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Show UNCLE SAM MUCH BEHIND OTHER POR- TIONS OF CIVILIZED WORLD. ThereVere in the United Stnles Inst yenr 2,- ' 240,000 miles of public roads only 10 per cent of i which nrc classed ns "improved roads." Last year the expenditures on nccount of rond con- struction, including the cstimnted vnlue of con- vict labor, mnde by states, counties, precincts , nnd districts aggregated about $235,000,000. Ten years ngo the expenditures on this nccount ' amounted to approximately $79,000,000, and the ' difference between these two sums shows that ' there has been n great advance in the demand for improved public highways. But with DO per cent . of the ronds of the country over which the peo- , pic travel nnd do business, unimproved, it is clear that so far the surface has scarcely been scratched. scratch-ed. In tho German empire in Europe, which ' covers less territory than the single American ' flUite of Tcxns, there nrc thirty-six thousand miles of state rond nnd in Prussia nlone the an- . nunl expenditure on the public ronds amounts to , $35,000,000. In Englnnd nnd Wnlcs, less in nrcn , thnn the stntc of Florida, there nrc 150,908 miles of public ronds, of which 27.82G miles nrc what arc colled "main roads," and 123,082 miles nrc i included under the designntion "other thnn main t ronds." Five yenrs ngo tho locnl authorities in Englnnd nnd Wales expended on these roads , 'not including lonns which amounted to $7,916,-9G4 $7,916,-9G4 $32,498,000. In Fioridn, nccordlng to the ! latest nvnilnblc information, there nrc seventeen j hundred nnd fifty-two miles of whnt nro called ' "improved ronds." However odious comparisons mny be, they nrc very useful nt times to show how far behind the rest of the civilized world , the United States nrc in taking care of the most important economic problem with which they must deal if the immense resources of the country coun-try nro to bo developed. |