820 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
ipg traveling expenses, something more than $6,000. The total 
cost of reproduction of all right of way as estimated by the 
state is $25,051,728-, as compared with a total of all items of 
$201,206,300. It will be noted therefore that the appraisal of 
the right of way was a relatively large item in the whole ex¬ 
pense, which amounted to about $25,000. The cost of the ap¬ 
praisal of the right of way was thus about one-fourth of the 
cost of the whole appraisal, while the value of the right of way 
was found to be about one-eighth of the total physical value of 
the roads appraised. It must be noted, however, that in the 
determination of the value of the right of way less assistance 
was received from the roads themselves than in the determina¬ 
tion of other parts of the physical value. 
CRITICISMS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
I 
In the opinion of the writer, the most serious sources of er¬ 
ror in the results obtained for right of way value by the method 
used by the appraisers lie in the facts that for the limited areas 
considered the number of the land sales is subject to such great 
variations, and that it is practically impossible in these sales to 
find the true consideration for the land stripped of all improve¬ 
ments. The experience of the inspectors proved conclusively 
that information from local business or professional men other¬ 
wise than by personal interview is extremely difficult to obtain 
and when obtained is of very doubtful value. Moreover, per¬ 
sonal interviews with any considerable number of men in each 
locality require a large amount of time and expense. 
It would seem wise, then, to lay more emphasis on local as¬ 
sessments. Under present methods employed in Wisconsin, it 
would be an easy matter to find the assessed value of all farms 
within one mile of the right of way through farm lands or 
within one block of the line through urban 1 property. 
The ratio of assessed to true value could then be determined 
by taking into account all sales over larger units of area. The 
unit should not be less than a government township for farm 
lands or a ward for city property. Where special local condi¬ 
tions render this method useless (and the number of such cases 
