OCR Text |
Show roads mm MSME I Shortag-s of Freight Cars Delays Transportation of Materials. That tie coal strike may affect the highways buiKlin program for next year is the view taken iu a recent dispatch dis-patch received from Washington. While the expenditures during 1019 for hard-surface highways, accordin;,' to estimates of the bureau of public roads of the United fcta;.;-s department of agriculture, will set a new record with'a total of $135,000,000. this figure is small in comparison with the computed com-puted available total tor 1020 of $638.-000,000, $638.-000,000, the spending of vhich promises to be dependent chiefly on the quantity of materials tl.j pveseul limited railway facilities can transport. The items enteritis into next year's estimate are: Erouilit forward from unfinished un-finished work, 1019 contracts, 165,-000,000, 165,-000,000, funds available from state and county taxes aud federal aid, S273,-000,000; S273,-000,000; oue-fifth state and county bond issues not before available, $o0,-000,000; $o0,-000,000; one-third unexpended balance of state and county bjpml issues previously pre-viously available, ?4-3.0uo.OOO : available from new bond issue.-, f loO.OOO.OoO. Unless the available open-top car, i tnanv of which normally lie idie in the late winter, are utilized in that slack season the work which can be done will necessarily be curtailed for lac!: of materials. The total for 1020 is more than four times the amount that lias been expended during any previous pre-vious year for like purposes. Therefore There-fore there must be a tremendous increase in-crease not only in the material supplies and shipping: facilities, but also iu the labor supply, and an enlargement of contractors' organizations. While the placing of material in storage, which may result from such a course, involves sortie expense, it will be small compared to the loss that will result if contractors are not in a. position posi-tion to go ahead with the work because of lack of materials. |