was entirely different in character and did not contain a single idea herein expressed, but I submit this as my present idea as to how it might best be worked out.

NEW MEXICO.

ROBERT P. ERVIEN, SECRETARY STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION, SANTA FE.

I would suggest the following: That the Government should build a portion of the post road and also a portion of some other State road. In connection with this the State should build an equal portion of the post road and an equal portion on some State road, the Government to maintain the post road and the State to maintain its State road.

I would suggest that these two roads be picked out for uniformity in character as nearly as possible in order that we may determine who gives the best care to the same at the least expense.

You must realize that the State does not have near the funds at its disposal that the Government has for building roads and maintaining them, and if a like amount was expended by each we could then determine the best results.

Regarding the submitting of a detailed plan workable for Federal and State cooperation in construction and maintenance I think this can only be done by a conference between one of your supervisors and our State engineer. Mr. Burrell, of the Department of Agriculture, has been here lecturing on good roads, and I think he will advise you from his department that our conditions are considerably different from most of the conditions that he has been lecturing about. Our roads are practically dry 360 days of the year, and there is no possibility of caring for the same under the same plans and conditions that the eastern and southern roads are taken care of, where there seems to be plenty of rainfall.

The road business is comparatively new to some of the members of our commission, the only practical man on this work being our State engineer, who has really been connected with the Reclamation Service and not with many good roads projects.

We are endeavoring to obtain the best results on a very small amount of money which is permitted for use by the State. Our assessments are small and our taxation must naturally correspond.

NEW YORK.

C. GORDON REEL, SUPERINTENDENT OF HIGHWAYS, ALBANY.

(1) Any plan of Federal aid to be successful must take cognizance of the different steps of development of the highway systems of the different States of the Union, the character of the mileage of each, and the amount of funds locally available for construction and maintenance. In some States highway improvement by the State has made only a small beginning, while in others a considerable amount of progress has been made.

The State highway and county highway systems of the State of New York contemplate an improved mileage of 12,000 miles and form a network covering the entire State and touching bordering States and Provinces at through traffic points, so any plan of Federal aid must, of necessity, be superimposed to a large extent on improvements already made or about to be made by this State, and any attempt to confine Federal aid to our present unimproved highways, or town roads, as we designate them, would result in a fantastic layout.

Therefore any proposition of Federal aid for the State of New York must of necessity be based upon the maintenance of roads now improved and cooperation with the State in the improvement of the portions now unimproved.

(2) In my opinion the most just and practical plan for the improvement of highways by means of Federal aid is a plan in which the Federal Government and the several States join in furnishing funds for such improvement, the State having charge of the actual work of improvement, the Federal department of highways having general supervision of the execution of plans previously agreed on between itself and the State, the amount of such aid to each State to be determined by a graduated scale of payments by the Federal Government to the different States, the percentage of such scale being determined by assessed valuation of each State (the poorer States being entitled to a higher percentage and the more wealthy a lower), and the amount to be paid fixed by computing this percentage upon the amount raised by the State itself for the purpose of repair and maintenance as a basis. This is along somewhat similar lines to the present plan under which the State of New York pays State aid to the towns thereof. The percentage of State aid is as follows:

In towns having an assessed valuation of $5,000 or less per mile, 100 per cent; $5,000 to $7,000 valuation per mile, 90 per cent; $7,000 to $9.000 valuation per mile, 80 per cent; $9,000 to $11,000 valuation per mile. 70 per cent; $11,000 to $13,000 valuation per mile, 60 per cent: $13,000 to $25,000 valuation per mile, 50 per cent; over $25,000, one-tenth of 1 per cent of the assessed valuation.

In explanation of the actual working of the foregoing, suppose that a town having a valuation of $5,000 to $7,000 per mile raises by tax $4.000 for highway purposes, by the table we find that its valuation entitles the town to 90 per cent of State aid, consequently the State donates to the town $3,600, making a total of $7,600 available for highway purposes therein.

Federal aid should, in my opinion, be granted only to States having State highway departments, organized under laws which create such departments, as a fixed and permanent organization.

(3) Of necessity, in the State of New York the character of roads to be benefited would be both improved and unimproved highways, having in mind that ultimately the entire mileage will be an improved mileage. In many other States existing conditions are exactly the reverse of this, and an entirely different character of improvement and method of treatment must be adapted for a long period to come. Under a "Federal aid " plan the Federal department of highways might determine in each commonwealth the particular form in which Federal aid should be applied, thus securing, as I believe, in connection with the State aid feature outlined in (2) the very best results pos

sible for any given expenditure. Under this plan a given amount of money is set aside by the Federal Government to add to that set aside by the State, the amount thereof being in proportion to the needs of the State and the manner of its expenditure being determined by taking into consideration both the character of highways to be improved and the amount of funds available therefor.

(4) In my opinion Federal aid must necessarily be applied to both construction and maintenance as, for example, presumably, the system of highways eligible to receive Federal aid in the State of New York will in the very near future all be improved highways of a high class. In some of the other States a very large percentage of the mileage which would naturally come within the scope of a "Federal aid" plan must, for a long time, consist of earth roads, and some of these extremely poor quality; consequently the Federal highway department should be, in my opinion, allowed to exercise its discretion as to the amount per mile to be expended, both in determining the character and amount of improvement and the character and amount of maintenance which should be applied to any road within the scope of the "Federal aid " plan.

(5) The funds provided by the Federal Government should be applied by the State department of highways under the general supervision of the Federal Government to such an extent as would satisfy the Federal Government that the money had been wisely and economically applied. The character and place of expenditure should be determined by agreement between the Federal and State authorities as to whether the same should be applied to construction or maintenance or both.

(6) As answered in (2) the States would receive Federal aid in varying percentages, but each State would have a fixed percentage applicable to the entire State. When Federal aid would be applied to the improvement of any highway the amount would be determined by this factor applied to the cost of the improvement and similarly the amount to be applied in maintenance would be determined by this same factor applied to the amount raised by the State locally.

The affairs of Federal aid should be administered by a Federal highway department organized under laws giving it competent jurisdiction. Actual construction in the different States by a Federal department of highways direct, unless such State has no organized commission or department of highways, I should regard as unworkable, unwise, and doomed to failure from the beginning. Under a "Federal aid" plan as outlined in (2) and (3), if sharing in the expense of the repair and maintenance of Federal-aid roads the Federal highway department may be given authority and control sufficient to safeguard the monetary interests of the Federal Government and to make certain that plans desired by the Federal highway department are properly carried out at the same time utilizing the local organization of the different State highway departments in the execution of such plans.

WM. E. PETTY, ACTING DIVISION ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS, WATERTOWN.

Several States, New York among them, are spending large sums of money for highway construction, while others are doing but little or nothing, so it seems but fair that Federal aid to any State or

county should be based upon the money actually expended by that State or county for permanent highway improvement, and should be used only for such improvement, as the so-called temporary repairs are a waste of money in this section.

The amount appropriated should, I believe, be used entirely for construction, the local authorities to arrange for the maintenance.

The Federal supervision should be confined to apportioning the funds appropriated, and to giving assistance when requested by the local authorities in organizing and supervising local bureaus for construction and maintenance work.

There should be a Federal employee in each district familiar with construction and maintenance work, whose duty it would be to examine and inspect the construction and maintenance of the highways and report to the Federal bureau head. Some provision should be made for withholding the Federal aid if the local authorities wasted their funds or did not keep the roads in good condition after construction.

The proportion of the money appropriated by the Federal Government to the amount appropriated by the local government would be the principal factor in determining the extent of the Federal supervision, as it would not be desirable to use a large percentage of the appropriation for supervision.

A Federal bureau at Washington, with subbureaus in each State or district, these subbureaus to be in close touch with the State department of highways, so that the Federal bureau would know at all times the State's expenditures for permanent highways and their condition.

A. C. RAPELJE, SUPERINTENDENT DUTCHESS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS, POUGHKEEPSIE.

Your communication of 21st instant, in which you ask me to give my views on six questions, pertaining to "Federal aid in the construction of post roads," is at hand. For the past five years I have been connected with town road work, and have seen a large number of State and county roads constructed, also repaired. From this experience I have gathered that any Federal aid given through the medium of State aid for this class of work would become involved in an enormous additional expenditure for disbursement on account of increased official staff, clerical aid, inspection, etc. In my opinion the establishment of a Federal aid bureau, similar to our town highway bureau, working on a basis only to assist towns in bettering the condition of rural free delivery routes, would be the ideal problem for Federal aid, and let the State and county roads take care of themselves. In aiding this class of roads you are reaching out to aid a vastly greater number of people than would be possible by assisting in building a speedway from coast to coast largely for the wealthy automobile class. We have in this county miles and miles of roads over which rural free delipery routes are operating that are very much in need of repairs, viz, subbase of stone, improved drainage, concrete sluices, and dangerous curves. To my mind work of this class performed with the Federal and State aids would be far-reaching in its favorable impression with all classes and conditions of mankind who travel these roads. In the State of New York there

has not yet been perfected a road surface on State or county roads that will withstand the traffic; cases in our county are not only frequent but general where roads completed last year have gone to pieces on the surface and required repairs this year. The resurfacing work done throughout this county this year on certain roads was done in a manner that has created much dissatisfaction with all users of the roads. For this reason I feel that to aid this class of work would simply be assisting in a cause which is yet lacking in standards and has not yet reached a strictly business basis. In other words, to speak plainly and truthfully, politics and the best sort of road work are not good mixers.

FRANK D. LYON, FORMERLY DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF NEW YORK STATE,

ALBANY.

(1) As to a general plan upon which this Federal aid should be given:

The first and most important step would seem to be the establishment of a Federal highway department, the chief of such department by law clothed with sufficient power and authority to cooperate with and to offer to the various States such inducements as might be provided by law for perfecting an organization within any State for the purpose of the repair, improvement, and maintenance of such public highways as shall have been adopted as Federal highways by the legislature of any State after having been approved by the Federal department of highways.

Such department having been established by the Federal Government, and a department also having been established within any State desirous of obtaining Federal aid for the repair, improvement, and maintenance of such designated Federal highways, then, in accordance with an equitable plan inaugurated and provided for by proper appropriations for Federal aid, Federal aid could then be granted to the various States.

The construction and maintenance of Federal highways by the United States Government at its expense can not be regarded as Federal aid. Federal aid for the improvement, repair, and maintenance of a Federal highway would be perfectly proper, but for a Federal Government to undertake to inaugurate a system of construction or building of such Federal roads and the maintenance of the same at the sole expense of the United States Government could not and should not be deemed wise or expedient under the guise of Federal aid.

(2) To what extent the plan should require the State or local authorities to contribute to the amount of money appropriated, and to what extent do you think your State or local authorities would be willing to cooperate with the Federal Government?

New York State within the next two years will have completed the construction of all of the main highways of the State which could possibly be designated as Federal highways, and it would seem that the Legislature of the State of New York would be willing to cooperate through its highway department with the Federal department of highways to the extent of designating such main thoroughfares as might be accepted and established as Federal highways by the

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