Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1916-03-30
THE SHACKELFORD
POST ROAD BILL
Federal Promised to States
Which Cooperate.

Washington, D. c., March 27.-
The Shackleford bill has passed
the house and is now in the senate.
AS passed by the house it carried an
annual appropriation of $25, 100000
to aid the states in construction and
maintaining Of rural post roads. The
bill will be considered in the senate
and the result is expected to be the
best road measure that has ever been
proposed by the government. The
senate bill and the house bill will
probably be considered in conference
and a joint bill obtained that will
be satisfactory to both houses.
The senate bill which has been
pressed by Senator Bankhead of
Alabama, provides for the year 1917
an appropriation Of $5,000,00O, for
the year 1918 an appropriation of
$1O,O0O,0O0, for the year 1919 an
appropriation of SIS, 100000, for the
year 1920 an appropriation of $780,
100000, and for the year 1921 an
appropriation of $25,000,000.
B.: Conditions.
To prevent waste of the funds the
secretary of agriculture must CO.
operate with the states and each
state must have a highway depart
ment and both the government and
the state shall agree on the roads to
be constructed and the method of
construction. The state shall re-
ceive it's share of the money from the
government, one-third according to
the area which each state bears to
the total area of all the states; one
third in the ratio which the popu-
lation of each state bears to the to-
tai population of all the states, and
one-third in the ratio which the
mileage of rural delivery routes and
star routes in each state bears to the
total mileage of rural delivery
routes and star routes in all the
states at the close of the next pre-
yeding fiscal gear. The secretars or
agriculture and the state highway
department of each state may joint
ly determine at what times, and in
what amounts, payments, as work
progresses, shall be made under this
act, and payments of these amounts
is to be made by the secretary of the
treasury on warrants drawn by the
secretary of agriculture. All road
projects under this act are to be ap-
proved by the secretary of agricul-
ture before they can be made
charge against the appropriations
made by congress, the act providing
that he shall approve plans, specifi-
cations and estimates. The states or
their subdivisions must maintain the
roads built with the federal aid, for
the secretary of agriculture is au-
thorized to withhold further such aid
where maintenance is not properly
carried on.
The building of good roads for pos
tai purposes which can be used for
industrial purposes also is to be q
co-partnership matter between the
nation and the states. The United
States will match dollars with the
states. Under the conditions noted
in the bill, the United States will pay
dollar to the states for the build
ing of rural post roads for every dol
lar they spend for the same purpose;
no more and no less. It is to be q
fifty-ffty affair between Washington
and the states. The states that pay
nothing on their own account will
get nothing under the terms of the
bill and whatever the states do in
road-building under this bill must be
done under the supervision and with
the approval of the secretary of ag-
riculture. There can be surely no
objection to so fair an arrangement
If the states mean business.
There will be no attempt on the
part of the government at Washing
ton to interfere with the domestic
affairs of the states-all that will be
insisted upon is that If the states
care to participate they must partlc-
ipate under the terms of the bill.