The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1916-06-15

| fact that the experimenting by coun
ty engineers cost 2.75%o or five time:
as much. And remember that aside
from the three members of the com
mission itself every employee is al
engineer out in the field working ir
active cooperation with the county
engineers. The advice and assistance
rendered by this Commission is vel
worth all it costs, and am in favor
of retaining the Highway Commission
law. Possibly there might be some
improvements in the law, but l an
not in favor of doing away with the
Commission.
Cost Of Concrete Cut Fifty Percent
One of the instances of the good
work it has accomplished is in the
cost of our bridges alone. In the
state of Iowa the cost has been re-
duced from $500 per cubic yard to
$3.50 per cubic yard. Look up the
cost per cubic yard of concrete cul
verts of few years ago in this coun,
ty and then see what 1t costs now
You will find that in 1913 you paid
$1755 not including hauling of mate
rails which would bring the cost to
at least $1,000 per cubic yard while
last year Notwithstanding the fact ce-
ment, reinforcing steel and labor
have all advanced in price, they cost
you $12.60 per cubic yard and the
queer part of it is that the same firm
is doing the work but now it is done
under supervision Of the Highway
Commission by competitive bid, while
before it was under blanket con-
tract. Has the Commission saved
you anything? Instead of there be-
ing few bridge companies that can
undertake to build bridges now, you
have many local concerns scattered
all over the state building these
bridges according to plans and speci-
fications approved by your engineers.
The saving to the tax payers in the
building of bridges has many times
paid all the cost of the Highway Com
mission
/ quote the following from cor
respondent in Iowa and it is only a
sample:
Our county has taken advan-
tage of the State Engineers adj
wise on bridge building for seven
years, or four years before it be-
came compulsory under the pres
ent law, and the cost of putting
in our bridges has decreased from
$4,000 per cubic yard to $3.50 last
year. There are two cement
bridges in our county which illus
trate the old way under bridge
company plans and methods and
the new or Highway Commission
plan. One bridge was built in
1908 by the bridge company and
cost s3750.00 The other was built
in 1915, is three feet wider, the
water way is six feet larger, the
bridge contains 81 barrels more Of
cement and it cost $1375.00."
$4,000 Saved On Steel.
In 1918 the structural steel used
for bridges was practically all pur
chased under a blanket contract en-
tered into prior to the passage of the
present Road Law at an average
price of $3.50 per hundred pounds.
In 1914 structural steel was pur
chased at advertised lettings under
the plans and standard specifications
Of the State Highway Commission at
an average price of $3.50 per hundred
Correcting for the difference in the
base price of steel for the two years
the net saving to the state on this
item alone was $1.35 per hundred and
on the total estimated amount used
100000 lbs, the saving was $3.50,
00c 90.
The apparent saving in dollars
however, is only a small fraction OF
the actual saving to the state in the
designs used and in the bet
ter construction secured through the
expert engineering of the State High
way Commission.
1t should be noted that under the
Commissions organization, expert
service is furnished all of the coun
ties of the state at minimum cost
to the state. Economy of administra
ton does not permit the individual.
counties to maintain engineers expert
in each of the different types OIL
design and construction but it is pos
sible for the state at reasonable
cost to itself to furnish this service
to all of the counties of the state
without cost to them, and all the eX
pense Of the Highway Commission
comes not from direct taxes, but from
five percent of the automobile tas
money.
Prior to 1913, many counties in the
state were paying royalties for the
use of patented bridge designs. Under
the present plan practically all OF the
designs are furnished without cost tt
the counties by the Commission.
Suits for patent Infringement
against the counties or contractors in
the state are being defended by the
Attorney General and the Highway
Commission. Three of such suits
have been brought. One of these was
withdrawn by the bridge company