16 BULLETIN 388, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
and determine what part of the cost thereof shall be paid by the city 
or town benefited. The county assesses a tax on the municipalities, 
and this tax, as well as the State tax, is collected by the towns and 
cities in connection with the municipal tax. 
Cities and towns acting through their propel* authorities also 
have authority to lay out and construct new ways and to widen and 
improve existing ways, and naturally can direct their improvement 
and appropriate money therefor. 
HIGHWAY COMMISSION. 
The Massachusetts highway commission was established in 1893. 
It consists of three members appointed by the governor with the 
advice and consent of the council, to serve for a term of three years, 
one term expiring each year. Its duties in relation to highways are 
twofold; first the collection and collation of statistics as to road 
materials, etc., the making of maps, designation of highways, and 
the giving of advice on road matters to the various authorities 
throughout the Commonwealth who have charge of road building or 
road maintenance; and, second, the laying out and construction of 
State highways and the improvement of certain town roads. 
STATE HIGHWAYS. 
Since 1894 appropriations have been made by the legislature for 
the construction of what are known as State highways. The total 
length of State highways at the end of 1914 amounted to 1,039.07 
miles. The money is raised by a bond issue, usually authorized in 
5-year periods. The highway commission may lay out as a State 
highway a new or existing way in any city or town upon petition of 
the city government, board of selectmen, or the county commissioners. 
When so laid out it is maintained by the commission and the commis- 
sion has entire jurisdiction over it, even to the extent of determining 
the location of water and gas mains, poles, and other structures. 
A road becomes a State highway when copies of the petition, layout 
plan, and adjudication are filed in the offices of the clerk of the county 
commissioners and the clerk of the city or town. 
When a State highway is laid out and constructed by the commis- 
sion, the county in which it is located repays to the Commonwealth, 
within 6 years, 25 per cent of the cost of construction, and the towns 
and cities repay to the Commonwealth from $50 to $500 a mile a year 
on account of maintenance, according to valuation, provided twice as 
much is spent. 
SMALL-TOWN ROADS. 
The commission may spend 15 per cent of the amount appropriated 
for State highway construction under the so-called small-town act 
as follows: Five per centin towns of less than $1,000,000 valuation upon 
