ROAD MILEAGE, REVENUES, SOUTHERN STATES, 1914. 29 
At the close of 1909 Maryland had 2,142.30 miles, or 12.77 per 
cent, of surfaced roads, thus indicating that in the 5-year period 
346.96 miles were surfaced. Information showing the total mileage 
and the mileage of surfaced roads in the various counties is con- 
tained in Table 44. 
MISSISSIPPI. 
Mississippi has a land area of 46,362 square miles, a total road 
mileage of 45,779, and a population, according to the 1910 census, 
of 1,797,114. The State, therefore, has a population of 38.76 per 
square mile of area and 39.25 per mile of road, with 0.99 miles of road 
per square mile of area. Of the population in 1910, 88.5 per cent, 
or 1,589,803, was rural, thus indicating a rural population of 34.72 
per mile of road. 
In 1916 a State highway commission was created to consist of 
three members, one from each supreme court district, appointed by 
the Governor with the advice and consent of the State senate. Each 
member of the commission is to serve for a term of six year's. The 
State highway commission elects a State highway engineer, who is 
required to be a competent civil engineer, experienced and skilled 
in highway construction and maintenance. The State highway 
engineer is authorized to appoint, subject to the approval of the 
commission, necessary clerical and engineering assistants. The 
work of the commission is mostly of an educational and advisory 
nature. 
The board of supervisors in each county has jurisdiction over the 
roads, bridges, and ferries therein. It is required to divide the public 
roads into convenient links and annually appoint one overseer for 
each link. It is the duty of the overseer to keep in good repair the 
roads under his charge and to erect such necessary bridges thereon 
as may be built and kept in repair conveniently by the labor of the 
hands assigned to him. The supervisor of each district in the several 
counties has, and is required to exercise, general supervision over the 
public roads of his district. The board of supervisors in each county 
may employ a competent person to serve as road and bridge commis- 
sioner. 
Various provisions of law exist authorizing the building and main- 
taining of roads by contract to be let by the board of supervisors. 
Special road districts may be created by the boards of supervisors on 
petition of a majority of the property owners, or the owners of a 
majority of the property, in the territory to be embraced therein, 
and an engineer appointed to have charge of the road improvements 
therein, the cost of which improvements shall be met by benefit 
assessments on all real property in the district. Various other 
methods exist under the law for creating road districts, for raising 
