The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-05
GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING BETTER
 ROADS PROGRAM
Transportation Problem Is Only Difficulty To Be
 Faced.

Washington, Jan. 5.-The greatest ! road-building program in the history of the country is now under way, and will extend throughout the year 1920 according to David F. Houston, Secre- i tary of Agriculture, in whose depart ! ment is the Federal good roads bu- i reau.
 Secretary Houston says road work has been facilitated and much inn petus given the good roads movement by the amendments to the Federal aid road act. These amendments were adopted during the Sixty-Fifth Con- gress, which was under Democratic control.
 Discussing the nationwide cam paign for better roads, which are made possible by Federal aid in con- junction with the States, Secretary Houston says:
 'tIt is interesting to note that up to July l. 1919, Estate bond issues aggregating $224,S00,o00 had been authorized and approved by popular
 vote and that provision has been
 made for voting next year on pro-
 posa1s for the issuance of additional State road bonds to the extent of ap- proximately $314,o00.0O0. During the
 present and the next fiscal year there
 will be made available for road inn provement at least one billion dol lars. Certainly few laws, if any. have
 produced greater results, either in
 terms of helpful legislation and ma chinery, than the Federal aid road act. Tt seems clear. in the circum-
 stances, that the principal limiting factors in the 1920 program will be those of rail transportation for, and production of, suitable road material, the contracting. organizations avail able, and the labor supply"
 Secretary Houston says the 1919 program for road building was great 1 CT than any preceding year and was so great, in fact, that many of the states must postpone until 1920 the expenditure of Federal funds simply | because it is necessary to develop ex- ! perienced contracting and engineer 1 ing organizations from the stagnant
 conditions brought about by the
 war.
 | Under the terms of the Federal road act the apportionment to a 1 State for any one fiscal year remains available for expenditure until the
 end of the succeeding year. It is es- | timated at the Department of Agri- 1 culture that the funds already pro-
 vfded and allotted will be sufficient | to finance next year a program more l than four times greater than any that ! has been undertaken.
 1 Amendments to the Federal road act which the Sixty-fifth Congress
 approved are explained, in brief, to l increase from $10,000 to $20,000 per l mile the amount of Federal funds
 that may be expended by one road, and to broaden considerably the defi- 1 milton of what constitutes a rural l post road.
 Under the original wording of the
 law Federal funds could be expend- ed only on roads upon which the United States malls now are or may hereafter be transported.' This fea- 1 ture was the most troublesome to the highway departments of the several | states and caused delays because it
 required the determination in each
 instance of the exact post-route sta
 tus of the road.
 Under the amendment very few, if any, important roads will be debar-
 red from receiving Federal aid if other requirements of the law are
 met. This amendment provides that aid may be extended to "any public road a major portion of which is now
 used, or can be used, or forms con- necting link not to exceed ten miles in length of any road or roads now or hereafter used for the transporta- ton of the United States mails" The act as it now stands, Secretary Houston says, places only three limi.
 tations on the type of road which must be built. The roads aided mus
 be substantial in character" Amour 2 contributed from the Federal Treas !, ury must not exceed fifty per cent. O. . its cost or S20,0O0 per mile. FinaIl, 2 the road must be a postroad as de fined in the amended law.
 Following the amendments to tht z act Secretary Houston added "th, . regulations governing it's administra
 tion and the standard for plans spec
 ifcations and estimates were modife, |, and one of the most successful for mer state highway engineers in tn :, country was placed in charge of tn f l Federal aid work. He has at his dis 2 posal a large staff of local and dis e trict engineer aids, and no pains vii 1 be spared to provide any furthe , Federal assistant that may be need ', 1 ed.
 i, "An advisory committee, compose
 of representatives of the State high @ way departments, selected at the re V l quest of this department, by tn f American Association of State High ', way Officials, with due regard t if geographic considerations, also ha e been appointed to work in intimat
 touch with the Federal bureau, meet
 ing with its officers at stated period I and at such other times as may seer n desirable.''
 l. ------ To Heal a Couoh