Fleming,  Chief  of  the  State  Councils  Section,  Council
of  National  Defense.
The  Secretary,  whose  department  administers  the
Federal  Aid  Road  Act,  stated  also  that  the  Govern-
ment recognizes  that  it  is  necessary  to  construct,  re-
construct, or  maintain  roads  essential  for  military  and
vital  economic  purposes,  and  to  defer  action  on  roads
not  of  this  class ;  and  that  it  is  desirable  wherever  pos-
sible to  use  local  materials  for  road  building  and  main-
tenance in  order  to  relieve  railroad  traffic.
Important  highways,  as  described  in  the  Secretary's
letter,  include  only  those  utilized,  or  to  be  utilized,  by
the  military  establishment,  those  which  carry  a  consid-
erable volume  of  materials  and  supplies  essential  to
war  industries,  and  those  which  have  a  bearing  on  the
production  and  distribution  of  food  supplies,  connect-
ing population  and  shipping  centers  with  surrounding
agricultural  areas.
Duties  of  Highway  Council

Attention  is  called  to  the  formation  of  the  United
States  Highways  Council.  This  body  was  suggested
by  the  Secretary  to  co-ordinate  federal  agencies  inter-
ested in  highway  problems.  The  council  is  made  up
of  a  representative  each  from  the  Department  of  Agri-
culture, the  War  Department,  the  Railroad  Adminis-
tration, the  Fuel  Administration,  and  the  War  Indus-
tries Board.  It  will  form  a  unified  agency  for  deal-
ing, on  behalf  of  the  Federal  Government,  with  high-
way construction,  maintenance,  and  policies.  It  will,
of  course,  through  the  Office  of  Public  Roads  and
Rural  Engineering  of  the  Department,  continue  the
close  contact  already  established,  both  formally  by  law
and  informally  by  practice,  with  the  State  highway
commission  in  each  State.
