The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1914-07-30
VAST sum BEING EXPENDED
s2o6, 100000 Spent on Roads During
the Year Just Closed With Larger
Expenditures Planned For This Year
and For Future Years.

Approximately $2o6,ooo,0oo was
spent last year on public roads in the
United States, according to statistics
prepared by the U. S. Department of
Agriculture. In 1904 the total was only
$79,ooo,ooo. In nine years, therefore,
the increase hes 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 principle of state
aid to counties and other local commun-
titles, New Jersey began the movement
in 1891, when it passed its State High,
way Law Massachusetts and Vermont
followed year later, but for the most
part the other 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 appropriated total of $685.
088 to supplement local expenditure.
The value of this state aid is, how
ever, not to be measured by the figures
alone, for the bulk o. the money comes
and always must come from the coun-
ties and townships. Thus, in 1912 the
cash outlay by counties, districts and
townships was $137 ,493,9s5. Complete
figures for 1913 are not yet available,
buG it is safe to estimate the sum at APP
proximately $751; 100000. To this must
be added some $15,000,000 to represent
the value of the labor contributed in
stead of cash in districts where this
practice prevails. Last year, therefore,
local communities contributed, in round
numbers, one hundred and sixty-six
millions of doll as against appropri-
atoms from state treasures of $685.
|0S8. The true Importance of this thir-
ty eight millions lies in the fact that it
means expert supervision of the expen-
diture 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 trained
engineers were usually out of the ques-
ton. There was little opportunity to
test innovations little advance in the
science of road building, and there was
also difficulty in arousing each county
individually to do its best to improve
conditions within it's own limits. State
aid has changed all this. The best en-
gineering skill is available for all works
of Importance, there is cooperation and
constant stimulus to further improve
ments. The money contributed by the
states does not only build more roads,
it makes better those that other money
builds.
At the present time there are in the
United States 20,741 miles of roads i'm
proved either wholly or in part by state
aid. This is nearly the mileage of the
French routes nationales, the system of
great national highways which is the
envy of every civilized nation. The
routes nationales are, of course, only a
small part of the total mileage of
France, where practically every road of
any Importance is an improved road,
and France is a vastly smaller country,
both in area and in population, than
the United States, SO that this compar-
ison is not in itself very fattering to
our progressiveness. It shows, however,
that we have at least made beginning.
Of the 2,226,S42 miles of roads in the
United States, 223,774 miles, or ap-
proximately 10 per cent, are classed as
improved.
To improve the remaining 80 per cent
may well seem a big job. It is in fact
only made possible because 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
investment, but to determine exactly
what dividends they pay. An investi-
gator assigned to this problem in any
given locality first ascertains the extent
of the territory that is tributary to any
main road, much as one might ascertain
the territory tributary to some river.
The next step is an accurate estimate
of the total products of this territory;
SO much grain, so much tobacco, so
much garden truck, ETC., etc. Of this
quantity certain portion is consumed
on the farm, the rest is shipped over the
road in question. The whole calcula
ton can then be checked by investi-
gators at the shipping point to which
the road leads. In general it has been
found that the two methods yield much
the same information-the total
amount of produce hauled over the
road. Next, the length of the average
haul is calculated, the size of the load
ascertained, and the cost of teams and
drivers figured With these facts be-
fore him, the investigator is now able
to state positively the cost Of hauling
a ton of produce on that road, to ex
press in terms of these ton-miles the
freight traffic on the road, and finally
the total cost to the community served
by the road OF hauling its goods to
market Armed with thes data, it is
easy to decide how much money can
be probably spent In improving the