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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Deck L,ane 



ONE OF THE EARLY IRON FURNACES IN PENNSYLVANIA 



This primitive plant produced in two years less iron, perhaps, than 

 the blast furnace, shown on the opposite page, can produce in a 

 single day. The capacity of the modern furnace is about four hun- 

 dred tons every twenty-four hours, and it is in operation 365 days 

 and nights in the year. 



ized a forestry bureau and acquired more 

 than a million acres, which it is fast re- 

 foresting - . Millions of seedlings have 

 been planted and the work is but well 

 begun. Corporations, the public schools, 

 and institutions of many kinds have 

 joined in a general movement to restore 

 every acre of waste land to the condition 

 which existed before the woodman's axe 

 took such terrible toll of the timber re- 

 sources. 



No State in the entire Union has a 

 broader or more comprehensive plan of 



highway building than 

 the Keystone Com- 

 monwealth. Under a 

 law passed eight years 

 a g°> 7.500 miles of 

 highway were taken 

 over, and recently a 

 fifty - million -dollar 

 bond issue was au- 

 thorized. With local 

 and Federal contribu- 

 tions, the amount to 

 be spent will reach 

 the enormous total of 

 $125,000,000. 



Under the plan now 

 in force some three 

 hundred routes are 

 marked for improve- 

 ment. These include 

 the main highways be- 

 tween county seats, 

 those joining the 

 State roads of ad- 

 joining States, and 

 those connecting prin- 

 cipal cities and towns. 

 They are under State 

 rather than local juris- 

 diction. 



In addition to bear- 

 ing the entire burden 

 of the construction 

 and maintenance of 

 intercounty and inter- 

 state highways, the 

 State will furnish the 

 counties with half the 

 funds for improve- 

 ment of local roads. 



One who travels 



over such splendid 



highways as the new 



concrete road from Easton to Allentown 



will not fail to appreciate the Keystone 



State's splendid good-roads policy. 



A NEEDED REFORM IN TEACHERS'' PAY 



The State authorities admit that the 

 elementary educational system is not the 

 best in the Union, and that there are 

 many things that need to be done to bring 

 its schools up to the highest standard ; 

 but the Governor and the Legislature are 

 addressing themselves to the problem and 

 propose to solve it. 



