Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-02-18 | Page 39 | Automobile Father of Good Highways

NIPQBILE ESTHER OF GOODJUIGHWAYS Federal Appropriation for Road Work Shows Country Coun-try Is Awakening", NATIONAL MOVEMENT $85,000,000 of U. S. Money and Same Amount of State Funds for'Roads. Perhaps not one motorist in fifty realizes that the year just closed has t seen the greatest single accomplishment iu the cause of good roads since the Revolutionary war. "VVin President Wilson, on July 11, jf&k. his signature to the Baukhead--Shackleford good roads bill, $35,000,000 ' of federal funds and a like amount to come from the various state treasuries vras dedicated to the cause of better American highways. This means that , for the next five 'years $34,000,000 will be spent annually in making the road system of the United States comparable or superior to the present fine roads of Europe. Xo more splendid tribute to the educational edu-cational value of the automobile could be paid than this action on the part of congress. Until the coming of the motor mo-tor car the good roads issue possessed little vitality. For seventy-five years the government exercised a passive policy pol-icy toward building permanent highways. high-ways. Railroads pushed into virgin territory, ter-ritory, cities sprang up along the right of way, but the rural arteries of travel remained in the same hopeless condition as when the pioneers ploughed through them afoot on or horseback. Starts Road Movement. With the first motor cars came the first feeble impulse to the goodroads movement. The first cars were sold to city men who very quickly found out that where city pavements ended there ended all hopes of further travel. Pneumatic Pneu-matic tires availed nothing against trackless stretches of gumbo mud or corduroy cor-duroy roads. With the mechanical improvements in motor cars the owner chafed at his limitations and demanded better state roads. Many states have been active toward promoting their own road systems sys-tems as a result of this agitation, and quite a little has been accomplished in some localities. But it has remained for government co-operation to open up the full possibilities of the country by appropriating this huge sum for road ijgroveiiient. T)ust what the federal aid bill will bring to business in general can only be conjectured. That it will vastly r'sbenefit the farmer in transporting his to market is well known. And it siiuuld work to reduce the high cost of living by bringing foodstuffs, here tofore destroyed or wasted because of lack of communication with marketable market-able points, to city markets, where the demand is great. One thing we are certain of, and that is a remarkable expansion in the business of American automobile manufacturers. Roads Release Riches. People who have shaken their heads over the future of the automobile industry indus-try have failed to appreciate the magnitude magni-tude of American wealth. As President Pres-ident Wilson said in his address on good roads at Indianapolis: "You cannot know what the resources re-sources of the country are unless the countrv is covered over with a network net-work of roads which will release all the locked up riches of all country-tides. country-tides. ' Those who have been connected with t ARCHIE BROWNING I ;; . ;-:lfSl '-r:0lt: ' ' Vice president and manager Browning Auto and Supply Co. Overlaud. W. L. SEWELL T fa r ' - '4 Branch manager Firestone Tire & Rubber Rub-ber Co. sales distribution of motor cars in the past ten years know that this statement is true. They know that vast stretches of territory practically isolated by lack of transportation facilities will be opened up with new roads and ttyat the development of the rich farming or mining min-ing territory will create wealth for a new class of pioneers. The automobile will prove one of the biggest factors toward this development and shipments of cars will follow new highways as fast as they are opened. With Cncle Sam firmly backing up a national highways programme, the automobile auto-mobile manufacturer has less reason than ever for believing in the existence of a 4 ' saturation ' ' point for the motor car industry. Expansion and increased sales will be the slogan for this giant of American industries for years to come.