The Ordway new era., 1919-05-16

under the enlarged program recently
authorized by congress, and the in
dications are that a larger volume OF
highway construction will be accomp-
lished this season than in any prev
! ious year in the history of the nation,
according to a statement recently is
sued by David F.. Houston, secretary
of agriculture.
The requisite official machinery,
says the secretary, for executing this
program-that is, the Department of
Agriculture, thru the Bureau of Pub
lie Roads on the one hand, and the
AS State highway departments on the
other-is already in existence.
The appointment of Thomas ii.
Macdonald, chief engineer of the
Iowa State Highway Commission, as
engineer in immediate charge of the
work of the Bureau of Public Roads
under the Federal aid road act, has
! just been announced by the secretary,
and it is planned that, in the near
future, Mr.. Macdonald will formally
assume the position of director of
the Buread of Public Roads.
Freight Rates an Obstacle
1t developed at the conference on
March /, that the present freight
rates are one of the principal OBJ
]
extension of highway activities The
situation was laid before the proper
officials of the Railroad Administra-
tion on March /, by representatives
of the Department of Agriculture and
/ of the State highway officials.
Secretary Houston has taken up
/ with the secretary of war the ques-
ton of releasing from the army high
way engineers in this country and
abroad, in order that their services
may be utilized during the coming
road-construction season.
The secretary's statement. in full,
is as follows:
During the war 1t was necessary
to curtail road-construction opera
tions because of the difficulties of
securing transportation, materials,
and the requisite services Now that
the situation has changed, the work
will be actively resumed and vigor-
ously prosecuted, Notwithstanding the
fact that conditions are still abnormal
in some respects, especially with re-
ference to the prices of materials and
supplies. II is not believed that the
people of the nation can wait for
prices to recede before beginning in
dustrial operations. Such hesitation
will add to the difficulties instead OF
tightening them.
1.-The congress at its last session,
accepting the recommendations of the
Department of Agriculture. not only
made available from the Federal
Treasury large additional sums for
the states but also made some i'm
pOrtant amendments to the Federal
aid road act These amendments
will have the effect of greatly lessen
ing the difficulties of selecting and
constructing needed roads. The
amount of Federal funds available for
road building on March l. was over
72.900,0O0, which under the law
must be matched by at least an equal
amount from the states, making a
total of $145,8OO.0OO. including ap-
proximately $9.SO0,OOO from Federal
and state sources for roads in the
national forests. On July 1, s95.000.-
600 more of Federal funds will be-
come available for general road pur
poses and $4,0O0.00O for national
forest roads. which, with equal con-
tributions from the states, will pro-
vide an additional 100000 for
| Federal aid road work. making an
aggregate sum of 100000 for
the calendar year. In other words,
the 1919 program for Federal aid
road building is greater than any pre-
vious annual road-building accomp-
lishments in this country. 1t is so
great. in fact, that the states will
undoubtedly defer taking up part of
the Federal funds until 1920. because
experienced contracting and engineer
ing organizations must be developed
from the stagnant conditions of the
war period before any exceptional
I \ ,f hrf
way.
State Road Plans Extensive
1.-The states and their civil subdi-
amount of road work without Federal
aid. The extent of this is uncertain
and will depend upon local labor,
industrial. and agricultural condi-
tions. The present Indications are
that approximately $2S0,000,000 will
be spent in this way.
'"The Federal aid road act, as
amended, places only three limita-
tions on the type of road to be con-
| structed, as follows:
81. That the roads shall be sub
stantial in character This means
that the road must be constructed,
so that it will carry the prospective
traffic with such maintenance expen-
ses that the total annual charges will
represent reasonable expenditure
for the public service rendered by
the highway. 1t Is to the interest of
the states that the roads on which
Federal funds are used be substan
TALLY constructed. because the law
requires the states or other civil sub
divisions, as a prerequisite to receiv-
ing further funds. to maintain pro-
perly all roads built with Federal aid.
There is nothing in the law which re-