The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-28
Secretary of Agriculture
 Discusses Important Fea-
 lures of the Newly En- acted Law.

significant. Heretofore Federal and
 State officers have too frequently look | ed at one another across the line, | sometimes with apprehension as to what the other was going to do or | think, sometimes with jealousy, not in frequently with friction. We serve
 the same people. They have a right | to the best service of the representa-
 lives of both jurisdictions. You rep- resent the States. represent the Federal Government Together we are charged with the execution of a very difficult and very important law.
 1T need not emphasize before you the importance of good roads. Most intelligent people who think about
 good roads know that they are essen tial to comfortable living, essential to proper community development, espec- tally to the development of rural life, to efficient production and orderly marketing of farm products, to good schools, and to the development of satisfactory rural life.
 Many people, however, do not ap- preciate this, and have occasionally met road officers who, when the impor- tance of good roads was emphasized,
 have said: Yes, but they cost so
 much Apparently they have not thought how much more bad roads cost, not only in dollars and cents, but also in all those indirect ways for which one can make no definite calculation.
 Large Expenditures For Roads.
 This law appeals to me as of es- pecial importance, not so much be- cause it carries with it out of the Fed eraI Treasury an appropriation of 85 million dollars, not because it will be met by an appropriation of 75 million or more out of State funds, if all the States accept the act, but because as great as is the aggregate, it is relative ly insignificant in Comparison with amounts the States are now annually expending and will spend during the period covered by the act.
 "I remember that, on one occasion. when Twas speaking to a public off, cial about the road bill and suggested that we ought to begin with modest initial appropriation of three, four, or five million dollars, he expressed sur prise and said that such an amount would not get us anywhere; that the expenditure by the nation of a few million dollars for roads would be merely 'trif1ing with the matter. I asked him if he knew what the people of the nation were contributing an- nua1ly for road building, that the na- ton was already expending the equiva- lent of nearly half of what the Pana- ma Canal has cost. Of course he did not. And the majority of people do not realize that the nation is expend7 ing approximately $25O,000,000 a year for roads.
 A Dollars Result For
 Each Dollar Expended
 'The main question that I am inn mediate1y concerned with, that the people of the nation are immediately concerned with, is whether we shall get a dollars result for every dollar
 we expend for roads. I am quite. sure that it we do so an1 We can convince the leorle that we have done SD, they win be willing to put much ueorc mon ey into good roads where they al. needed. Therefore, the matter of ad
 ininistering this law, of devising good road systems, of careful selection oe roads, of formulating projects. of de- veloping plans and specifications, of having all matters considered on their merit by competent men, seem ID me t, lie at the root os this business if, as the resul. of this act, the paople are induced fully to realize the neces-, s.ty of placing skillful and experienced men in charge of road building ard oad maintenance. great advan ce will hayc been made and the eff orts Of these who labore1 to secure the legis- laticn will have teen rewarded. Employment of Experts. "I assume, as matter of necessity, that this law will require the employ ment in every State of experts. of real experts. This word is very much mis- used and abused, ss the word theorist' is. I frequently Tear contrast drawn between the theorists and the practical
 men. There is no basis for it. The Justification ought to be into good the o1 ists and bad theorists. of practical men and impractical men. A really
 good theorist is highly practical and
 so is a real expert. The public is somewhat suspicious of experts. be- cause. I think, so many people pose as experts who are not. When the
 public sets an expert aside, it is worth while 10 inquire CATSAulIy lulO Lilc cA-
 pert's claims and competency.
 "I repeat that this act will necessi-
 tate trained intelligence in the ser- vice of the State as we'll as in tho ser vice of the Federal Government. The act requires the State to accept it. That as I understand it, implies the a ssent of the State to every provision os the act. One of these provisions is tI,at projects, plans, specifications, and con- tracts shall be submitted and approv- ed: and I have a suspicion that plans and specifications will not be approved unless they are submitted by people