DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



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year on public roads in the United States, according to statistics prepared 

 by the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1904 the total was 

 only 79 millions. In nine years, therefore, the increase has been more 

 than 250 percent. 



This awakening on the part of the country to the importance of good 

 roads has, the experts say, been due in great measure to the principle 

 of state aid to counties and other local communities. New Jersey began 

 the movement in 1891 when it passed its State Highway Law. Massachu- 

 setts and Vermont followed a year later, but for the most part the other 

 states were slow to move. In 1904 only fifteen had state highway depart- 

 ments; today there are only six that have not. In 1913 the individual 

 states appropriated a total of $38,755,088 to supplement local expenditures 

 and still we have the worst of roads. 



The value of this state aid is, however, not to be measured by the 

 figures alone, for the bulk of the money comes, and always must come, 

 from counties and townships. Thus, in 1912, the cash outlay by counties, 

 districts and townships, was $137,493,985. Complete figures for 1913 are 

 not yet available, but it is safe to estimate the sum at approximately 151 

 million dollars. To this must be added 15 millions to represent the value 

 of the labor contributed instead of cash in districts where this practice 

 prevails. Last year, therefore, local communities contributed, in round 

 numbers, 166 million dollars, as against appropriations from state treas- 

 uries o f $38,755,088. The true importance of this 38 millions lies in the 

 fact that it means expert supervision of the expenditure of a considerable 

 part of the vast sum of 200 millions. 



When every county built as it chose and when it chose, the services 

 of trained engineers were usually out of the question. There was little 

 opportunity to test innovations, little advance in the science of road-building, 

 and there was also difficulty in arousing each county individually to do 

 its best to improve conditions within its own limits. State aid has changed 

 all this. The best engineering skill is available for all works of importance, 

 there is cooperation and a constant stimulus to further improvements. The 

 money contributed by the states does not only build more roads, it makes 

 better those that other money builds. 



At present there are in the United States 20,741 miles of roads improved 

 either wholly or in part by state aid. Of the 2,226,842 miles of roads 

 in the United States, 223,774 miles, or approximately 10 percent are 

 classed as improved. 



To improve the remaining 90 percent may seem a big job. It is, in 

 fact, made possible only because the work really pays for itself. From 

 material gathered by the United States Department of Agriculture, it is 

 now possible to prove not only that good roads are a profitable invest- 

 ments, but to determine exactly what dividends they pay. First and fore- 

 most is the reduction in the actual cost of hauling, the plain fact that it 

 takes less time and labor to haul a load over a good road than over a 

 poor one. Less obvious is the effect of improved roads in increasing the 



