Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-12-17
STATE AID FOR
PUBLIC ROADS
They Are Improved Only to a
Slight Extent.
HAULING COST TOO HIGH.
For Most Farmers Public Highways
Are the Only Means of Transports
ton Leading From Point of Produo-
ton to Point of Consumpton-Prog
ress of State Road Management.

ton to Point of COMMUNICATING
ress of State Road Management.
Prepared by United States department of
agricultural
The public roads throughout the
scountry, which constitute the primary
means of transportation for all agricul-
stural products, for many millions of
tons Of forest, mine and manufactured
sproducts and which for a large percent
Gage of farmers are the only avenues of
Transportation leading from the point
4 of production to the point of cOnsump-
ton or rail shipment, have been i'm
proved to only slight extent. BY rea-
son of this fact the prevailing cost Of
hauling over these roads is about 23
cents per ton mile.
More than 3J0,000,000 tons are haul
ed over our public roads each year, and
the average haul is about eight miles,
from which it can readily be seen that
our annual bill for hauling is nearly
$600y0OO Coo. The cost per ton mile
for hauling Oh hard surfaced roads
should not exceed IS cents. 1t is there
fore evident that if our roads We're
adequately improved a large annual
saving in the cost Of hauling would
result. Railroad freight rates are about
IA mills per ton mile
Under the system of local manage
ment which succeeded the toll systems
and the road building activities Of the
federal government tax burdens for
road purposes rested almost entirely
upon farm property. Since the cities
generally escaped these responsible
ties and burdens, this condition was
inequitable, produced inadequate reve-
nue. and resulted in a very widespread
stagnation in the building Of improved
roads. further inequity resulted
from the fact that traffic in its devel-
opment took no account Of county and
township boundaries, so that frequent
ly the traffic from one county destroy
ed the roads of another county, which
in turn found itself unable to obtain
redress Modern traffic gave rise to
new and difficult problems of construc-
ton, which the limited skill of local
officials was unable to solve Roaa
taxes were. to Il great extent, worked
out by untraincl. umdiScipiincd road
hands. Most Of the road work con
sisted in patching from year to year
and little tangible progress could ID,
shown for the money and labor cX-
pended. These conditions rendered
state action ultimately imperative, and
New Jersey in 1891 was the first state
to take definite action through legisla-
tive enactment. Other states rapidly
followed the precedent set by New
Jersey, and this progress was greatly
accelerated by the advent of the auto,
mobile.
OF the progress of state road man.
agement it may be said that forty -four
states have thus far established high.
way departments for educational or adj.
ministrative work, and of these thirty
have made actual appropriations in aid
of road construction or maintenance.
In all $20S 100000 had been apprOpri.
ated from state funds betwee 1891
maintenance, administration and edu.
catiOnal road work. and q total of
about $1,000 miles of improved roads
is the evidence to show that this ex.
penditure was not In vain. These roads
were built for the most part as joint
state and local undertaking, so that a
large local outlay not included in the
state total was involved. At the pres
ent time only the states of Indiana
Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas
have no provision for any sort of state
participation in road work.
Summarized briefly, the essentials
to successful state highway admins
tratiOn, as demonstrated by the expert
partments, are as follows: (a) Tho
elimination Of politics as a factor III
state highway work; CO. the control by
the state highway department of al
work on which state funds are eX
pended; (e) adequate appropriations fol
continuous maintenance of highways
under efficient supervision from the
day the highways are completed; Cd
state supervision as to surveys, plans
and specifications of roads and bridges
constructed under bond issues and su
pervision of such other road and bridge
work as requires considerable casf
outlay and the exercise of engineering
skill and knowledge.