system. As time went on these bicycle paths were widened for carriages and finally for automobiles until now the great boulevard system as first outlined is nearly completed.

The same plan of procedure had to be carried out in regard to the water system of Seattle, which took nineteen years to finally get into running operation after the plans were first drawn up. From this we see the benefits which come to the city through the continuous work of one man in office.

Concerning tourist travel benefits, Mr. Thomson stated that there was nothing more profitable in clean coin if the roads were of the proper sort. A man, however, will not travel for two or three days of hard' riding to see one thing. We should find some particular thing in the State worth traveling to see, and then build something else near it. In building roads we must first have our eye on the cities and centers of business, except for the several good and necessary arterial thoroughfares.

The Mechanism of Iowa's New Road Law

By Professor C. B. McCullough, Oregon Agricultural College Throughout the history of road development in Iowa runs the story of a conflict. A conflict between far-sighted and public-spirited policies and those actuated by motives of petty jealousy, ignorance and conceit, policies moreover which from time to time were fanned into flaming activity by selfish private interests whose program of exploitation of county funds would have been seriously embarrassed by corrective legislation.

Naturally enough in the road laws of the State, such a conflict was clearly reflected, and the tangled complex accumulation of legislative enactments up until the year 1913 presented a striking resemblance to the directions for some of the newer dances, "one step forward," "two steps backward," with more than the customary amount of "hesitation," and "side stepping."

The year 1913, however, witnessed the enactment of a road law which, judged in the light of four years' operation, has gone a long way toward remedying the evils of the old system, or, more correctly, lack of system. This measure known as the Brockway-Balkema road measure will doubtless go down in history as one of the most complete and comprehensive pieces of road legislation ever enacted by any one assembly. Time will not permit any lengthy discussion of the law in all its many phases, there are, however, several points which in view of the problem now facing the State of Oregon deserve special mention.

First, the new law simplified the procedure necessary for the expending of road taxes and made it possible to consolidate numerous small levies into one general fund. Under the old system there were nine different methods of raising revenue for the building of county roads, several of these being hedged about with certain legal restrictions and limitations; there were also five different sources of revenue for the building of township or local roads. The new measure, recognizing the difficulty in operating under such a complex system of

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taxation, consolidated all these numerous small funds into the county road fund and the township road funds. Aside from the ease of operation, this consolidation in removing the legal restrictions upon the expenditure of certain small funds made it possible to concentrate on one system of improvement and work intelligently to a definite end, whereas in the past the same amount of money, split up into small amounts, each insufficient for any definite improvement, was in many instances dissipated and wasted.

Second, the new measure provided for a classification of the road mileage of the state into two divisions, the county system and the township or local system. The local system, representing the travel from farm to main thoroughfare, was placed under the jurisdiction of the local or township boards and improved from funds raised by local taxation. The county system-the main arterial system of travel-was placed under the control of the county boards and improved with funds collected at large.

Under the old system when both local and county funds could be spent anywhere within their respective jurisdictions, the bulk of both local and county money was expended on the main roads, the local or by-roads receiving scant attention. The new system first concentrated the entire road resources of the county upon from ten to fifteen per cent of the county mileage. With the same funds, therefore, much more intensive road improvement was possible than ever before. On the other hand, the local funds were devoted to the improvement of local roads, and local roads only, making possible for the first time in the history of the State a systematic program of improvement for these roads. One of the strongest arguments for the efficiency of the present law is the surprising manner in which these local roads have been gotten into passable shape.

The method of designation of the county road system is worthy of special mention at this time. The designation was made by the board of supervisors of the county, and marked upon a map furnished by the State Highway Commission, which was thereafter placed upon file and open to

public inspection. A date was fixed for the hearing of petitions and remonstrances according to usual procedure, and every taxpayer in the county given the opportunity to be heard. The county boards were given rather complete jurisdiction in this matter, but to promote continuity in the entire road system of the State the Highway Commission was constituted a board of final review whose decision should be final and binding.

Third, recognizing the need of centralized control, the new measure created a State Highway Commission of three members, two appointive and one ex officio, and gave such commission general supervision of the entire road and bridge work of the state. Several duties were specifically imposed upon the commission by statute, among them that of devising and adopting plans for road and bridge construction suited to the needs of the various counties of the State. This called for the organization of a large force of engineers and for the preparation and distribution of standard drawings for bridge and culvert structures, standard profiles, road sections and the like; in fact under this clause of the law, there was undertaken and carried out during the two years following its passage, one of the most thorough and comprehensive systems of standardization ever yet applied to road and bridge construction. In pure financial returns, aside from the yield in uniformity and quality of construction, this one activity of the commission has saved the State many times the entire cost of administration. The duty of disseminating specific information of value to the road builders of the state was also imposed upon the commission by statute, and found its fulfillment in the organization of the department of research and tests and in the publication of a monthly service bulletin, through which the road officials throughout the State were kept informed as to relative quality and prevailing prices for materials for road and bridge construction.

Fourth, the new law created the office of county engineer and made his appointment by the board of county supervisors obligatory. Commercial organizations everywhere have not been slow to realize that expert, technically trained, and

experienced supervision over their various departmental activities is the surest method of promoting efficiency and reducing overhead expenses. One has but to travel the Iowa roads and note the systematic road work from carefully prepared engineering plans and profiles, the permanent bridge construction going up under trained inspection, or to visit the county offices and note the carefully prepared records of cost wherein every dollar of tax money is accounted for, to realize that what is true of commercial enterprise has for Iowa proven equally true for the expenditure of public funds.

Fifth, the new measure provided for the adoption of a standard specification for bridge and road work, and for the letting of contracts at public and advertised lettings to the lowest responsible bidder. In times past there had been a class of petty contractors, financially and morally irresponsible, who, like Satan in the biblical narrative, "walked up and down the State and to and fro in it seeking whom they might devour." By misrepresentation of facts, and the adoption of the most unscrupulous of methods, organizations of this type in many instances were successful in "putting over" that most pernicious of all road evils, the yearly or "blanket” contract. Under such an agreement inferior materials, inadequately designed structures, and careless and faulty workmanship were dumped upon the county at abnormal prices, prices in many instances 300 or 400 per cent in excess of parallel competitive prices. The speaker is in possession of data which show prices up to $60.00 per cubic yard for concrete culvert construction, paid during the same year that competitive prices ranged from $7.00 to $13.00 per cubic yard. In another instance a concrete bridge was constructed under a yearly or blanket contract at a cost of $2,080.00. After standing for two years, during which time $400.00 were spent for repairs, this so-called permanent structure was in such an unsafe condition that it became necessary to replace it with properly designed construction. The new law seriously embarrassed the promotion of such enterprises as these and if no other good had resulted this clause alone would have amply justified an expenditure many times the entire cost of administration under it.