Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-08-12
GOOD ROADS IN
DOLLARS AND CENTS
What it is Costing the United States
to Improve Its Highways.
$2O6, 600, 900 WAS SPENT
LAST YEAR ON ROADS
Bnlk of the Money Comes, and AL
ways Must Come From the
Counties and Townships.

spent last year on public roads in
the United States, according to
statistics prepared by the U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture In 1904
the total was only $79,O00,O0O. In
nine years, therefore, the increase
has been over $50 per cent.
This awakening on the part of
the country to the Importance of
good roads has, experts say, been
due in great measure to the princi-
pie of state aid to counties and
other local communities. New Jer-
sey began the movement in 1891
when it passed it's state highway
law. Massachusetts and Vermont
followed a year later, but for the
most part the states were slow to
move. In 1904 only fifteen had
state highway departments; today
there are only six that have not. In
1913 the individual states appropri-
ated a total of $3S,755,0S8 to sup
plement local expenditures.
The value of this state aid is,
however, not to be measured by the
figures alone, for the bulk Of the
money comes, and always must
come, from the counties and town
ships. Thus, in 1912, the cash out
lay by counties, districts and town
ships, was s137,493,9s5. Complete
figures for 1913 are not available,
but it is safe to estimate the sum
at approximately $151, 100000. To
this must be added some $4,000
600 to represent the value of the
labor contributed instead of cash
in districts where this practice pre-
walls. Last year, therefore, local
communities contributed, in round
numbers, one hundred and sixty-six
millions of dollars; as against ap-
preparations from state treasures
of S38,755, 0SS. The true impor-
tance of this thirty-eight millions
lies in the fact that it means expert
supervision of the expenditure of
a considerable portion of the vast
sum of two hundred millions. When
each county built as it chose and
when it chose, the services of train
ed engineers were usually out of
the question There was little OPP
portunity to test innovations, little
advance in the science of road
building, and there was also difficult
ny in arousing each county indivi-
dually to do its best to improve
conditions within it's own limits.
State aid has changed all tnis The
best engineering skill is available
for all works Of Importance, there is
cooperation and constant stimu-
Aus to further improvements. The
money contributed by the states
does not only build more roads, it
makes better those that other mo-
Dey builds.
AT the present time there are in
the United States 20,741 miles of
roads improved either wholly or in
part by state aid. This is merely the
mileage of the French routes ma
tionales, the system of great nation
al highways, which is the pride of
every civilized nation The routes
nationales are, of course, only al
small rart of the total mileage Of
France, where practically every
road of any Importance is an i'm
proved road, and France is vastly
smaller country, both in area and
in population than the United
States, so that this comparison is
not, in itself, very fattering to our
progressiveness. 1t shows, howev-
er, that we have at least made a
beginning. OF the 2,226,S42 miles
of roads in the United States, $780,
TIA miles, or approximately 10 per
cent, are classed as improved.
To improve the remaining 80 per
cent may well seem a big job. 1t
is in fact, only made possible be-
cause the work really pays for itself.
From material gathered by the U.
s. Department of agriculture, it is
now possible to prove not only that
good roads are profitable invest
ment, but to determine exactly
what dividends they pay. An investi-
gator assigned to this problem in
any riven locality first ascertains
the xtent of the territory that is
trib tary TO any main road, much
as he m hit ascertain the territory
tributary o some river. The next
step is on accurate estimate Of the
total pr ucts of this territory; so
much grain, so much tobacco, so
much garden truck, etc, etc. Of
this quantity a certain portion is
consumed on the farm; the rest is
shipped over the road in question.
The whole calculation can then be
shocka6 nv invactioatorc OF tha