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Show Ill'S EDS ARE CALIF0R1PIBLEM Field Secretary of Lincoln Highway Discusses Road Improvement in West. OAKLAND, Cal., Sept. 23. H. C. Os-termann, Os-termann, fieM secretary of the Lincoln Highway association, in a recent address ad-dress before the chamber of commerce, made some pertinent remarks relative to the value of the great highway to the west and to northern California, in particular, and strongly urged upon the . business interests of the state the necessity ne-cessity of extending aid to California sister commonwealth in her endeavor to: improve the great thoroughfare. The logic of Mr. Ostermann 's argument was indisputable. In part, he said: To understand this situation, let me review tho situation in Nevada. Nevada, the fourth largest state in the Union, has a population of 81,- j 000. Of this great state Su per cent of the land is controlled by the federal fed-eral government; 3 per cent is under un-der cultivation. The tax resources are confined to the bullion output. Nevada is a mining state only, and Nevada has 425 miles of the transcontinental trans-continental Lincoln highway. Tho real gateway to northern California lies in Churchill county, one of the largest counties in Nevada, which is burdened with a $0,000,000 bond- . ed debt, and in Churchill county is the worst section of the Lincoln highway in Nevada. It swings across the I'allon sink country iur a distance of twenty miles, a nightmare night-mare of road. Extensive improvement improve-ment must bo made. The Lincoln Highway association is prepared to put up $.30,000 for this work and the state of Nevada is prepared to supplement this with an appropriation. appropria-tion. . But this is California's problem as much as it is Nevada's. Central and northern California want to take advantage ad-vantage of the tremendous motor tourist travel that has increased three times since lf15. The motor tourist is fast becoming a big factor in the building up of the far western west-ern communities. It is essential to the prosperity of northern and central cen-tral California to get behind the project of bearing their share of the burden of road construction that the hardship of the transcontinental transcontinen-tal tourist may be relieved, because this great highway brings the motor tourist to your state. |