Middletown transcript., 1914-07-25
MILLIONS ON ROADS.
A Large Amount Spent Last Year
in the United States
2O,74l MILES WERE IMPROVED

on public roads in the United States
according to statistics prepared by tht
United States Department of Agricul
ture. In 1904 the total was only $79
100000. In nine years therefore, the
increase has been over $50 per cent. 7
This awakening on the part of \ >
country to the Importance of gooO
roads has, experts say, been due in
great measure to the principle of state
aid to counties and other local commu-
mites. New Jersey began the. move
ment in 1891, when it passed its State
Highway law. Massachusetts and Ver-
mont followed year later, but for the
most part the other states were slow
to move. In 1904 only fifteen had state
highway departments; to-day there are
only six that have not. In 1913 the in
dividual states appropriated total of
of $38, 755, O88 to supplement local ex-
penditures.
The value OF this state aid is, how
ever, not to be measured by the figures
alone, for the bulk of 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, 1856. Complete
figures for 1918 are not yet available.
but it is safe to estimate the sum at
approximately $161, 900, 900. To this
must be added some SIS, 900, 900 to re
present the value Of the labor contri-
buted instead of cash in districts where
this practice prevails. Last year,
therefore, local communities contribut
ed, in round numbers, one hundred and
sixty-six millions of dollars, as against
appropriations from state treasures of
$38, 955, O88 The true Importance of
this thirty-eight millions lies in the fact
that it means expert of considerable
portion of the vast sam of two hundred
millions. When each county built
as it chose and when it chosei the ser
vices of trained engineers were usually
out of the question. There was little
opportunity to test innovations, little
advance in the science of road-building
and there was also difficulty in aropsing
each county Individually to do its best
to improve conditions within its own
limits. State aid has changed all this.
The best engineering skill is available
for all works of Importance, there is
cooperation and a constant stimulus
to further improvements. The money
contributed by the state 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, TAI 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 whichis the
envy Of every civilized nation. The
routes nationales are, of course, only
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 comparison /
is not, in itself, very, fattering to our
progressiveness. 1t shows, however,
that we have at least made a begin
nlng. Of the 2, 1926, 842 miles of road in |
the United States, 223, TIA miles, or ap-
proximately 10 per cent are classed as
improved.
To improve the remaining 80 per
cent. may well seem big job. 1t is,
in fact, only made possible because the |
work really pays for itself From ma
terial gathered by the U. S. Depart
ment 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
investigator 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 to-
baccO, so much garden tuck, 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 be checked by in
vestigators at the shipping point to |
which the road leads.
In general it has been found that the |
two methods yield much the same in
tormation-the total amount of produce |
hauled over the road. Next, the length |
of the average haul is calculated, the |
size of the load permitted by the char
acter of the road ascertained, and the l.
cost of teams and drivers figured. With |
these facts before him, the investigator
is now able to state positively the cost |
of hauling a ton of produce on that /
road, to express in terms of these "tOn-
miles" the freight traffic on the road,
and finally the total cost to the commu-
nifty served by the road of hauling its
goods to market. Armed with these |
data, it is easy to decide how much /
money can be profitably spent on i'm
proving the road, and what are the re-
turns that the investment yields to- the /
community.
These returns are of various kinds. |
First and foremost is the reduction in /
the actual cost of hauling, the plain fact |
that it takes less time and labor to haul /
a load over good road than over poor
one. Lesssobvious is the effect Of inn
proved roads in increasing the total out
put of a community. In the case of one
county in Virginia where particularly |
thorough records have been kept, this /
output was more than doubled. The |
farmers found that with a market al
ways and readily accessible to them, it /
paid to work the land to it's maximum
production.
This explains the very remarkable
rise in farm land values which nearly |
always accompanies road improvement. |
The rise is not q fictitious one of no |
benefit to the man who,wishes to farm |
and not to SELL The land is more valu-
able because it can profitably be made |
20 Y,,.odr7oa y,,ova II oFhor r,ro,,,1,