The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-28
ACT X NEW PRINCIPLE
 IN GOVERNMENT
National Good Roads Law Measure of Far Reaching
 Importance.

Importance.
 (By David F. Houston, Secretary of Agriculture.)
 The Federal-aid road act and anoth- CT law-the cooperative agricultural extension act-that the Department is charged with the duty of enforcing establish 8 new principle in American government, the principle of co-ope- ration between Federal, and State of- flcers. They are the only laws I re- call which recognize and insist upon this principle. They are therefore very significant.
 Heretofore Federal and State officers have too frequently looked at one an- other across the line, sometimes with apprehension as to what the other was going to do or think, sometimes with jealousy. not infrequently with frfc- ton. The people have right to the best service of the representatives of both Jurisdictions.
 l need not emphasize the import 2 ance of good roads. They are essen tia1 to comfortable living, to proper community development, especially to the development of rural life, to effi- cient production and orderly market ing of farm products, to good school. s and to'the development of a satisfac- tory rural life. Many people. how ever, do not appreciate this, and I have occasionally met road officers who. when the importance. of good roads was emphasized, have said: 'sYes, but they cost so much" Appa- rAtly 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. The Federal-aid road act appeals to me as of especial importance, not so much because it carries with it out of the Federal Treasury an appropria- &on of 85 millions of dollars, not be- cause 1t will be met by an appropria- ton of 75 million or more out of State funds, if all the States accept the act, but because. as great as is the aggre- ! gate, it is relatively insignificant in comparison with amounts the States now arei annually expending and will spend during the period covered by the act.
 remember that, on one occasion, when I was speaking to a public off, < cial about the road bill and suggested that we ought to begin with a modest initial appropriation of three, four, or !, fvs 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 mil Hons of dollars for roads would be merely .trifing with the matter. asked him if he knew what the peo- pie of the nation were contributing an nually for road building, that the na- ton was already expending the equiv alent 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 expend- ing approximately $26c.ooo,O 900 year for roads. 6G ADollars Result for
 "A Each Dollar Expendede.
 The main question that am imme- diately concerned with, that the peo- pie of the nation are immediately con- cefned with. is whether we shall get al dollars result for every dollar we ex- pend for roads. I am quite sure that if we so and we can tonvince the peo- pie that we have done so, they will be willing to put much more money into good roads where they are needed. Therefore, the matter of administering this law, of devising good road sys- toms, of careful selection of roads, of Formulating projects. of developing plans and specifications, of having all matters considered on their merit by competent men, seem to me to lie at the root of this business. If, assthe result of this act, the people are in duced fully to realize the. necessity of placing skillful and experienced men in charge of road building and road maintenance, great advance will have been made and the efforts of those who labored to secure the legislation will have been rewarded. s "A assume that, as a matter of ne- cessity, this law will require the em- ployment in every State of experts, of real experts. This word is very much misused and abused, as the, word .'theorist" Is. frequently hear al contrast drawn between the theorists and the practical men. There is no basis for 1t The classification ought to be into good theorists and bad the- orists, of practical men and imprac- tical men. A really good theorist is highly practical: and so is real ex- pert The public is somewhat suspi- cious of experts. because, I think, so many people pose as experts who are not When the public sets an expert1 aside. it is worth while to inquire carefully into the experts claims and competency.
 T repeat that this act will necessi- tate trained intelligence in the service of the State as well as in the service of the Federal Government The act requires the State to accept it. That. as I understand 1t, implies the assent of tho State to every provision of the act. One of these provisions is that Sps5scts, plans. specifications, and contracts shall be submitted and ap- proved; and I have a suspicion that plans and specifications will not be approved unless they are submitted by people who know about such things. FEDERAL AD-2
 So the assent of the State involves the calling of trained men into the service of every State which is now without them
 The law involves another thing, the in full the Federal appropriation for pledge of the faith of the State to meet the entire period covered by the act. The State legislature may not be able to appropriate money one year for the whole period covered by the act, but