The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-01
MIR. BROWNLOW'S PLAN
AID OF oovERNMENT IN BUILD
 ING or ROADS. ]
The Educational Work of Recent Years Has Done Much to Stim-
 ulate Interest for I'm proved Highways.


 Washington, Feb. 1.-(6pecial.)- )-Ths idea of the national government taking an active part in the construction of the highways, so popular three-quarters of century ago. has for several decades been considered obsolete. But the interest manifested in the Brownlow bill, which provides for national aid to road buiid- ing. shows that this idea is very much alive. Indeed the popular interest in the subject is source of surprise to those who have not been giving the matter at tentIon. The interest Is by no means a sudden development either. It has been
 It Is now ten years since the popular demand that Uncle Sam do something to help cut of the mud led to the establish ment of an office of public road inquiries in the United States Department os Az rlculture The work of this oflice was in- tended to be purely educational in char acter. It was to collect and disseminate practical information concerning the roads of the country and means G:.d methods for their improvement. The first wo-k or this office was to prepare and publish d large number of bulletins and circulars treating on the various paases Of road building and improvement This work oc- cupied several years, and 1t was well done. If the roads In most parts of the country remain bad, il is not TOT the want of information as to how they may be improved in the best and most economical manner: for Uncle Sans good roads' off1ce is a veritable information bureau on the subject.
 But the work of this office did not stop here. The educa tional idea was carried further. and during the past three years the object lesson feature has assumed greater importance. The idea as carried out is very simple. When the people Of some progressive community, or the au- thorities of some educational institution want a piece of road built to illustrate the benefits of good roads and the meth ods of building them, application is made to the Depaltment of Agriculture. and, whenever possible, a government expert is sent to supervise the work. Recently a number of prominent and progressive railroad men have been giving the read question some study, and have come to the conclusion that the improvement of the roads in the territory tributary to their lines would materially increase their business. So popular has this idea become that the officials of some of the leading railways have come forward with offers to cooperate with the government in the object lesson work Another vol untary factor in this cooperative work Is the manufacturers of road building devices who desire to bring their ma chinery to the attenticn of the public. In this cooperative work the government H,,- t~hA AA~ h. e. the machinery and the railroads the transportation. This idea has proven ex- tremely popular. Object lesson roads have been built under government supervision in twenty States; and so great has been the demand for national and of this kind that large number of applications have to be refused every year because the funds appropriated by Congress are in- sufficient to employ and pay this expense of enough experts to do the work. AL ready Congress has twice made an i'm crease in the appropriations for this work. but the $20,O00 now appropriated an- nually. proves wholly inadequate to meet the demands for this educa tional work.
 It should be borne in mind that all the work of this kind done by the government is in the nature of national aid. There Is. therefore. nothing new in principle in the bill recently introduced in Con- gress by Colonel Brownlow of Tennessee providing for national aid of a more ex- tcnsive and substantial character It Is proposed that the government shall no longer coniine its assistance to educa- tional work; that 1t shall furnish not only information and supervision, but financial assistance. Under certain limitations, the national government will cooperate with States and counties in the improvement or the common roads each assuming certain proportion of the expense.
 If the educational work done by the government In recent years has done so much to encourage and stimulate road improvement what may we not expect from this great extension of the principle of national aid? It Is sometimes urged as an objection to national aid that 1t will cause the people to relax their ef- forts al road Improvement, and to de- pend on the general government to do the work for them. Is 1t not likely to pro- duce exactly the opposite result? The large fund which Congress will appropri- ate for this work will be divided among the States In proportion to population But no State can secure It's share except | by complying with the conditions pre- scribed. the chief of which Is that 1t shall | raise like sum for the same purpose. instead Of discouragin State effort, this should greatly stimulate 1t, Again. if State takes no acton locking to tho acceptance of the governments proffer- ed help. the individual counties may do so. and this again will create a rivalry among the counties in their efforts to secure a part of the national fund due the State4
 The scheme Is a great one, and far reaching in its possibilities for economic development. Time and intelligence will be required to work out the details of