18 BULLETIN 388, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In 1904 the total revenues applied to roads outside of cities 

 amounted to $2,871,222.47, of which -12,295,616.48 was spent by the 

 towns and $575,605.99 by the State, thus showing an increase in this 

 10-year period of $3,220,652.83, or 112.2 per cent. The town reve- 

 nues applied to roads and bridges, outside of cities, in 1914, are shown 

 by counties and towns in Table 10. City revenues applied to city 

 streets, in 1914, are shown in Table 11. 



ROAD AND BRIDGE BONDS. 



The total road and bridge bonds and notes outstanding on January 

 1, 1915, amounted to $10,305,522.82, of which $8,699,500 were issued 

 by the State and $1,606,022.82 by the towns. State bonds issued 

 between 1894 and 1904 were sinking-fund bonds maturing 26 to 30 

 years from date of issue. All State bonds issued since 1904 are 

 deferred serial, with the first payment falling due from 3 to 11 years 

 from date of issue, and the last payment from 9 to 30 years from date 

 of issue. Air State bonds bear from 3 to 3^ per cent interest. 



Of the money derived from town bonds and notes, there was 

 expended in 1914 a total of $440,639.50, and notes amounting to 

 $328,999.33 were retired by the towns in the same year. New notes 

 were issued by the towns to the amount of $511,437.25. Most of 

 these are serial in character and are paid off in equal annual amounts 

 between the first and fifth years from date of issue, although some 

 are to be pa,id in less than a year, while the last payment on others 

 extends to the twentieth and thirtieth years. Town bonds issued in 

 1914 bear from 3 to 6 per cent interest, depending upon date of 

 maturity. 



Information in regard to State highway bonds is presented in 

 Table 14. Town road and bridge bond information is contained in 

 Table 15. 



ROAD MILEAGE. 



Information furnished by the Massachusetts highway commission 

 indicates that at the close of the year 1914 Massachusetts had, out- 

 side of incorporated cities, 18,681.4 miles of public road, of which 

 8,505.89 miles, or 45.53 per cent, were surfaced. Of the surfaced 

 roads, 834.30 miles were macadam, 1,337.33 bituminous macadam, 

 6,289.57 gravel, and 44.69 of various types. The cities had 4,349.44 

 miles of streets, of which 3,812.26 miles, or 86.76 per cent, were sur- 

 faced as follows: 1,464.61 miles gravel, 1,183.85 plain macadam, 430.06 

 bituminous macadam, and 404.25 of various classes. 



According to the information furnished for 1909, Massachusetts 

 had 17,272 miles of public roads outside of cities, of which 8,463.18 

 miles, or 49 per cent, were surfaced, thus indicating a gain in the 

 5-year period of only 45.53 miles in surfaced road. This small, 

 gain probably is due to the fact that in some cases improved or 



