PUBLIC EOAD MILEAGE AND REVENUES, 1914. 23 



There are 45 "first-class" towTiships which do not come within the 

 jurisdiction of the bui'eau of township highways. A first-class town- 

 ship is one having a population of more than 300 to the square mile. 

 Koad work in these townships is under the supervision of boards of 

 township commissioners, who have absolute control over aU road 

 work and the collection and expenditure of road funds within their 

 respective townships. The majority of these townships are included 

 within the limits of incorporated cities and boroughs, and conse- 

 quently have no country roads. 



A few of the counties also have what are known as county roads, 

 which are improved and maintained solely at the expense of the coun- 

 ties in which they are located. 



Bonds may be issued by counties or townships to secure funds for 

 road improvement or maintenance. At present bond issues for road 

 improvement can not be made by the State, but for some time efforts 

 have been made to amend the constitution in this connection. 



In 1911, and again in 1913, the legislature passed an amendment 

 to the constitution permitting the State to issue $50,000,000 in bonds 

 for road improvement. The amendment was then brought before 

 the people for ratification at the election in November of that year 

 and was defeated by a majority of 40,000. Again, in 1915, the legis- 

 lature passed an amendment and, as before, this will be passed upon 

 by the next legislatiu-e, and if so passed it will be submitted to the 

 people at the fall election in 1918. This procedure is in accordance 

 with constitutional provisions. 



EXPENDITURES, 1914. 



It was impracticable to secure complete information regarding 

 taxation and revenues from the various counties and townships in 

 Pennsylvania. A summary of expenditures for the State as a whole, 

 including expenditures in first-class townships, was, however, ob- 

 tained from the State highway department and is as follows : 



Expenditures by second-class townships $5, 500, 091 



Joint funds, State, counties, and townships 2, 634, 205 



Road work done solely at State expense ".. 2, 290, 284 



Total expenditures by State, counties, and townships 10, 424, 580 



In 1904 the total expenditures for public roads by the State, 

 counties, and townships aggregated S4, 887, 266, and the increase in 

 1914 as compared with 1904 was, therefore, 113.2 per cent. 



ROAD AND BRIDGE BONDS. 



On January 1, 1914, the various counties and townships had voted 

 $27,172,659 of road and bridge bonds, of which $24,839,050 were 

 county bonds and $2,333,609 were township bonds. For the year 



