3842 HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 
that the cost of building roads at $3,000 a mile would approximate 
anything like half of the value of the land. I do not know what your 
land is assessed at—— 
Mr. Haveen. If you will permit me right here; they asked a ques- 
tion here about selling the land at the assessed value. I would say 
that the $370,000,000 is 31 per cent of the value of the land, according 
to the reports made to the census enumerators; so that $370,000,000 is 
one-quarter of the value of the real estate in the State of Iowa. 
Mr. Dongs. Is that the decennial appraisement of 1900? Are you 
giving the result of the appraisement of 1900 on land? 
Mr. Haucen. No, sir. 
Mr. Dopexr. When was that? 
Mr. Haveen. In 1890. 
Mr. Dopex. Land was at a very low ebbat that time. I would like 
to state to the gentleman from Jowa that, so far as we have any knowl- 
edge or experience from observation or testimony of any kind, we 
find that the cost of the road, whatever it may be, whether it is $3,000 
or $6,000 a mile, adds a great deal more than its cost to the value of the 
land. You do not substract. 
Mr. Haven. What do you estimate the value of these lands from 
the building of these roads? 
Mr. Dopex. I made an estimate of that cost at one time. Ido not 
know that I can hold it in memory, but it was based upon the idea 
that there should be 2 miles of road for every 640 acres of land. 
Mr. Havern. That was the basis I had. 
Mr. Done. I can not now recall those figures or make the compu- 
tation instantly. 
Mr. Apvams. That would make about $1 an acre? 
Mr. CasstncHam. About $5 an acre. 
Mr. Haucen. That is $6,000 for every section. One hundred and 
sixty acres would be $1,500—about $10 an acre. 
Mr. Burveson. It is somewhat of a severe tax on land. 
Mr. Haucen. Is it not a fact that the common graded road, such as 
we have in Jowa, is far superior to the roads you propose to build, 
about nine months out of the year? 
Mr. Dopex. The graded road is the best road there is when it is dry, 
and in proper shape it is all right. 
Mr. Haucen. You take it in the winter with the sleigh and in the 
dry season of the year, which would probably be about nine months of 
ne hae it would be far superior to the road that you propose to 
uild. 
Mr. Dover. Of course they would be just alike in time of sleigh- 
ing; one would be as good as another. So far as superiority is 
concerned, I think the summer road is all right, and I recommend, in 
connection with what you say, and in connection with what I have 
already said about the 12-foot road, we should always make the earth 
road adjacent to the other, so that they are both open for traffic all 
the time; and when the dirt road is better, which it often is, it takes 
the traffic off of the stone road, and increases its life. 
The Cuarrman. Have you not found that the modern scraper has 
done wonders for our roads all over the country wherever they have 
been introduced ? : 
Mr. Dover. Yes, sir. 
The Cuarrman. In the district in which I live, which has been set- 
