(3) I presume that when you refer to the character of the roads, you want to know as to what construction should be used. This should be determined by the Federal Government, and different materials and constructions should be used in different sections depending upon the availability of the material, the climatic conditions, and the service that the road is to be put to.

(4) The amount appropriated should be limited to construction, but should be given jointly for construction and maintenance, and I believe the maintenance should be attended to entirely by the Government, and made a demonstration and used for the purpose of obtaining statistics.

(5) In order to make the roads of any value as a demonstration, the supervision should be absolutely in the hands of the Federal Government.

(6) In order to be of the greatest benefit, the roads should be continuous, so as to be a standard for all road construction and maintenance. In a very small way I have been trying this experiment for some time here in this State. I am building and maintaining roads. aggregating some 200 miles, with the agreement that I shall return any profit to the county in which I do the work. These are through roads, and the work I feel has been of surprising benefit to the roads in the vicinity. I believe that Federal aid will never be successful until the responsibility is placed upon the Federal Government, as a division of responsibility will never be satisfactory, and I believe that the major part of the expense should therefore be placed upon the Government.

NORTH CAROLINA.

B. CAMERON, FORMER PRESIDENT FARMERS' NATIONAL CONGRESS,

STAGVILLE.

The Farmers' National Congress (of which I was an officer for many years and finally became its president) has always felt that the General Government should encourage the States in building and maintaining good roads; the State should encourage the counties; the counties should encourage the townships. Therefore the Government, State, county, and township should contribute their equitable shares. This would require each State to have a highway commission to direct the matter.

Then I read a little book entitled "The Highways and By-ways of Great Britain as Seen from an Automobile." Some of these trips I had taken myself, and the thought occurred to me, Why shouldn't modern America with all of its boastfulness have some good roads as well as ancient Rome? For after all the fine roads in Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Italy are simply the old Roman roads kept up in those countries.

Hence I thought we should have some national roads as well as local roads. The Department of Agriculture is interested in these on account of the farming interest, the Department of War is interested on account of national defense, and the Post Office Department is interested on account of the rural delivery of the mails and parcels. They could unite their interests and have the Army Corps of Engineers survey these national roads. I should say have a network of them, connect the capitals of the respective States with the capital

of the Nation and with each other, then have some half dozen transcontinental roads from ocena to ocean, and a few longitudinal roads from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, say one along the Atlantic, one along the Pacific, one on each side of the Appalachian chain, one on each side of the Rockies, and one on each side of the Mississippi River. Already some of these have taken shape. The international highway from Quebec, Canada, to Miama, Fla., was organized in November, 1911, and at the annual meeting in 1912 we were amazed at the progress made in one year. The Pacific coast highway is also making rapid progress since its organization, and now there is a plan on foot to connect these two by a route sufficiently far south to be used all the year, especially in winter when a more northern route will be blocked by snow and ice. These three together will form the longest road in the world.

In the early days of the Republic dirt roads were all that we had, and it was put into the Constitution that the Government should build post roads. Then with the discovery of steam everything rushed to the steamboat, and when they found that they could put steam on wheels there was a rush to the railroads. Now with the advent of the automobile we return to our first love-the public road. road.

The international highway from Quebec, Canada, to Miami, Fla., will need aid chiefly between Washington and Richmond, Va., as that country was devastated by war, and Fredericksburg is the only town between them, and yet it is one of the most historic sections of our country. Therefore it has occurred to many that the Lincoln memorial should be a highway instead of a Greek temple or a park or something else, and I think it exceedingly appropriate to make it from Richmond through Washington to Gettysburg, as the capital of the Nation would thus be linked with the capital of the Confederacy. The North and the South would be bound together, and this section would be a link in the great international highway from Quebec to Miami, and it would be a fulfillment of Mr. Lincoln's cry of "On to Richmond." So I hope that you will have an eye to this also, as the fiftieth celebration of peace between the North and the South is much more important to us than the proposed celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the peace with Great Britain under the treaty of Ghent; certainly it is more desirable as a peace memorial.

Now, from the foregoing I will answer your six questions.

(1) As to a general plan upon which Federal aid should be given. I should say that the aid should go to the States in a manner similar to that given to the various agricultural and mechanical colleges in the respective States.

(2) To what extent the plan should require the State or local authorities to contribute, etc.

I should say that every dollar the General Government gives the State should cover with another dollar, and then the State can deal with her counties and townships herself in the use of this joint sum. On this basis I think every State will cooperate with the Government. (3) On what character of roads should the amount appropriated by the Federal Government be used.

I would say certainly on the national roads and rural free-delivery routes, and on such other roads as the State may desire cooperation

on, the Government being always ready to render assistance in the way of engineering and road materials and chemicals and mechanical appliances.

(4) The amount appropriated should be jointly for construction and maintenance.

(5) To what extent, if aid is given, should there be Federal supervision?

I would say on national roads and wherever else the State may ask for it.

P. B. BEARD, SALISBURY, N. C.

(1) A stipulated sum should be given each State by the Federal Government in aid to public roads.

(2) The county, township, and State should be required to contribute two for one to get the Government aid.

(3) On all public roads, as the mail carriers use all public roads. (4) Should be given jointly for construction and maintenance or four-fifths for construction and one-fifth for maintenance.

(5) I do not think it is necessary for Federal supervision where a State has good roads associations or State associations through which the supervision could be conducted.

(6) By causing the States and counties to put up $2 for one supplied by the Federal Government it will place three times the amount of the Federal appropriation to be spent on roads.

NORTH DAKOTA.

T. R. ATKINSON, STATE ENGINEER, BISMARCK.

(1) I believe that Federal aid should be given to interstate roads, such as would make continuous highways from the eastern to the western coast and from north to south. I do not believe Federal aid should be given except upon such roads. The location of these roads to be determined by a joint commission consisting of the highway commissions of the several States, together with the Office of Public Roads at Washington, D. C.

(2) The plan should require the State or local authorities to contribute an equal amount of money appropriated by the Federal Government. North Dakota is prohibited by the constitution from granting State aid, but the constitution is in process of amendment and if this amendment passes by a vote of the people at the general election in 1914, laws providing for levying taxes for State-aid purposes can be enacted at the 1915 session of the legislature. I believe after that time North Dakota and the local authorities would be willing to cooperate with the Federal Government in highway construction.

(3) The amount appropriated by the Federal Government should be used in permanent highway construction. That is, some class of paving should be used on these roads, the width of the same to be determined by the traffic.

(4) I believe that the amount appropriated should be limited to construction.

(5) If Federal aid is given Federal supervision should extend to the preparing of plans and specifications for the work and a general supervisory control over the construction work. The actual work of construction and maintenance should be done by the State or local authorities.

(6) A commission consisting of eminent highway engineers of the United States should be appointed to determine the character of the roads through each State and should be authorized to prepare specifications for their construction. It should be the duty of the Office of Public Roads at Washington to inspect the work and see that the plans and specifications as provided by the commission are carried out. The highway commission in each State should have charge of the actual work of construction.

J. DEXTER PEIRCE, CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON GOOD ROADS, LARIMORE COMMERCIAL CLUB, LARIMORE.

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

In my opinion the aid should be distributed in proportion to area. In that way it would be applied more nearly in accordance with the requirements. The larger States have more miles of roads to build than small States. The more sparsely settled and least developed States are more in need of the aid than the older and more developed, and their development will add to the prosperity of the older States.

(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 you think your State or local authorities would be willing to cooperate with the Federal Government.

It would seem to me that the Federal Government should contribute 20 per cent, the State 20 per cent, the county 20 per cent, and the township or abutting land, or both combined, 40 per cent. Our State could not contribute very much at the present time. Our constitution limits our bonding capacity to a nominal figure and our taxation for State purposes to 4 mills. This scarcely meets the requirements of the ordinary expenses of the State. It is therefore necessary to amend the constitution, and I believe this will be done as soon as it is possible to do it.

(3) On what character of roads should the amount appropriated by the Federal Government be used?

Federal aid should not be confined to post roads, but should be apportioned to any roads approved by the Federal commission or engineers in charge of the work.

(4) Should the amount appropriated be limited to construction or maintenance, or be given jointly for construction and maintenance? Aid should be given jointly to construction and maintenance; otherwise they would not be kept up properly. That is the only way to retain control.

(5) To what extent, if aid is given, should there be Federal supervision?

If possible the State engineer should be appointed a deputy to the Federal engineer. In that way the ideas of the Federal and State bureaus could be harmonized and coordinated.

(6) Submit a detailed plan workable for Federal and State cooperation in construction and maintenance.

I will not go into details of organization, as that can be done better by experts in that line. I believe the main objects to be kept in view are to furnish sufficient aid to encourage local authorities to greater activity in road building, and at the same time secure sufficient supervision by Federal and State authorities so that money expended shall be applied with greater intelligence than at present. Twenty per cent contributed by the Federal Government and 20 per cent by the State should be sufficient for that purpose, and the money appropriated would go further and accomplish more than if the percentage is larger.

OHIO.

A. H. HINKLE, MAINTENANCE DEPUTY, STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT,

COLUMBUS.

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

(3) On what character of roads should the amount appropriated by the Federal Government be used?

To build a system of national roads to be laid out and adopted, at least in a general way, when the appropriation is made. Such a system of roads should be chosen regardless of State boundaries. With reference to the distribution of the appropriation, State boundaries should not be considered except, possibly, to provide for a fair distribution of the funds over the accepted system of highways. Why?

(a) These roads will easily fall within the constitutional meaning of post roads if this question is raised, for no citizen of the United States, with his eyes wide open, can fail to predict that country mail will, in the near future, be mostly carried by automobiles where there is a suitable road over which to travel. Practically every main road. is, therefore, certain to be a post road after it is improved.

(b) The supply and demand of automobiles will in the nod distant future reach an equilibrium which means a normal price for the same, a price reduced considerably below their present quotation. This means more automobiles and hence a demand for better roads, especially better main roads, because of the increased through traffic.

(c) The large cities of our land will pay a goodly portion of any general tax, although it may be derived from a tariff. Hence, such a tax for road purposes should be expended where the cities will receive some direct benefit from it.

(d) A revolution in our methods of transportation is rapidly taking place. If good transcontinental highways are constructed, thousands of dollars now expended in foreign travel will be expended at home.

(e) If the appropriation was distributed so as to be used on all rural mail routes, it would be so scattered and often wasted under our present system of administration that after millions of dollars had been expended over a period of years we would not be able to look back and see any permanent good that had come from the same.