26 BULLETIN 387, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
close of 1909 to the close of 1914, 1,796.1 miles were surfaced. The 
per cent of surfaced roads increased, therefore, from 1.32 in 1909 to 
8.42 in 1914. Detailed information in regard to Louisiana road mile- 
age is shown in Table 43. 
MARYLAND. 
By H. C. McAvoy, United States Collaborator. 
Maryland has a land area of 9,941 square miles, a total road mileage 
of 16,458, and a population, according to the 1910 census, of 1,295,346. 
The State, therefore, has a population of 130.3 per square mile of 
area and 78.7 per mile of road, with 1.65 miles of road per square 
mile of area. Of the population in 1910, 49.2 per cent, or 637,154, 
was rural, thus indicating a rural population of 38.71 per mile of 
road. 
By an act of the legislature of 1908, as amended, the State roads 
commission was created and consists of the governor, ex officio, and 
five members appointed by the governor. The chairman is desig- 
nated by the governor. The commission elects a secretary and 
employs a chief engineer, assistant engineers, and other necessary 
help. The commission must select, construct, improve, and main- 
tain a general system of State roads in and through all of the counties 
of the State. It is authorized, in carrying out its duties, to take over, 
by purchase or condemnation, turnpikes forming a section of a main 
road to be improved by it. The construction and improvement of 
all State roads or parts thereof are required to be done under the 
supervision and subject to the approval of the commission, and in 
accordance with plans and specifications prepared by the chief 
engineer and approved by the commission. Where the cost of any 
work on a State road will exceed $500, it shall be let under contract 
by the commission. 
The commission is authorized to contract with the board of com- 
missioners of any county to grade, maintain, and repair, and to more 
fully construct, the State roads within the borders of such county. 
The commission is authorized to establish stone-crushing plants, 
located at such points as to secure most economical water or other 
transportation, and to work State convicts in operating the same. 
The use of State convicts in road and bridge construction and main- 
tenance work is also authorized. The commission is empowered to 
make such regulations and orders as it may deem necessary for the 
preservation of State roads and to regulate the use of same by traction 
engines and such other vehicles or conveyances as produce more than 
ordinary wear thereon. 
The State road system, which includes State roads paid for entirely 
by the State, State-aid roads paid for by the State and counties 
jointly, and turnpikes purchased by the State, comprises 1,178.22 
