The duties and scope of the Office of Public Roads Inquiry was gradually widened and its name changed to the Office of Public Roads. In 1915 by reorganization of the Department of Agriculture it became the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering and took charge of all the Department’s work which partook in any way of an engineering nature. In 1916 the Secretary of Agriculture directed the Office to act for him in the routine administration of the Federal Roads Act. The work of the Office or Bureau of Public Roads, as it is now designated, was in 1916, carried on along three general lines:[142] (1) Educational; (2) Research, and (3) Administration of the Federal Road Act. By its educational or extension work the Office was endeavoring to reach the people by means of lectures, addresses, the publication of bulletins and the exhibit of models. Emphasizing the economic value of improved roads and the efficiency of various types. Special advice and assistance to communities was given by furnishing engineers and experts to confer with municipal officers on their particular problems. Actual demonstration by the construction of object-lesson roads was freely carried on. The community furnished the material and labor; the Office sent its engineers and experts to design and superintend the construction. These “seed miles” resulted in the construction of many other miles by the community itself. The Office tried to impress also the need of proper maintenance from the beginning. Fully as important as its educational work was the research or investigational work carried on. The Office was able to secure the services of several young men of scientific attainment and the bulletins put out by L. W. Page, Prévost Hubbard, A. S. Cushman and their successors have commanded world-wide recognition. Laboratories were erected to test road materials, and experimental roads were built to demonstrate the actual use of the same according to various methods. In this manner careful studies were made of a vast number of materials, including oils, asphalts, tars, concrete, brick, crushed stone and gravel. In connection with practical road men and research committees of such organizations as the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Society for Testing Materials many useful standards have been adopted for road materials and road construction. The effect of traffic on various types of roads has also been a profitable subject for study. The organization of the Bureau may be best shown by the chart.