ROAD MILEAGE, EEVENUES;, SOUTHEEN STATES, 1914. 29 



At the close of 1909 Maryland had 2,142.30 miles, or 12.77 per 

 cent, of surfaced roads, thus indicatmg that in the 5-year period 

 346,96 miles were surfaced. Information showing the total mileage 

 and the mileage of surfaced roads in the various counties is con- 

 tained in Table 44. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



Mississippi has a land area of 46,362 square miles, a total road 

 mileage of 45,779, and a population, according to the 1910 census, 

 of 1,797,114. The State, therefore, has a population of 38.76 per 

 square mile of area and 39.25 per mile of road, with 0.99 miles of road 

 per square mile of area. Of the population in 1910, 88.5 per cent, 

 or 1,589,803, was rural, thus indicating a rural population of 34.72 

 per mile of road. 



In 1916 a State highway commission was created to consist of 

 three members, one from each supreme court district, appointed by 

 the Governor with the advice and consent of the State senate. Each 

 member of the commission is to serve for a term of six years. The 

 State highway commission elects a State highway engineer, who is 

 required to be a competent civil engineer, experienced and skilled 

 in highway construction and maintenance. The State highway 

 engineer is authorized to appoint, subject to the approval of the 

 commission, necessary clerical and engineering assistants. The 

 work of the commission is mostly of an educational and advisory 

 nature. 



The board of supervisors in each county has jurisdiction over the 

 roads, bridges, and ferries therein. It is required to divide the public 

 roads into convenient links and annually appoint one overseer for 

 each link. It is the duty of the overseer to keep in good repair the 

 roads under his charge and to erect such necessary bridges thereon 

 as may be built and kept in repair conveniently by the labor of the 

 hands assigned to him. The supervisor of each district in the several 

 counties has, and is required to exercise, general supervision over the 

 public roads of his district. The board of supervisors in each county 

 may employ a competent person to serve as road and bridge commis- 

 sioner. 



Various provisions of law exist authorizing the buUding and main- 

 taining of roads by contract to be let by the board of supervisors. 

 Special road districts may be created by the boards of supervisors on 

 petition of a majority of the property owners, or the owners of a 

 majority of the property, in the territory to be embraced therein, 

 and an engineer appointed to have charge of the road improvements 

 therein, the cost of which improvements shall be met by benefit 

 assessments on aU real property in the district. Various other 

 methods exist under the law for creating road districts, for raising 



