The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1916-09-22
essential to comfortable living. es

essential to comfortable living, es-
sential to proper community develop
ment, especially to the development
of rural life, to efficient production
and orderly marketing of farm pro
ducts, to good schools, and to the de-
velopment of satisfactory rural life.
Many people, however, do not ap-
preciate this, and l have occasionally
met road officers who, when the i'm,
portance of good roads was empha-
sized. have said
Yes, but they tcst so mucn"
Apparently they have not thought
how much more bad roads cost, not
only in dollars and cents, but also in
oil those indirect ways for h;ch one
can make no definite calculation.
This law appeals to me as of es-
sential Importance, not so much be-
cause it carries with it out of the
federal treasury an appropriation OF
$S5,000.000, not because it will he
met by an appropriation of SIS,
600 or more out of state funds, if
all the states accept the act, but be-
cause as great as is the aggregate, it
is relatively insignificant in compari-
son with the amounts the states are
now annually expending and will
spend during the period covered by
the act.
Huge Sums Spent
| remember that, on one occasion.
when | was speaking to public Off
cial about the road bill and suggest
ed that we ought to begin with a
modest initial appropriation of three,
four or five millions of dollars, he
expressed surprise and said that such
an amount would not get us any
where; that the expenditure by the
nation of few millions of dollars
for roads would be merely trifing
/ with the matter
/ | asked him if he knew what the
| people of the nation were contribut-
ing annually for road building, that
the nation was already expending the
equivalent of nearly half of what the
Panama canal has cost.
OF course he did not. And the ma
jority of the people do not realize
that the nation is expending approx
imately $3.50, 100000 year for
/ roads
The main question that made i'm
mediately concerned with, that the
people of the nation are Immediately
concerned with, is whether we shall
get dollor's result for every dollar
we expend for roads.
Educational Campaign
am quite sure that if we do so
and we can convince the people 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 admins
tering this law, of devising gooC
road systems, of careful selection OF
roads, of formulating projects, of de.
veloping plans and specifications, ot
having all matters considered or
their merit by competent men, seen
to me to lie at the root of this bust
ness.
G hn ze ~.
people are induced fully to realiz,
the necessity of placing skillfull anl
experienced men in charge of roa,
building and road maintenance, ;
great advance will have been mad,
and the efforts of those who lahore,
} to secure the legislation will hav
been rewarded
Real Experts Will Be Needed
| assume, as matter of necessity
that this law will require the EN-
ployment in every state of experts
or real experts.
This word is very much misuse
: and abused
: The public is somewhat suspicion
: of experts, because, think, so man
people pose as experts who are no
| repeat that this act will necess
tate trained intelligence in the sci
L vice of the state as well as in tn
service of the federal government.
: The act requires the state to a.
/ cept it. That, as understand it. in
: plies the assent of the state to evei
h provision of the act.
a Government Must Approve
l. One of these provisions is that pr
n jects. plans, specifications and CO..
S, tratcs shall be submitted and appro
S ed; and I have suspicion that plal
and specifications will not be appro
II ed unless they are submitted by pe
is pie who know about such things.
~ So the assent of the state inyoly
the calling of trained men into Il
fl service of every state which is nc
at without them.
e. Guarding Efficiency
at The law involves another thin