tractor as hereinbefore provided, and when com- 

 pleted the macadam shall be uniform, firm, com- 

 pact and of at least the thickness required and 

 shall have an even surface nowhere departing by 

 more than one inch from the grade and cross sec- 

 tions shown on the plans. ' ' 

 Life of Bond Issues for the Construction of State 



Highways: E. P. Goodeich. 

 Financial Problems Involved in the Selection of a 



SvMable Type of Boad or Pavement: Joseph 



H. CONZELMAN. 



The most common methods of obtaining funds 

 for highway improvements are: by general tax- 

 ation, by special taxation, by assessments on those 

 particularly benefited, by bond issues and by com- 

 binations of these methods. A large part of the 

 work done by state highway departments is 

 financed by appropriations from the general tax. 



The paving work of many cities in the United 

 States is paid for vsdth money secured by assessing 

 the abutting property. Some revenue is collected 

 in this way in a few rural districts. Special as- 

 sessments are not, however, very popular or just in 

 these sparsely settled sections because of the large 

 extent of abutting property owned by individuals, 

 and the low property value. Where assessments 

 are practicable and are paid immediately, this 

 method is an economical means of financing high- 

 way improvements. 



Bond issues have come into general use as a 

 means of obtaining money for state and county 

 highway work, where a large amount of construc- 

 tion is planned. They render large sums of money 

 available for immediate use, making possible a 

 large amount of improvement which probably 

 could not otherwise be financed. Bonds have been 

 issued, however, in many localities with little con- 

 sideration of the principles of economics. Money 

 obtained in this way has been used to build roads, 

 parts of which, at least, have worn out long before 

 the bonds issued were redeemable. In other in- 

 stances no provision has been made for retiring 

 the bonds. 



Bonds issued for a period of years not greater 

 than the life of the roads which are to be built, 

 when proper provision is made to retire them, is 

 certainly an economical method of obtaining 

 money. The conditions in some parts of the 

 country, for example, in the grain districts, would 



seem to justify the issuance of bonds whose term 

 extended beyond the life of parts of the highways 

 built, if money for the work could be raised in no 

 other way. Where fifty-year bonds are used to 

 finance the building of roads or pavements, the 

 fairest method, to the present and future genera- 

 tions, of redeeming the bonds and providing for 

 the necessary reconstruction during the life of the 

 bond, is that method which distributes the cost of 

 the improvement most evenly among those deriving 

 the benefits. The method which will most closely 

 accomplish this endeavor must provide for the 

 determination of the life of the several parts of 

 the improvement, and, on the basis of this determi- 

 nation, distribute the cost of the improvement. 



Preliminary Surveys and Mapping of National 



Highways: Chakles Henry Davis. 



A national highway must be interstate. They 

 must be located along the line of densest popula- 

 tion so they may carry the heaviest traffic. This 

 is between the large cities and those lying between 

 them on the center line of water sheds. Fifty 

 thousand miles of such national highways will 

 serve, in the counties through which they pass, 88 

 per cent, of the urban and 53 per cent, of the rural, 

 or a total of 69 per cent, of the people of the 

 United States. It is here that the greatest rural 

 population and tonnage wUl be served the best, 

 not by so-called radial roads from railroad sta- 

 tions or towns. If a system of 100,000 miles was 

 built, such roads would carry so nearly the entire 

 rural tonnage as to make the balance negligible. 

 The data for locating such a system has been se- 

 cured for the forty-eight states. Seventeen have 

 been completed, engraved and printed. Five more 

 are ready for engraving. Every named place on 

 these highways will be shown, whether city, town, 

 village, hamlet, post oflice or otherwise. Also ad- 

 jacent communities are shown. These maps will 

 be standard and will require but little revision to 

 keep them accurately up-to-date. The scale is such 

 that straightening or relocating a road between 

 two places will not require alteration of the maps. 

 If a traffic census were taken on the alignment of 

 such a mileage we would gain conclusive evidence 

 as to the correctness of the above statements and 

 thus avoid costly and fatal errors. When com- 

 pleted these maps will occupy a volume 5 in. X 10 

 in. of only 100 pages (50 sheets 10 in. X 10 in.) 

 which with 44 pages of index of every named place 

 will only be i in. thick, including maps and index. 

 When compared with maps available at present 

 their usefulness and convenience are at once ap- 

 parent. 



