Community Civics and Rural Life

by Arthur William Dunn

CHAPTER XVII

ROADS AND TRANSPORTATION

STUDIES OF THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROADS

During the years 1910-1915 the Office of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture made a continuous study, year by year, of the methods and results of road improvement in eight selected counties of the United States. [Footnote: Spotsylvania, Dinwiddie, Lee, and Wise counties in Virginia; Franklyn County in New York; Dallas County in Alabama; Lauderdale County in Mississippi; and Manatee County in Florida.] The results of the investigation are described in Bulletin No. 393 (1916) of the Department of Agriculture, which is worth sending for and studying by any school that is interested in the improvement of the community.

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VA

One of these counties was Spotsylvania County, Virginia, a map of which is shown on the opposite page. Since the Civil War the farmland in this county had gradually declined from its prosperous condition before the war until it was little better than a wilderness of second-growth timber, valued at from $5 to $15 an acre. For many months of the year the roads were well-nigh impassable. There was much wealth in timber, but it could not be marketed to advantage. The soil was very little cultivated. More farm products were shipped into Fredericksburg, the only city in the county, by rail from outside than were shipped out from the farms of the county.

MOVEMENT FOR ROAD IMPROVEMENT

Nearly one third of the population of the county lived in Fredericksburg; but under the law of the state of Virginia the people of the city could not be taxed for county purposes outside of the city. Moreover, two of the four districts of the county at first took little interest in the matter of road improvement, although they had to use the roads in going to market at Fredericksburg. Courtland and Chancellor districts, however, were determined to have better roads, and voted to raise the necessary money by selling bonds to the amount of $100,000. Three years later the other two districts, inspired by the success of Courtland and Chancellor districts, also voted bonds for road improvement to the amount of $73,000. This debt would of course have to be paid off by levying taxes upon the people of the districts. With a tax rate of $1.70 on every hundred dollars' worth of property, a farmer with a farm assessed at $3000 would pay a total tax of $51, of which $19.48 would be for the roads.

COST MUST BE JUSTIFIED

It is not always easy to convince the people of a community that it is worth while to spend so much money on their roads. They have to be shown that the expenditure will in due time pay for itself, as well as add to the convenience and pleasure of the community. Too much money spent in costly improvements on roads that are little used, or in construction that does not stand the traffic and soon wears out, is of course a bad investment. But the results in Spotsylvania County, as well as in the seven other counties studied by the Office of Public Roads, justified the cost.

STATE AND LOCAL COOPERATION

The law of Virginia provided that all highway construction in the state must be supervised by the STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER. He accordingly appointed an engineer to supervise the work in Spotsylvania County, the engineer's salary being paid by the state. The work of construction, however, was under the direction of a COUNTY BOARD OF PUBLIC ROADS. The board appointed a superintendent who hired all labor and teams and purchased all equipment and materials. Three main highways in Courtland and Chancellor districts, and leading into Fredericksburg, were chosen for improvement. Within two years more than forty miles of road were completed, or about 10 per cent of all the roads in the entire county.

MONEY FOR REPAIRS

Roads have to be kept in repair after they are constructed. By 1914 money was needed for this purpose. The farmers objected to further increase of the tax rate, so it was decided to charge TOLLS for the use of the improved highways—5 cents for a single horse and vehicle, 10 cents for two horses and a buggy, 15 cents for two horses and a wagon, 25 cents for four horses and a wagon, and from 20 cents to 35 cents for automobiles. More money than was needed was raised in this way in the first month, and the tolls were therefore reduced one half. One advantage to the county of the toll system was that automobilists and others from other districts, counties, and states would contribute to the upkeep of the roads.

EFFECT OF IMPROVEMENTS ON LAND VALUES

On the roads selected for improvement there were 35 farms including 5518 acres. In 1910, the average value of these farms, including buildings, was $14 per acre, and seldom did any one want to buy land in the neighborhood. But within two years after the road improvement seven of the 35 farms had been sold, and a large part of another, as shown in the following:

In the next two or three years a number of other farms were sold at similar increased prices, and some farms that had been abandoned were reoccupied. Large areas of land were cultivated for the first time since the Civil War. The farmers were, however, most interested for the time being in their timber wealth, and between 1909 and 1913 the shipments of forest products from Fredericksburg increased 78.2 per cent.

THE AVERAGE HAUL

Before the improvement of the roads, the average weight of load for a two-horse team in the winter and spring, when the roads were bad, was about 1200 pounds; when the roads were dry, about 2400 pounds. The cost for hauling at this rate averaged, for the year round, about 30 cents per ton per mile. After the roads were improved, the average load the year round was 4000 pounds, and the cost for hauling only 15 cents per ton per mile.

Investigate and report on:

Results of road improvement in others of the eight counties referred to on page 248 (see Bulletin 393, 1916, Department of Agriculture).

Procure or make a map of your county showing road improvement. Is your county well provided with improved roads?

Do the cities and towns in your county contribute to the improvement of the country roads?

Do the people of the rural districts of your county contribute to the improvement of the streets of the cities and towns?

Bond issues in your county for road improvement. Meaning of "bond issues."

Tax rate in your county for road improvement.

How is road improvement managed in your county?

What help does your county get from your state for road improvement?

What supervision does your state exercise over road improvement?

Are there toll roads in your county or state?

Toll roads were once common in this country. Why have tolls been generally abandoned?

Who has charge of bridge construction in your county?

From what sources does the money come for road repair in your county?

What is the cost of hauling on the roads of your county? How does this cost compare with the cost in neighboring counties and states?

Relation of land values in your county to the character of the roads.

MONEY VALUE OF GOOD ROADS

Good roads pay, in dollars and cents, provided they are made of suitable materials and with due regard to the kind and amount of traffic they are to carry. They permit of larger loads, and more loads in a given time; they save wear and tear on horses, harness, wagons, and automobiles; in the case of automobiles they save gasoline; they save the time of the farmer; they make possible a more varied agriculture by making marketing easier; they add to the value of the land.

GOOD ROADS AND COMMUNITY LIFE

But good roads pay in many other ways than in dollars and cents. In Spotsylvania County, as in other counties investigated at the same time, the improvement of the roads was followed by a decided improvement in school attendance. In more than one case it led to the improvement of the quality of the schools by the consolidation of a number of poor, one-room schoolhouses into a single larger school with better equipment and better teachers (see Chapter XIX). The relation between good roads and good schools is clearly suggested in one of the illustrations in this chapter. So, also, good roads increase the ease with which the people of the community may associate with one another, attend church or community meetings at the schoolhouse, and enjoy the social life and entertainment of the neighboring city or village. When the road is improved, the farmers along the way are more likely to keep the weeds cut, to repair broken fences or build new ones, and otherwise to beautify the adjoining premises, which adds both to the money value of property and to the enjoyment of life.

ROAD MAKING A COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE

Road making is necessarily a cooperative enterprise. In the first place, a public road serves the common interest of the entire community. The community may, through its government, exercise the RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN, taking land from adjacent farms for the purpose of laying out a new road, provided, of course, that the farmers are paid for it. In the second place, the making of a road is far too costly and difficult for an individual farmer to undertake for the benefit he himself would derive from it. It requires a great deal of labor and a high degree of technical skill.

ROAD MAKING A JOB FOR EXPERTS

It has been quite common for farmers themselves to work on the roads of their locality—"working out" their road taxes. But roads so made are seldom very good, unless the work is supervised by someone trained in the business. Whether a farmer works on the roads himself or merely pays for having it done, it is to his advantage to know something about road making. The Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural colleges now give extension courses in road making for the benefit of the farmers. It is reported that in one county of Oklahoma the pupils of forty different school districts have built more than forty miles of good roads, of course working under supervision.

VALUE OF COUNTRY ROADS TO CITIES

Good country roads are of the greatest importance, not only to the farmers and rural communities, but also to the people of cities. The road improvement in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, was of as much benefit to the people and the business of Fredericksburg as to the farmers. An excellent illustration of the recognition of the common interest of city and country in the public roads, and of effective cooperation in improving them, was given in Chapter III, page 32, in the case of Christian County, Kentucky. The wide use of the automobile has done a great deal to awaken the people of cities to their interest in country roads, and associations and journals devoted to the interests of automobilists have been active in advocating the improvement of the public highways.

GOOD ROADS NOT MERELY OF LOCAL CONCERN

In Spotsylvania County we saw, also, that the improvement of roads in two districts was a direct advantage to the farmers of the other two districts. Carrying this idea further, we shall see that the roads of one county may be of the greatest importance to other counties in the state; and those of one state of importance to other states. The crossties produced from the timber of Spotsylvania County may be wanted for railroad building in a distant state. The cotton from the plantations of Tennessee or Texas is needed at the mills in New England. The wheat of the great farms of the northwest supplies the whole nation. Most of the freight carried on the railroads and steamships has at some time and in some form been hauled in wagons and trucks over country roads. It is clear, then, that the character of the highways in any locality is a matter of national interest, and even of world-wide interest.

EARLY NATIONAL INTEREST IN ROAD BUILDING

When our nation was created, the question of highways at once became very important. The states needed to be bound together, and the public lands must be settled. The Constitution gave Congress the power "to establish post offices and post roads," and "to regulate commerce … among the several states"; but it was not clear how far these powers could be exercised for "internal improvements." Roads and canals were proposed in great numbers. In 1806 Congress authorized the building of the Cumberland Road, which began at Cumberland, Md., and was finally completed as far west as Illinois. Road building was, however, left chiefly to the states and to private enterprise. The Cumberland Road finally passed under the control of the states through which it ran, and by them was given into the management of the counties. Many "turnpikes" were built by private companies, which charged tolls for their use.

POOR ROADS IN THE UNITED STATES

The building of many canals and, later, the coming of railroads caused interest in public highways to decline, and their building was left almost wholly to local initiative, where it remained until very recently. The result is that the United States has had the poorest roads in the civilized world. Under local management the cost of public roads fell chiefly upon the farmers, cities escaping taxation for this purpose, except for their own streets. A road running across a state might be well kept in some localities while allowed to run down in others. A community was reluctant to spend money on a highway only to have the improvements destroyed by through traffic from neighboring communities who had no responsibility for maintaining the road. Local communities could not afford to employ expert officials to plan and supervise road construction.

STATE CONTROL OF HIGHWAYS

Under these conditions the road situation became so bad that public sentiment was gradually aroused on the subject, and it was seen that a road was of more than merely local importance. State control was agitated. New Jersey was the first state to pass a law placing the highways within the state under state regulation. This was in 1891. Other states followed New Jersey's example, until by 1914 forty-two states had state highway departments. These differ greatly from one another in organization, powers, and efficiency. Unfortunately, "political influence" has entered into road building and management in many states in such a way as to interfere with efficiency;—that is, those in charge of roads have often been chosen for political reasons rather than for their fitness for the work, and large sums of money have been spent unwisely, if not dishonestly in some cases.

RECENT PROGRESS UNDER STATE CONTROL

In a number of states, STATE HIGHWAYS have been built. These are wholly state enterprises, paid for and managed by the state. California has two trunk lines running the entire length of the state, with branch lines connecting them with the county seats. To January 1, 1914, Massachusetts had completed more than 1000 miles of state highways. New York has an extensive system, and Maryland is another example. But the plan most commonly in use is state aid and supervision in the construction of roads by counties. This was the New Jersey plan of 1891. By it, plans for road improvement with state aid in any county must be approved by the state highway department, and construction is supervised by state engineers. The cost is divided between the state and the local community.

In New Jersey the property owners along the highway, who of course are most directly benefited, were to pay one-tenth of the cost, the state one-third, and the county the remainder. In Wisconsin, the board of county commissioners in each county is required to plan a "county system" of highways to be a part of the state system. The cost of each county system is divided equally among township, county, and state. The work is directed by a county highway commissioner, but in accordance with plans and specifications of the state highway commission. In Ohio, a system of "intercounty highways" is being built, connecting all the county seats of the state. Counties, towns, and property owners along the highway must provide an amount equal to that provided by the state, and the work is under the direction of the state highway department.

In Virginia the cost of highway construction is divided equally between state and local communities; but the counties often accept from the state the labor of prison convicts instead of money. Convict labor on the roads is quite common in southern states.

The money for state aid in highway building is commonly raised by the sale of bonds by the state. For the maintenance of the roads after they are built, the proceeds from automobile licenses are applied.

Our roads, even in remote rural districts, are of national importance for the reasons stated on page 259. Moreover, they are becoming more and more used for the transportation of freight and passengers over long distances, for which the introduction of the automobile and the motor truck is responsible. Therefore, national cooperation is necessary for adequate road improvement.

WORK OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT FOR ROAD IMPROVEMENT

The work of the national government on behalf of good roads has heretofore been largely educational and advisory. In 1893 the Office of Road Inquiry (now the Office of Public Roads) was created in the United States Department of Agriculture to investigate methods of road making and management. The results of its investigations have been published for the benefit of the country. Advice was given when asked for. Instruction was given through extension courses (p. 257). Here and there model or experimental roads were constructed to test new methods or to serve as object lessons to the localities where they were built. Good road building has also been greatly stimulated by the extension of the rural free mail delivery, routes not being established unless the roads are in reasonably good condition. The national government has also given to many states public lands within their borders, the proceeds from which were to be used for road construction; and a part of the proceeds from the sale of timber in the national forests is devoted to road building in the locality.

FEDERAL AID ROAD ACT

In 1916, however, Congress passed the law known as the Federal Aid Road Act. This law places the national government in the same relation to the states, in the matter of road building, that the state governments have borne to the counties in granting state aid.

The Federal Aid Road Act appropriated 75 million dollars to aid states in improving their "rural post roads," and 10 million dollars for the construction and maintenance of roads in the national forests. Of the 75 million dollars for state aid in building post roads, 5 million dollars were to be available the first year, 10 million the second, 15 million the third, and so on for five years, when the total amount will have been used. The money is given to the states only on their request, and on condition that each state shall provide an amount equal to that received from the national treasury. The money is apportioned among the states on the basis of area, population, and the extent of post roads in the state.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE

The administration of the law is in the hands of the Office of Public Roads. The entire country is divided into ten districts, over each of which is a district engineer. When a state desires aid from the national government, its highway department must draw up plans for the improvements proposed and submit them to the district engineer, who in turn submits them with recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture, whose approval they must have. Having obtained this approval, the work is carried on by the state as in the case of other roads entirely under state control.

RESULTS OF FEDERAL AID

It is too soon yet to tell what the results of this new cooperative enterprise of the national government will be. But the first important effect has been to cause the organization of state highway departments in the few states that did not already have them, and the reorganization of such departments in the states where they were weak; for the Federal Aid Road Act provides that aid may be given to the states only on condition that they have effective highway departments. The result is that every state in the Union now has an active highway department, and road improvement is going on at a rate never before known.

Investigate and report on:

The amount of time saved in a year by a farmer in your locality because of good roads; or lost because of unimproved roads.

The wear and tear on vehicles and equipment because of unimproved roads.

Effect of improved or unimproved roads in your county on school and church attendance, social life, etc.

Instances of the exercise of the right of eminent domain in your county for road improvement.

Materials used in road making in your county. Relative merits of different materials as shown by experience in your county.

Methods of road construction in your county.

Extension courses in road making by your state agricultural college.

The amount of traffic on the roads of your community by non- residents.

The sentiment of farmers of your locality with regard to road improvement.

Organization of the state highway commission of your state.

The state highway system of your state.

History and use of canals in your state (if any).

Influence of rural mail delivery upon road improvement in your county.

The extent to which federal aid for road improvement has been taken advantage of by your state.

THE NATION'S INTEREST IN TRANSPORTATION

Those who live in the most remote rural communities have a vital interest in the nation's transportation system, including railways and steamship lines. As we have seen (p. 203), there was the closest relation between the building of railroads and the opening of the public lands. The market of the farmer and the source of his supplies are not merely the neighboring trading center, but in far distant parts of the country and of the world. Without railroads, the farmer, the manufacturer, and the city merchant would alike be helpless.

GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF RAILROADS

While our government has at times given direct aid to encourage the building of railroads, as by the gift of public lands, they have been developed chiefly by private enterprise. They are owned by private corporations which do business under charters granted by the state governments (rarely by the national government) and regulated by law. Control over them has been exercised chiefly by the state governments, except in matters affecting interstate commerce, which falls under the control of Congress. As the parts of our country have become more closely bound together and interdependent, largely by the influence of the railroads themselves, an increasingly large part of commerce has become "interstate" in character, and railway transportation has become more and more a national concern. The result is an increasing control by the national government

INTERSTATE COMMERCE

In 1887, Congress created an Interstate Commerce Commission with power to inquire into the management of the business of "common carriers," such as railroads, steamship lines, and express companies. It was later given power to fix rates which such carriers could charge. Other laws were passed, such as the Sherman Act, or "Anti-Trust Law," of 1890, which made unlawful any "contract, combination … or conspiracy in restraint of trade." These and other laws checked abuses that characterized railroad management at that time, but, on the other hand, they are said in some respects to have hampered the economic and efficient development of the country's transportation system. The Sherman Law, for example, absolutely forbade the consolidation of competing railroad lines under one management, although such consolidation often makes for efficiency and economy.

GOVERNMENT RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION IN WAR

When the United States entered the recent war, the weakness of our transportation system quickly became apparent, and the need for the most effective transportation service led the government to take unusual steps to secure it. The President issued a proclamation by which, in the exercise of his WAR POWERS, he "took possession and assumed control of each and every system of transportation in the United States and the appurtenances thereof." This meant assuming control over 397,000 miles of railways owned by 2905 corporations and employing more than 1,700,000 persons. The management of this great transportation system was intrusted to a Railroad Administration with a Director General of Railroads at its head. The ownership of these railroads, however, remained with the private companies, which were to receive compensation for the use of their property, and were to receive back the railroads after the war was over.

ADVANTAGES OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT

The whole purpose of the government in its management of the railroads was to win the war, the convenience of the public being a minor consideration. The people cheerfully put up with inconveniences of travel and with rates that they had not experienced while the roads were under private management. On the other hand, there were certain decided advantages in the management of all railroads as one great system. It meant the consolidation of competing lines that the law itself prevented the railway companies from effecting, it meant shortening routes in many cases, the use of common freight terminals by different lines, the increase of track facilities and storage areas at seaport terminals, the selling of passenger tickets good over any one of several roads running between two points.

There are those who believe that the railroads should be managed, or even owned, by the government in time of peace as well as during war. There are others who believe as strongly in private ownership and direction. Many of the latter believe, however, that a more perfect control should be exercised over the privately owned roads by the government under laws that protect the interests of the public and that at the same time permit, or even require, greater cooperation among the roads than has heretofore existed. Since the war, bills have been introduced in Congress looking to these ends, and doubtless the experience of the war will result in an appreciable improvement in our country's railway transportation system.

WATER TRANSPORTATION

In the early days of our nation, rivers were used for transportation to a large extent, and canals were proposed in great numbers, some of them being built and carrying a large amount of traffic. The coming of the railroads caused water transportation to decline, to the nation's great loss. The war stimulated the use of our waterways to a considerable extent, and any scheme for transportation control in the future should provide for their fullest development as a means of marketing the products of our farms, forests, mines, and factories.

There was also a time, in the early part of our history, when our seaports swarmed with American ships that sailed every sea. Our shipping afterward declined because other nations built and manned ships more cheaply than we could do. We allowed these other nations to carry our commerce. We deplored the fact that our merchant marine had disappeared and discussed ways and means to restore it. But all to no purpose, until the great war came; then we HAD to have ships.

EFFECT OF WAR UPON OUR MERCHANT MARINE

When we entered the war we had almost no ships. Congress created the United States Shipping Board and its Emergency Fleet Corporation. As a result, and within a year's time, the United States took rank as the leading shipbuilding nation in the world. It has more shipyards, more shipways, more ship workers, more ships under construction, and is building more ships every month during the war than any other country. Prior to the war the United States stood a poor third among the shipbuilding nations. Since August, 1917, more seagoing tonnage has been launched from American shipyards than was ever launched before in a similar period anywhere. [Footnote: "Shipping Facts," issued by the U.S. Shipping Board, September, 1918.]

Moreover, under the stress of necessity methods of shipbuilding and operation were developed that ought to make it possible for the United States to compete successfully in the future with other nations, even though our workmen and sailors are paid more than those of other nations.

The chairman of the shipping board said, "The American community must think of ships as a local improvement." This means that the business and welfare of every American community, whether a seaport or a remote farming community, are dependent upon ships. By our merchant marine the American farmer and the American businessman are brought into touch with the remotest parts of the earth.

Investigate and report on:

The service of the railroads to the farmers of your county. To the merchants of your town.

The story of the building of the first transcontinental railway.

State control of railroads in your state.

Experiences of your community with respect to railroad rate discrimination.

The work of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The work of the United States Railway Administration during the war.

Advantages and disadvantages of government control of railroads during the war.

The war powers of the President.

Arguments for and against government ownership of railroads.

Electric interurban railways in your county and state. What they mean to the farmer and to the city resident.

The work of the United States Coast Survey.

The history of the American merchant marine.

The development of the American merchant marine during the recent war.

The building of "fabricated ships."

The life of a sailor to-day, as compared with that of 100 years ago.

The dependence of the American farmer upon the merchant marine.

READINGS

County reports relating to road construction and improvement.

Reports of State Highway Commission.

State management of public roads, YEAR BOOK, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 1914, pp. 211-226.

Publications of Office of Public Roads, U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Write also to Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, for price list of documents relating
to the subject of roads.

Farmers' Bulletins relating to marketing and transportation facilities, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In LESSONS IN COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LIFE:

Series A: Lesson 26, Concentration of control in the railroad industry.

Series B: Lesson 27, Good roads.

Series C: Lesson 25, A seaport as a center of concentration of population and wealth.

Lesson 27, Early transportation in the Far West.

Lesson 28, The first railway across the continent.

Consult the public library for magazine literature on the subject of roads, railroads, river transportation, etc. For example, in the REVIEW OF REVIEWS, February, 1918, there are the following articles:

"Uncle Sam Takes the Railroads."

"The World's Greatest Port" (New York).

"New York Canals a Transportation Resource."

"River Navigation—a War Measure."

Hart, ACTUAL GOVERNMENT, chap. XXVII.