2 BULLETIN 393; U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGBICULTURE. 



and resources of the counties studied; the character, extent, and 

 cost of the road, improvement; the effect of the improvement on 

 assessed valuation of property; the financial burden as indicated by 

 tax rates; and the general prosperity and welfare of the respective 

 counties as shown by output of local products, the character and 

 amount of traffic, the saving in hauling costs, the incoming and 

 outgoing shipments of freight by rail and water, the values of lands 

 contiguous to the roads improved, the attendance at pubhc schools, 

 the character of school buildings, the number and distribution of 

 population, and other related information. These studies were made 

 at one-year intervals and, as nearly as possible, exactly comparable 

 information was obtained on each inspection. To reenforce these 

 records a number of representative points were selected and pho- 

 tographs taken each year of these same locations, thus securing a 

 pictorial record of the changes evolved from year to year. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF ROAD 



IMPROVEMENT. 



Many claims and counterclaims are made as to the propriety of 

 expending large sums of money for public-road construction in local 

 communities. One set of extremists ascribe to good roads nearly all 

 the benefits and blessings which fall to the lot of humanity, while 

 another set sees in large outlays for road construction only the 

 specter of debt and ruinous taxation. Somewhere between these 

 two extremes must be placed the actual result produced. 



The economic studies in the eight selected counties have brought 

 out a number of features which can not fail to prove helpful examples 

 to other counties which contemplate large outlays for road con- 

 struction. A comparative analysis of the most striking data obtained 

 in the respective studies is therefore presented under appropriate 

 headings. 



CHARACTER OF BONDS ISSUED. 



In some of the counties comprised in the economic studies bonds 

 were issued on the sinking-fund plan, and in others the serial method 

 was followed. Analysis of the methods followed in each case brings 

 out some interesting points. Spottsylvania County, Va., issued 

 $173,000 of 4.5 and 5 per cent bonds payable in 30 years, and callable 

 after 5 years. It is impossible to estimate the total cost of retirement 

 owing to the element of variability in the rate of retirement under 

 this arrangement. In Dallas County, Ala., the bonds amounted 

 to $350,000, payable in 30 years at 5 per cent. Assuming the sink- 

 ing fund to bear 3 per cent interest, as set forth in the chapter on 

 Dallas County, the total financial burden to the county for interest 

 and the liquidation of the bonds during the 30-year period wiU be 



