_And be it enacted_, That whenever there shall be presented to the board of chosen freeholders of any county a petition signed by the owners of at least two-thirds of the lands and real estate fronting or bordering on any public road ... praying the board to cause such road ... to be improved under this act, and setting forth that they are willing that the peculiar benefits conferred on the lands fronting or bordering on said road ... shall be assessed thereon, in amount not exceeding ten per centum of the entire cost of the improvement, it shall be the duty of the board to cause such improvements to be made: Provided, that the estimated cost of all improvements ... in any county in any one year shall not exceed one-half of one per centum of the ratables of such county for the last preceding year.... And be it enacted, That one-third of the cost of all roads constructed ... shall be paid for out of the State treasury: Provided, That the amount so paid shall not in any one year exceed the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars.... It will be seen that under this law the property owners pay one-tenth, the State one-third and the county the remaining 56²⁄₃ per cent. Except for the 10 per cent paid by the abutting property holders the burden borne by all citizens of the county is the same. The friends of the movement demanded its enforcement; the opponents were equally determined which resulted in an appeal to the courts and the mandatory features were sustained. As it was first enacted the total expenditure was $20,000 and a Commissioner of Agriculture was to supervise its disbursement. But as there was no such officer the next legislature, at the suggestion of the governor, authorized the president of the State Board of Agriculture to perform these duties; this he did until the office of the Commissioner of Public Roads was created. The first money paid out under the act was December 27, 1892, $20,661.85, and this was the first money paid in the United States for state aid for the construction of roads. With slight amendments the law remains to the present and has been emulated by nearly all the states in the Union.