LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Salem, Oregon, December 18, 1918.
TO THE HONORABLE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION,
S. BENSON, Chairman,
W. L. THOMPSON, Commissioner,
R. A. BOOTH, Commissioner.
Gentlemen:
I have the honor to submit report covering the operations of the Highway Department for the fiscal years ending November 30, 1917, and November 30, 1918.
In view of the fact that the State Highway Department did not complete its organization until late in the season of 1917 and due to the further fact that practically all contracts were awarded after the first day of July, 1917, it was impossible to place before the State Highway Commission a report which would be of any particular value to the general public at the end of the last fiscal year. Therefore, it has been decided to submit the two fiscal years under one cover in order that the public may have at its command a statement of public highway expenditures and the accomplishments of the State Highway Department under the supervision of the State Highway Commission.
It was considered advisable by the Highway Commission to award contracts and get work under way as early in 1917 as the necessarily late organization of the Department would permit. The matter of preparing estimates and calling for bids was therefore carried out as rapidly as possible, using the data and surveys of the previous administration as a basis for estimates.
It is believed that by awarding the contracts during the year 1917, approximately twenty per cent was saved on all construction for the reason that the shortage in labor and material did not become serious in the State of Oregon until late in that season.