The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-13
UNCLE SAM AND
 HIS GOOD ROADS

Washington, June 13-When Uncle Sam turns his hand to road construc- tion next year, with the $S5,O00,000 authorized in the good roads bill just passed by congress, it will be with these chief aims in mind:
 To take the people back to the farm'' and relieve the growing popu- lation eongested in the 1Dig cities.
 2-To promote agriculture by af- fording better facilities for bringing farm products to market.
 3-To improve rural postal ser vice.
 4ATo establish strategic road system to increase the military pre- paredness of the country.
 Only $5,000,0o0 will be distributed to the states to aid them in road building next year. In 1918, the ap- propriation will be $1O,OO0,000; in 1919, $15.0oO,Oo0; in 1920, $2o,O0O,- 900 and in 1921. $25,O00,0O0. In ad- dition to these sums, $10,0OO,oO0 is to be spent in constructing roads through national forests.
 The primary object of the bill is to aid the back to the farm'' move ment. "It should be born in mind," said the senate postoffices and post roads committee, in urging the mea- sure, '+that there are more than one billion acres of uncu1tivated land in
 
 this great domain daiting to be de- ve1oped and exploited, 50,0O,0OO of our people are crowded together in the cities. In 1880, only a generation ago, there were 14,722,0o0 persons living in cities. while there were 35,- 38O, 1000 persons living in the country. In other words, there were two and a half times as many persons living in the country in the cities. In 1910, there were 42,623,000 persons living in the cities and 49,348,O0o in the country, or six in the city to every seven in the country.
 F"Thus, the growth of the city popu- 1ation is far outstriping the growth of the country population. Congestion of people in cities will ultimately pro- duce the most satisfactory economic conditions, and it may even lower the physical stamina, and it will certainly tend to lower the moral stamina of our race. It is, therefore, of really | vital, as well as economic importance l that the country be opened up and made successful, attractive and pro fftab1e, so that this alarming drift of population may be checked, and cer- tainly an adequate system of public | roads will go far toward producing 1 the desired result.
 The good roads bill places the su- pervision of the federal aid to the 1 | of agriculture. It limits the share of federal aid to 50 per cent. of the cost and under no circumstances to more than $10,O0O a mile.
 Speaking of the preparedness fea,- | ture of the bill, the committee said
 '"The importance of an adequate system of public roads from a mi1i- | tary standpoint will become increas- ing1y evident with the development and more general use of the motor truck. Experience in the terrific struggle now going on in the eastern I hemisphere has demonstrated the case with which enormous bodies of troops and immense supplies can be moved | by means of motor trucks, and while l it may not be feasible desirable to construct outright a system of strate- | gic highways, owing to the vast ex- tent of territory com mprised in the Uni l ted States, the existence of excellent | highways in all parts of the country | would of itself be an important factor | in the strategy of war"